Would someone please explain to me why the hell anyone would consider something like Dawn of the Dead or Lucio Fulci's Zombie's 2 superior to Bruno Mattei's masterpiece, Hell of the Living Dead. What I've mostly read about this movie is criticism. Hell is ten times better than anything Lucio Fulci ever did, bold statement? I don't think so. Lucio Fulci's work is boring, the gore scenes are literally the only positive thing. Most Italian horror is a bit on the boring side anyway, even Beyond the Darkness, the grim masterpiece that it is, is a tad boring, Hell of the Living Dead is not boring, for 70's standards, as well as todays. The fact that the score is very "borrowed" means nothing to me, I mean, who the hell cares? Stealing Goblin tunes was a stroke of genius. So, don't believe the nay sayers, Hell of the Living Dead is quality horror.
With that out of the way, Hell of the Living Dead, although far superior, fits in quite nicely with it's peers. Besides being better and longer, it's a lot darker, with a powerful apocalyptic vibe. We begin with some sort of horrible accident at a nuclear plant in New Guinea, so naturally, a world wide virus breaks out, bringing the dead back to life. This nightmare follows a female reporter and some swat team guys trying in vain to make a little sense out of all this. while making their way through the stock footage-filled jungles, it takes these people a little longer than usual to figure out that you have to shoot them in the head, although they pick it up soon enough. Our desperate crew now encounters a grieving bunch of natives that have lost loved ones to the plague of the dead, this is where Hell of the living dead kind of turns into a cross between Day of the Dead and Cannibal Ferox, so if you still feel the need to criticize this gory nightmare of an epic, then just run along and go watch The Transformers, or something. Hell of the Living Dead is a buffet of bad dubbing, cheesy violence, stolen music, and amusing stock footage, but none of those things take away from the fact that this movie is dark, hardcore, and absolutely hilarious. For a more than low-budget, Italian horror movie to accomplish all that, considering everything else, is quite miraculous. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure very little effort or money went in to this, but sometimes movies end up with positive qualities that they weren't meant to have if things didn't go how they were originally meant to. That's why they call it a diamond in the rough, you know, like The Chooper. Hell of the Living Dead, along with the title and score, among other key elements, truly feels like the end of the world. And for a horror movie, you can't ask for much more than that. Hell Of The Living Dead was a good idea. Long live Goblin. 9/10
With that out of the way, Hell of the Living Dead, although far superior, fits in quite nicely with it's peers. Besides being better and longer, it's a lot darker, with a powerful apocalyptic vibe. We begin with some sort of horrible accident at a nuclear plant in New Guinea, so naturally, a world wide virus breaks out, bringing the dead back to life. This nightmare follows a female reporter and some swat team guys trying in vain to make a little sense out of all this. while making their way through the stock footage-filled jungles, it takes these people a little longer than usual to figure out that you have to shoot them in the head, although they pick it up soon enough. Our desperate crew now encounters a grieving bunch of natives that have lost loved ones to the plague of the dead, this is where Hell of the living dead kind of turns into a cross between Day of the Dead and Cannibal Ferox, so if you still feel the need to criticize this gory nightmare of an epic, then just run along and go watch The Transformers, or something. Hell of the Living Dead is a buffet of bad dubbing, cheesy violence, stolen music, and amusing stock footage, but none of those things take away from the fact that this movie is dark, hardcore, and absolutely hilarious. For a more than low-budget, Italian horror movie to accomplish all that, considering everything else, is quite miraculous. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure very little effort or money went in to this, but sometimes movies end up with positive qualities that they weren't meant to have if things didn't go how they were originally meant to. That's why they call it a diamond in the rough, you know, like The Chooper. Hell of the Living Dead, along with the title and score, among other key elements, truly feels like the end of the world. And for a horror movie, you can't ask for much more than that. Hell Of The Living Dead was a good idea. Long live Goblin. 9/10