Großangriff der Zombies

The reporter Dean Miller (Hugo Stiglitz) is assigned with his cameraman to interview a scientist that is arriving in the local airport. While waiting for the arrival, an unidentified Hercules makes an emergency landing and is surrounded by a military force. When the doors open, a legion of blood thirsty creatures commanded by the scientist attack the soldiers, killing them with hatchets and drinking their blood. Dean tries to warn the population about the happening but is censored by General Murchison (Mel Ferrer). Later the military leaders discover that the creatures have not come from the outer space, but are human beings contaminated by radiation and needing to drink blood to stay undead. Dean unsuccessfully calls his wife Dr. Anna Miller (Laura Trotter) and heads to the hospital where she works, trying to escape from the city crowded of the increasing walking dead creatures.

The trash "Incubo Sulla Città Contaminate" a.k.a. "City of the Walking Dead" or "Nightmare City" is a weird horror movie that could be better and better with a best selection of the lead couple. The uptight Hugo Stiglitz is not tailored for the role of hero and is an awful selection from the producers, and Laura Trotter is too stupid for a doctor, recalling those women from the 40's or 50's that used to scream in every dangerous situation and run to the arms of the hero. The killers are not zombies like in "The Last Man on Earth" or the way George A. Romero has become famous in "Night of the Living Dead", with slow and gruesome movements, but actually a kind of unbeatable "warrior vampire" with appearance of zombie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Better known for his jungle cannibal opus "Make Them Die Slowly", Lenzi has here a much more accomplished and entertaining gut muncher.

On an unassuming day, a nuclear scientist is supposed to arrive with important research. His plane breaks flight patterns and lands unannounced. When authorities go to investigate, they find all the people on board are infected with strange kind of radiation poisoning and have turned into violent, cannibalistic zombies. The zombies then begin attacking any and every one in sight; hacking, shooting and eating all they can. Escaping the city is the only hope.

Coming out in 1980, this was pretty late in the cannibal/zombie movie cycle. Fortunately, Lenzi changes up the formula just enough to keep things from being stale. The zombies are are fast, intelligent and have no problem utilizing tools and weapons. Lenzi also ad hears to just enough genre clichés to keep fans happy. There is blood and gore aplenty, random flashes of nudity and some wonderfully cheesy dialogue.

On the technical side, the film is right on par with other films in the same category. Acting ranges from to OK to plain bad, lighting and sound get the job done but never excel, and the writing works well enough to move from point A to point B. One nice element is the pacing, which is refreshingly brisk and free of clutter.

Over all, this is one of the better made and more amusing of the cannibal/zombie films from days gone by. Genre fans should check it out.

7/10

So you wanna see a crazy, fast-paced, bloody and insane movie? Look no further, this Umberto Lenzi movie is the answer! Zombie-like people (they are not zombies, they are contaminated people, that drinks blood to stay alive and also run and use weapons-mostly axes)start killing the inhabitants of the city in bloody ways. Also, they rip womens clothes to expose the bare naked chests before killing them. This is pure fun. 90 minutes of pure action, no let downs here. This "zombies on steroids" are as cool as you can imagine and kill em all! I also recommend other Lenzi movies like Cannibal Ferox and Mangiatti vivi(both great cannibal movies) but this one is more fun.

Thank you George A. Romero!! If it wasn't for your zombiefilms like `Night of the Living Dead' and `Dawn of the Dead', we never would have received all these fun Italian rip-offs. Umberto Lenzi was the man responsible for this `Nightmare City'. Lenzi is an enthusiast schlock-director with an unhealthy obsession for blood and guts. Within a period of only two years, he made 3 Italian gore classics including this one, `Eaten Alive' and – top of the bill – the notorious `Cannibal Ferox'. The latter is shocking…this film is just fun! An apocalyptic horror film with non-stop action and an constantly growing army of superzombies! Zombies according to Lenzi are a bit more energetic than usual…They drive cars and use guns! Technically, they're aren't even zombies but radioactively contaminated victims of a nuclear accident. They arrive in an airplane and soon, the whole city is infested.

The make-up effects are so cheap and nasty it almost becomes hilarious. It seems like the zombies' heads are covered in mud and you can almost smell their rotting flesh. Lots of heads are being shot off and multiple throats are being slit…perfect entertainment if you're a horror lover in other words. Don't bother if you're an opinionated horror-hater or an amateur-critic, though. I'll spare you the effort: the script of `Nightmare City' is as weak as they come (with a very disappointing ending) and the acting is atrocious. If you're a diehard horror-freak with a soft spot for Italian cult, however, this will be one of the most pleasing films you'll ever see.

Sure it may seem ridiculous to modern audiences, but it is important to remember this film was made several years before the Geneva Convention outlawed the use of knives and hatchets by zombies, as well as such zombie subterfuge tactics as cutting phone lines and sneaking up on people and choking them with a bit of rope, and the implementation of spear-guns. This is actually all quite historically accurate.