Hell of the Living Dead
| Hell of the Living Dead | |
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Italian film poster for Hell of the Living Dead
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| Directed by | Bruno Mattei |
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| Music by | Goblin |
| Cinematography | John Cabrera |
| Edited by | Claudio Borroni |
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Hell of the Living Dead (Italian: Virus - l'inferno dei morti viventi) is a 1980 Italian-Spanish horror film directed by Bruno Mattei The film is set in a laboratory in Papua New Guinea that sends out a dangerous chemical that turns the technicians and locals into zombies. An Italian news reporter (Margit Evelyn Newton) and her crew land on the island to investigate.
Hell of the Living Dead was a project developed by producers and given to director Bruno Mattei who attempted to create film similar to Dawn of the Dead but lighter in tone. It was shot in five weeks in Spain with a script that was not Mattei's first choice and a score by the band Goblin which was taken from other film scores they had performed. The film has generally received negative reviews noting bad dialogue and being derivative of the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead.
At a top secret chemical research facility called Hope Center #1, a rat causes a chemical leak and dies; but as two workers investigate, that rat suddenly comes back to life and kills one of the men. Subsequently, the entire staff of the plant turn into flesh-eating zombies. A four-man team of commandos led by Lt. Mike London (José Gras) are deployed to eliminate a group of eco-terrorists who have taken hostages inside a large building at the US Embassy in Barcelona, Spain. The terrorists demand the closing down of all the Hope Centers, which both the government and the military deny exist; the press, under orders of the local authorities, do not publicize the terrorists' demands or mention the disaster at the Hope Center. After pumping tear gas into the building, Lt. London and his three commandos burst into the room where the terrorists are and kill them all. Once the mission is completed, the team loses contact with Hope Center #1. Thinking that the complex has been infiltrated by terrorists, the team flies to Papua New Guinea. There they meet journalist Lia Rousseau (Margit Evelyn Newton) and her cameraman, who are investigating a series of mysterious, violent attacks on the locals.
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Wikipedia