Hell of the Living Dead

Virus

Italy

1980

101 Min

Color

1.85:1

English, Italian

Currently 2.8/5 Stars.
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PROD José María Cunillés, Isabel Mulá

SCR Bruno Mattei, José María Cunillés

CAST Margit Evelyn Newton, Franco Garofalo, Selan Karay, José Gras, Gabriel Renom, Josep Lluís Fonoll, Pietro Fumelli, Bruno Boni, Patrizia Costa

SOUND Romano Pampaloni, Paolo Picchi

Synopsis

Virus (a.k.a Zombie Creeping Flesh Night of the Zombies, Hell of the Living Dead) opens with a team of commandos led by Lt. Mike London (José Gras) being deployed to eliminate a group of terrorists who have taken hostages inside a large building. Once the mission is completed, the team is flown to Papua New Guinea due to communication being lost with a chemical research facility called Hope, possibly due to terrorist action. They soon meet journalist Lia Rousseau (Margit Evelyn Newton) and her cameraman who are investigating a series of mysterious and violent attacks on the local native population. After encountering some of the natives, the group come under attack by hordes of flesh-eating zombies. Rousseau and London’s men battle their way to Hope where they find an experimental chemical has been released that kills people and turns them into zombies. —Wikipedia

Director

Bruno Mattei

Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and editor who gained a cult following for a wide variety of exploitation films that covered many genres, ranging from women in prison (WIP) to zombie films. He used many pseudonyms, predominantly Vincent Dawn (choosing that surname as a nod to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead).

Mattei got his start in Italian cinema by editing more than 100 films between the 1960s and the early 1970s. In 1974, he earned his first directorial credit, directing 20 minutes of additional hardcore footage for the French release of Jess Franco’s 1969 film 99 Women. He also edited Franco’s “Count Dracula” (1969), and in early 1975, he wrote the script for the Joe D’Amato film Demon Rage and edited D’Amato’s Black Eva. He became a full-time director in 1977 when he made several erotic Nazi death camp films, which he followed up with some porno mockumentaries such as Sexy Night Report starring Laura Gemser and The… read more

Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and editor who gained a cult following for a wide variety of exploitation films that covered many genres, ranging from women in prison (WIP) to zombie films. He used many pseudonyms, predominantly Vincent Dawn (choosing that surname as a nod to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead).

Mattei got his start in Italian cinema by editing more than 100 films between the 1960s and the early 1970s. In 1974, he earned his first directorial credit, directing 20 minutes of additional hardcore footage for the French release of Jess Franco’s 1969 film 99 Women. He also edited Franco’s “Count Dracula” (1969), and in early 1975, he wrote the script for the Joe D’Amato film Demon Rage and edited D’Amato’s Black Eva. He became a full-time director in 1977 when he made several erotic Nazi death camp films, which he followed up with some porno mockumentaries such as Sexy Night Report starring Laura Gemser and The True Story of the Nun of Monza. Next, he directed two of his most infamous horror shockers, The Other Hell and Virus: Hell of the Living Dead (which has since become his most infamous film).

After directing two Caligula-inspired rip-offs and two Emanuelle Women-in-Prison films starring Laura Gemser, he made the delirious Rats: Night of Terror (a low budget science fiction film), and the ultra-gory Zombie 3 (which he co-directed with Lucio Fulci in the Philippines). Mattei was an Assistant Director on Lamberto Bava’s film “Devil Fish” (1984). He didn’t turn out much work in the 1990s (although during this period he directed the infamous made-for-TV film Cruel Jaws, a rip-off of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws). Later in 2001, Mattei returned to filmmaking, this time working in the direct to video market. He directed several erotic thrillers before returning once more to the Philippines, where he shot two more cannibal films, a women-in-prison film and two final zombie movies.

He made at least 40 films, many of which were very low budget. His work has attracted a significant cult following. His films tend to be appreciated for their unique dialogue, low budgets and gory special effects. He was sometimes referred to as the “Ed Wood of Italian fimmaking”. On an interview segment contained on Anchor Bay’s DVD release for Hell of the Living Dead and Rats: Night of Terror, Mattei claimed that he would like to reshoot all of his films, as he finds them ugly to watch.

In early 2007, Mattei’s health began to decline rapidly after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Despite his doctor’s warnings, he went through with a surgical operation to have the tumor removed in May of that year. After the surgery, he fell into a coma from complications, and died a few days later on May 21, 2007 at age 75. —wikipedia

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