I remeber this one now. I saw this one when I was like 5 years old under the U.S. title "Night of the Zombies". I had never seen people actually eaten before so I was freaked out and left the room. It's funny I say that because I distinctly remember more than half the film before I saw it again. Hell I even remembered that sweet-ass scene with Margirt Newton frolicking around in damn near next to nothing. Never gets old.

What I didn't remember was all of the damn stupid-ass, pointless "stock" footage. Damnit all to hell! I bet you tenfold this movie really clocked in at about, ehhh, 30 minutes..Or at least it seemed so. Fucking cripes if that shit didn't put me to sleep!

If you can stay awake you'll treated to one of the most blantant ripoffs of all time *hint hint* and some even better dubbing, story, and all around "zombie" fun. Plenty (and I mean plenty) of gore here for those looking to be desensitized including one of the most random death scenes involving a "fist"?! (I tell ya, I almost quit when I saw it.) And again, I'll never be sick of seeing Mrs. Newton in that matching body paint and "leafy" thong professional attire. DIZamn!

Aside from all that fucking footage and "possible" body double (that only puts a small ding on my scale.) just make sure to keep your thumb on the "chapter forward" button, people.

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I didn't love it as much as Captain Crunch up there did, but it sure wasn't half as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Zombie movies tend to either be full of metaphorical social statements or totally devoid of meaning; for every Dawn of the Dead there is a Zombie, for every Let Sleeping Corpses Lie there is a Burial Ground (though I've seen an argument that Burial Ground has elements of class warfare, but I digress). Imagine my surprise when Hell of the Living Dead ended up right in the middle.

Mixed into the bad editing and awfully expositional dialogue there is a message about how imperialistic, greedy nations can destroy and decay smaller cultures with their wanton ways, which apparently will end in the Apocalypse. To this end, the zombies are seen as the products of the evil nations' greed literally devouring them as it spreads across the world. On the other hand, the only time we really see this in the movie is the very brief UN scene. The rest of the time the goofy SWAT team and the reporters walk around looking at monkeys and watching tribal dancing. The only time I noticed the SWAT team condone this message was when one of the members called some zombies (who happen to all be black) "brainless monkeys."

I can tell Mattei had a point, but I can only take so many boring pointless (slow motion!) shots of animals frolicking to and fro. Also, I thought the fact that the native tribe is destroyed by their dead relatives a little odd, it sort of took away from the central message of the movie. It was as if their own customs killed them. Even one of the SWAT team members mentions this. That kind of thing is why I say the movie ends up in the middle when it comes to being poignant.

Technically, the movie is pretty bad. The editing jumps all over the place and there is a LOT of filler (again with the damn animals). We know the jungle is a crazy savage place! We don't need constant reminders there are animals in the jungle! Every freaking one of these films that takes place in the jungle feels like it has to remind the audience that yes, they are still in the jungle! LOOK AT THE MONKEY!!!

Goblin sure earned their paycheck with this one. The SWAT team's theme song is so ridiculously energetic, it doesn't matter what they are doing at the time, it just sounds so goddamn IMPORTANT. I especially love all the posing the team does too. The constant groaning/hissing of the zombies as they shamble around was an ok idea, but boy howdy did that shit get old quick. It's not subtle in the slightest, so it ended up grating on my nerves a bit.

There was one interesting use of the old "cat jump scare" technique, it was definitely something I hadn't seen before. Also, I loved how even before they realized what was going on they decided to put a million holes in the little kid at the beginning of the movie, these guys didn't mess around!

Other than that there wasn't much in the film. The gore was pretty well done and there was some attempt at a story, but like the Captain said it wasn't anything new, and certain parts were almost a direct rip-off of Romero's landmarks.

Like the message content of the movie, I'm going to throw this one in the middle of the pile. It was just way too slow and irritating to really like, but just interesting and gory enough to avoid complete hatred.

And yes...dear Margit in her leafy costume is a sight to behold. The extreme close up of her breasts was so stupidly blatant, and I can't imagine giving her that costume with a straight face. I also especially love how her facepaint changes colors every single scene, it's simply magical!

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