Nightmare City
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Movie Reviews of Nightmare City
Movie Review: Nightmare Movie!
Summary: 2 Stars
Okay, that's a bit harsh, this film is actually growing on me. My feelings at this point are a bit torn. I found the first half of the movie to be rather monotonous; the second half really picked up. Perhaps it was more the final 3rd of the movie. Anyway, this is a hard film to describe without oversimplifying, because for much of it there was just a lot of killing and nothing much else, but I'll take a shot at a synopsis anyway.
"Nightmare City" is the story of a violent zombie attack on a metropolitan area as a result of a planeload of radiated passengers overpowering the population. Actually, I use the word "zombie" rather loosely here. These aren't really zombies. Truly, the Romero zombies aren't really zombies either, but that's another argument altogether. Taking George Romero's creations as the standard for movie zombies, or even the simple understanding that zombies are the walking dead, you couldn't classify the creatures in "Nightmare City" as being anything remotely close to zombies. The creatures in "Nightmare City" are more akin to what we saw in the recent film "28 Days Later." These are living humans who are infected with some sort of nuclear radiation sickness that makes them incredibly violent and powerful, with a desperation to fill their bellies with human blood. They also look like they've got taco meat on their face. From the moment they spill out of their plane and attack the city, the creatures embark on a weapon wielding killing spree that runs for most of the movie, with little scenes stuck in here and there to introduce characters that really aren't very important at all. Unless you're a complete gorehound, it can be really tedious to get through. However, the film does pick up in the latter half, when the attention begins to focus on a reporter character and his wife as they attempt to escape the madness. This last portion of the film does become moderately enjoyable, and the twist ending, while some who can't tolerate the cliche of it may complain, is really a welcome element. It adds a much needed kick to a generally lackluster film.
"Nightmare City" comes off as a rather amateurish film from Italian director Umberto Lenzi. The character development is virtually nonexistent, and the make-up is just plain awful. There's very little positive I CAN say about the film, except that it has its moments that do catch your eye, and the final act is really not too bad. It also must be given credit for the original spin it puts on the zombie genre. Still, I can't recommend the film to anyone except the most hardcore gore-lover and zombie film enthusiast. For those who ARE interested, however, the DVD includes an informative interview with the director, a theatrical trailer that would never have been shown in an American theater, and a bio of Umberto Lenzi. I suppose "Nightmare City" is a must watch for anyone wanting to explore Italian zombie horror, but do so at your own risk.
Movie Review: Bottom of the Barrel
Summary: 2 Stars
'Nightmare City' aka 'City of the Walking Dead' aka 'Invasion of the Atomic Zombies' (by far the best title) is pretty much the most reviled film of the European zombie cycle of the early 80's. I don't think this is entirely fair. Personally, I think this movie is better than Mattei's 'Hell of the Living Dead'. But, that ain't much of a prize, and this film is pretty damn lousy. But, it's still worth seeing if you're a zombie fan. So, as I always say, if you've even heard of this movie, you'll probably think seeing it is worth your time.
In some ways this film is slightly better than average. The scenes not involving the zombies are relatively competent, perhaps slightly better than what you'd usually get in this sorta film. None of the characters are remotely interesting, but the acting is not atrocious, if not good either, and the dialogue is rarely laughable. (Except for Anna's ridiculous, luddite social commentary. And that's funny due to the content, rather than the delivery.) The problem with this film is the zombies themselves. Now, I'm not a total zombie purist, but I can't call this a real zombie film. I don't care that they run, and I don't care that they aren't dead (or maybe they are. I forget. Don't care either way.) The problem is that they always use weapons and tools. Now, it's one thing to use these items sporadically, but they do it all the damn time. For the most part, these supposed zombies just run up and stab people. Not very zombie like. Furthermore, they just aren't animalistic enough. The fast zombies in '28 Days Later' and the new 'Dawn of the Dead' were at least wild and out of control. These ones just seem like murderous people with gunk on their heads. What it all comes down to is that these zombies are just lame. They look terrible, with just some ridiculous lumpy crusty crud on their heads, at best, or just some black goo. Lame behavior and lame appearence= LAME. I think if they'da made this with regular zombies it could've been a middle of the road zombie pic, and if they had some decent gore. The gore in this is terrible, other than a few amusing exploding heads. It's not especially gory for this sort of film either, though again, this isn't much of a loss considering the quality of it.
There's not too much else to say, it's just a lotta angry zombies running around cutting people up. Reasonably amusing, but not much more than that. The only really great moment is when a pack of zombies bursts in on an operation, and one surgeons flings a scalpel across the room and into one of the zombies necks. That was pretty sweet.
Yeah, that's it. Amusing, but just barely.
Grade: D+
Movie Review: Not for zombie fans.........
Summary: 2 Stars
The cover of this movie really got to me, I thought it was one of the coolest looking covers I ever saw. When I found out this was a "zombie" movie, I had to see it. It turned out to be a big dissapointment, and alot of times I had to press fast forward or it would be too boring. What bothered me most besides the very cheap special effects (not including the eye gouge or the head shots), were probably the zombies themselves. These zombies are not really zombies, think of them as cannibals who only die when hit in the brain, that's basically what they are. Most of them don't look like zombies, and alot look too human to be zombies, which is why this movie was not fun to watch, they moved way too fast, and were way too smart to be zombies. They also felt pain and fear, which isn't realistic because zombies shouldn't feel pain considering their nerves are dead, they broke almost ever rule there is and that's the reason why I didn't really enjoy this. Some scenes were ok and some were just stupid, like zombies that aren't close to explosions being thrown away by the little blasts. There are alot of cliches in this, and if you seen Cannibal Ferox you know what will happen when the woman starts to lose it in front of the reporter. The ending was cool but you expected the reporter to actually do something, I'm not going to say what but watch it and you'll see that it was a dissapointment. Good to watch if you have nothing else to do, and maybe good for people that aren't fans of typical zombie films, but if you're a die-hard zombie fan you will be upset at what it did to the monsters.Movie Review: Reeaaallly Looong Fiilm!!!
Summary: 2 Stars
Hello World,
Took me 4 nights to get through this little gem. Just didnt do it for me. If you get it used chek it out and dont expect too much. Look to "Demons" for gore and a decent story. This was really lacking and drawn out and over predictable. Although, this is were the World "1st" sees fast moving zombies!!!!!!!! This is a first and yes the Italians developed it. As they did pizza and pasta. Dammmmmn I love Italian foood.
FJE
Movie Review: Laughably Bad Zombie Film
Summary: 1 Stars
Nightmare City (aka City of the Walking Dead) is probably one of the worst zombie films EVER made. It induces unintentional laughter at times and provides much entertainment for the viewer trying to pick apart all the plot holes. The story begins with a mysterious C-130 with no identifying insignia (why the aircraft has none is never explained) that lands uninvited at an unnamed city airport. Soldiers and police surround the plane only to be attacked and dispatched rapidly by an army of living dead pouring off the transport aircraft. (At this point, one must give the film credit for making the zombies VERY fast and very intelligent. In fact, the zombies act smarter than the Civil Defense people in the city.) Departing from many zombie films, the zombies in Nightmare City survive by constant drinking of blood usually provided from a slashed throat. The film goes back to more traditional zombie film rules when it is learned that the only thing that can kill a zombie is a gunshot to the head. (In one of the film's many plot holes, a general is shown issuing orders for police and soldiers to shoot attacking zombies in the head but inexplicably hardly anyone does this.) The film then follows a reporter who desperately tries to rescue his wife from a hospital in danger of falling to the living dead. Then the pair try to flee the city.For gore fans, there's precious little in this film. Most throats "slashed" open by the zombies hardly bleed at all. Anyone wanting a good storyline will be disappointed. About the only ones who won't be disappointed with this film will be diehard zombie enthusiasts. Still, it's not as bad as the awful Zombie 4: The Afterdeath.