Virus

When someone says a movie is so-bad-it's-good, they usually mean that it's unintentionally comedic. "Virus" is so inept that it is enjoyable in a way it was not intended to be, but it doesn't fit the traditional so-bad-it's-good classification. (Actually, there was one scene in Virus that I thought was really funny. It involves breasts--you'll know it when you see it.) Here's why I liked Virus: all the ridiculousness adds together to form a fascinating and impossibly cohesive whole. The final product is sort of like a surrealist meditation on human insignificance.

The ridiculous, slow, editing; the idiotic behavior of the characters; and the meandering plot combine to make the movie like a sort of gentle nightmare. It's really like nothing else I've ever seen. There are these lazy, extended struggles with zombies where a bunch of guys just stand back and watch nervously. Most of the heroes are soldiers, and there's an officer, but they are all equally helpless and profoundly "alone." There's a laziness to everything that gives the film an appropriate sense of inevitability. The plot is ambiguous, like in a dream. You get a general sense of what's going on but it's also rather aimless, and only when the characters got to their "destination" did I realize that they had any objective at all. The simple beauty of the animal stock footage provides a startling contrast to the bleakness it surrounds.

I don't mean you have to watch it like it's T. S. Eliot and analyze everything you see for meaning. It is, of course, a meaningless mess of incompetence. But if you sit back and just soak it all in, you will find it hypnotic, bleak, and beautiful.

This is not Dawn of the Dead. It's not Night of the Living Dead. It's a low grade 70's Italian zombie gore flick. The acting is not great, the story is shaky, the dubbing is bad, and the clips of animals are completely off of the story. But you have to take this movie for what it is. It's got some good gore and is a fun movie if you're into zombies. It's not Shakespeare. It's campy and schlocky and goofy, and if you're looking for a true quality horror movie you should go elsewhere. But if you enjoy the Italian zombie genre, you'll enjoy this one. Just don't expect Oscar caliber.

What to say about this movie? Where to start? I think I will begin with the title. I bought it as "Hell of the Living Dead". It is also known as "Virus", "Night of the Zombie", and "Zombie: Creeping Flesh". Out of these titles the creeping flesh one and virus fit, but the other two do not. Especially, the night one. Most of the zombie action takes place in broad daylight. Then there is the stock footage. I know many have commented on it, but man there is a lot of it. Here is a little advice to all film makers, don't set the movie in a location you can't film in. And if you must use stock footage at least use some different shots rather than just birds and monkeys in the tree tops. Then there is the music. When people say it is just like "Dawn of the Dead" they aren't kidding. It is exactly the same music and when it isn't music from Dawn it is music from a sci-fi movie called "Alien Containamation" and when it isn't music from it, it is a combination of both. Then there is the similarities between Dawn and this movie. The swat team, the reporters, the center at the end and the mall in dawn, the situation at the beginning where the swat team is first introduced, the elevator scene and so on. The zombies themselves aren't the best in the game. Well some do look rather good, but most of them have very little make up. Then there is the swat team who make it through horde after horde of zombie only losing one member, this team seems competent, then they reach the facilty and proceed to become very easily killed idiots. They aren't very distinct either, I think they are all dubbed by the same person.

A good point about this movie is the plot. It involves a leak a research facility called "Hope". Its nice to have zombies come to life for a reason and as bad as this flick is the end isn't to bad with plenty of gore effects. In fact after the "Hope" scene the movie cuts to two people attacked in the park and it is like wow this is looks like a better zombie movie about to start! But it is actually the end of this one. You can learn some lessons from this movie though 1) Zombies can only be killed if you shoot them in the head, but go ahead and shoot them in the body because it looks cool and you never run out of ammunition anyway 2) When going into an area of stock footage natives get the girl in your party to take her shirt off and dress up like a native, does it help, no! But if she's willing to do it let her (why didn't the horny soldiers not make one comment when she took off her shirt?) 3) If your friend is attacked by an apparently dead rat, don't lend a hand he deserves to die for being stupid enough to let himself get killed by a rat 4) Don't put your guns down and put on a tu-tu and top hat and pick up a cane when zombies are in the area 5) When on a beach it is possible to find boats just lying around 6) and finally, don't speculate on why everything is happening till you are out of the building where the zombies are, this just gives them a chance to gang up on you. In the end this is a bad flick with some areas that are OK. If you have a wicked sense of humor though and like making fun of films then give it a try.

I've seen quite a few zombie movies over the years and I have to say that the european ones are the best. The gore effects in these movies are very realistic and provide quite a few scares and Night of the Zombies is no exception.The gore effects and storyline are good and is what I expected from this type of movie, but what I didn't expect was the overlong use of stock footage from a National Geographic special which was not only unnecessary but very annoying and the dubbing could also have been handled better, but overall not a bad movie storywise. Just remember to keep the VCR remote close so you can fast forward the stock footage.

MY RATTING 7/10

Hell Of The Living Dead is a typical rip off of Dawn Of The Dead made by Bruno Mattei who is a very cheesy director in my opinion! I know that the acting is awful, the zombies look stupid, the make up is cheap and pretty much everything about this film is very poor, but I still love it! The main characters are a beautiful lady who is very interested in primitive tribes who live in a island in which the story takes its place. The other main characters are a group of soldiers who land on that island in order to be eaten by the zombies lol. The version which I have on a DVD is the anchor bay release. This DVD release contains only English audio which is amusingly made. Anyway, Hell Of The Living Dead contains gore, nudity, zombies, cannibals and everything that a fan of b-grade horror movies needs! Just have some booze before you watch it and prepare your self for the creeping dead that devour the living flesh!