Hell of the Living Dead was an Italian rip-off of George Romero’s hit Dawn of the Dead. Released in the U.S. in 1983 under several different titles including Night of the Zombies and Virus, the low budget film was a clear reaction to the international success of Dawn.
In 1978, filmmaker George Romero released a sequel to his cult sensation Night of the Living Dead (1968). Moving the action from an isolated farmhouse to a mall, Dawn broadened the apocalyptic zombie narrative with a satiric jab at consumerism and a much wider scope. The independent film was an instant success upon its release, solidifying Romero’s reputation as a respected auteur in the horror genre. As well as the film performed in the States, it was even more popular oversees where an alternate cut, supervised by producer Dario Argento, trimmed the character development to focus on the action and violence. The 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake would retain Argento’s frenetic tone.
The tremendous success of Dawn in Europe ushered in dozens of similar films – years before The Walking Dead created its own zombie zeitgeist. In Italy, where Dawn was retitled Zombi, an unrelated film titled Zombi 2 (1979) was put into production. Avoiding the same copyright laws as the U.S., the violent, poorly-made rip-off proved a success in its own right. Released in America as simply Zombie, Lucio Fulci’s undead epic also made money for its American distributor. More zombie films lumbered into production including Bruno Mattei’s Hell of the Living Dead. Mattei, who had directed several cheap action and sexploitation films, had never directed a straight horror film before. The filmmaker’s inexperience would not help save the derivative nature of the production.
Hell Of The Living Dead Was One Of Many Dawn Of The Dead Rip Offs
Released in most major U.S. markets as Night of the Zombies, Hell proved to be one of the more flagrant attempts at ripping off the Romero film. An overly-complicated set-up introduces a team of commandos who violently put an end to a hostage situation at the U.S. Embassy in Barcelona. Afterwards, they find themselves on an island in Papua New Guinea where they meet a journalist and her cameraman who are investigating violent, cannibalistic attacks in the area. As they travel through the jungle, they discover much of the population has been turned into cannibalistic living dead.
The military trappings, violent set pieces and Goblin score, which reuses several themes from Dawn, ensure the audience never forgets the source material. Setting Hell of the Living Dead apart from its inspiration – and even the derivative Zombie, is the level of incompetence at work. The terrible dubbing of the incoherent dialogue and over-reliance of stock footage give Mattei’s film a more comedic tone, albeit an unintentional one. While not a success during its original release, Hell of the Living Dead has been embraced by fans of bad cinema and has been issued several times on DVD and Blu-ray. Even so, it’s no Dawn of the Dead.
Next: Dawn Of The Dead’s Three Different Cuts Explained
