Customer Reviews

Nightmare City

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This review is for the Blue Underground DVD release of Nightmare City with some extended information to inform potential buyers. As has been said, this DVD is exactly the same as Anchor Bay's 2002 DVD release except it has a different cover to it. Even the text and images on the back of the DVD case are the same. The 2 extras are the same as well. Tales Of The Contaminated City, an interview with the film's director, Umberto Lenzi. Lastly, included is the original theatrical trailer.


So, if you own the Anchor Bay DVD and are expecting new extras on this DVD release, you're out of luck. It's exactly the same disc. But, if you've never owned Nightmare City, I do recommend it. (Plus, Blue Underground's DVD is cheaper new.) It's a nice change of pace with blood suckers instead of flesh eaters, super fast super strong zombie like creatures, able to fly airplanes, drive cars, and use garden tools to murder anyone in sight. Speaking of pace, the film is nicely paced, too. Lenzi did a good job on the directing in this picture. One nice touch is the use of a synthesized soundtrack, and early example of its use in movies.

If you've read some of the other reviews you know what this movie is about. I have seen plenty of zombie movies and this one I'll have to admit is entertaining although it has some really corny makeup and lot's of bad acting and I guess you could throw in a slab of ham somewhere in there but I like these old 70's style zombie flicks because they sure are fun or funny depending on your taste. Worth the money for us cheese heads.

Hmm, I kept wondering how did alot
of these 1980's classics slip by
my teenage thirst for Horror
back then? I probably would have
loved this even more back in the day....

A few years later though......

Another in the long line of Zombie
related Italian cinema, this is probably
the film that birthed the "Zombies can
run and use tools" genre that no doubt
inspired modern-day films like 28 Days Later &
the 2004 remake of Dawn Of The Dead. I believe
this is one of the first places it started, and not a
bad beginning. This film, about an unindentified plane
full of "zombies" land in the city's main airport and cause
chaos & death the minute the hatch opens, definitely
plays up to the Nuclear Radiation fears of the 80's,
and works well in this genre. But be warned, this isn't your
typical Zombie movie.

In fact, these aren't zombies at all. They are the infected
living who crave the uninfected red blood cells of others,
so don't expect them wanting flesh or brains here. Also, like
said before, these guys can haul serious butt. According to the plot, rigormortis isn't a factor here, the radiation has turned them into supermen, unable to be stopped..unless by a bullet to the head (ah, some things never change). Also, to the mix is the look. Instead of rotting flesh in a gray, green, or white form, the radiation slowly turns their skin into burned mounds of flesh, which some have called "Hamburger Heads". This helps the plot as if they looked like regular Zombies it might not have worked as well. And you never saw a group of mindless creatures know how to use garden tools so well, but I kept asking myself "Where the Heck did they get so many hand hatchets? Did the Hardware store have a sale?".

Storyline faults aside, this movie keeps a steady pace while
covering all the bases. One male & female survivor:check,
stupid goverment:check, wideshot full of undead walking in
the distance:check. Though it will leave you with questions,
like why is it we haven't seen any infected who got attacked
earlier in the movie (except for one towards the end), and
is the ending genius or just plain irritating (wouldn't our
lead guy say "This seems awfully familiar...")?

But if you want gore this movie has a good amount with
effects that range from cool to cold, a plot that would
earn it the Zombi 3 title (but others beat it to it), and
all that would be expected from Italian 80's Horror and then
some. Sure, it isn't a traditional Zombie movie, maybe it would
be nice to place next to your copies of Demons 1 and 2, but
the result is pretty much the same. Definitely something
worthy to add to your related collection.

P.S.: I should also note that if you bought Anchor Bay's
excellent version from 2002, DO NOT buy this one if you're looking for an upgrade. This disc is the EXACT SAME VERSION/MASTER as Anchor Bay's, just with a different cover. If you can find Starz/Anchor Bay's for less, go with that but it is OOP now, so if Blue Underground's is all you can find you won't miss a thing.

An airplane full of passengers heading into the city's airport has people contaminated with radioactive material turns into vicious bloodsucking cruddy-faced, fast-moving, weapon weilding mutant vampire-esque zombie monstrocities that start to attack the city and infect people with their bites. The only way to destroy them is clearly a bullet to the cranium, a jouranlist (Mel Ferrer) with his wife must flee the city of horror with mass hysteria pleaguing the big town.

Entertaining, wild and bizarre Mexican/Spanish/Italian Sci-fi horror action movie from Umberto Lenzi ("Cannibal Ferox"). This movie pratically created the fast-moving zombie subgenre that influenced "Dawn of the Dead 2004" and "28 Days/28 Weeks Later" with the similar infected beasts but these creatures are somewhat of a hybrid of mutant, vampire and zombie since they also drink blood like vampires due to the radition in their cells. The music score is awesome as there's alot of violence and gore in this movie including some cheesy exploding heads, the ending is a cop-out as many would complain but i think this movie is pure grindhouse cinema fun for anyone who likes the zombie genre.

This DVD is a re-issue of Anchor Bay's DVD with the same brilliant transfer and sound quality including the extras like trailer, featurette and bio of Lenzi.

Also recommended: "Grindhouse", "Hell of the Living Dead (a.k.a. Night of the Zombies, Virus, Zombie Creeping Flesh)", "Demons", "City of the Living Dead (a.k.a. Gates of Hell)", "The Toxic Avenger", "Night of the Living Dead (1968 and 1990)", "Dawn of the Dead (1978 and 2004)", "Day of the Dead (1985)", "Zombie Strippers", "Scanners", "The Stuff", "Dead Heat", "Akira", "Class of Nuke'Em High", "28 Days Later", "28 Weeks Later", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (a.k.a. Living Dead at The Manchester Morgue)", "The Crazies", "Land of the Dead", "Diary of the Dead", "Undead", "C.H.U.D", "Lifeforce", "Return of the Living Dead Trilogy", "Cannibal Apocalypse", "Resident Evil Trilogy", "Night of the Comet", "I Am Legend", "The Omega Man", "Zombi 2 (a.k.a Zombie, Zombie Flesh-Eaters)", "Versus", "Bio-Zombie", "Night of the Creeps", "Wild Zero", "From Dusk Till Dawn", and "The Beyond".

There are great zombie films (28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead), and there are zombie films that are so bad that they are great. This film is one of the latter. Every bit as entertaining as anything that Romero has directed. If you're a zombie fan, then this is a must-have for your collection.

The story begins when bearded journalist Dean (Hugo Stilitz) is sent to the local airport to meet an incoming scientist for an interview. When he arrives, a mysterious military plane enters the airport's airspace without permission. It makes an emergency landing and sits quiet. After a short while, the hatch opens and a group of blood-thirsty, deformed zombies armed with knives and daggers and, later, guns stumble out and kill everyone at the airport. When the Department of Defense stops bearded journalist Dean from broadcasting the news about the attack, bearded journalist Dean goes all "first amendment" and tries to get the news out anyway. . . by quitting the TV station he works for. As the zombies spread across the city, bearded former journalist Dean searches for his wife (Laura Trotter) before the radioactive creatures get to her as well.

Sitting down to write a review for a film like 'Nightmare City,' I have no idea where to truly begin. The whole film is so unbelievably ridiculous, it's difficult to truly put down any kind of serious opinion on it. It's a low-budget Italian gore show, so clearly we're not going into it to judge the writing or acting or direction. All we want is to be entertained and grossed out. Well, 'Nightmare City' definitely delivers on both counts. The entertainment value is extremely high. From the beginning, it's just good fun. There's plenty of crazy-looking zombies running amok, attacking whomever the hell they want. Because that's what zombies do. And these ones use knives. Big knives. And guns. Big guns. And, sure, the knives don't actually STAB anyone in the movie and the bullets don't actually leave bullet holes. . . but who needs any of that with the extra-red blood spurting out? Luckily for 'Nightmare City,' this alteration to the typical zombie formula helps the film from falling in with the rest and being forgotten entirely. Well, that, and the random, poorly choreographed Jazzercise scenes. One thing I loved the most was the random sensitivity of the zombies. One minute they're getting shot, stabbed, and punched, and they don't have a worry in the world. Next minute, slamming their fingers in a door causes unbelievable agony. Poor guys.

Overall, if you're looking for some ridiculous '80s fun with plenty of blood, beards, and boobs, check out Umberto Lenzi's 'Nightmare City.'

Final Verdict: 6.5/10.

-AP3-

A plane-load of toxic, radiated zombies disembark and go berserk at the airport! The terror soon spreads to the city and into the surrounding countryside. A disco dance TV show is over-run, ending in slaughter and gooshy remains! The military is useless! These zombies are apparently protected from machine-gun fire by wearing burnt food on their faces! They run! They stab! They shoot and kill! Then, they drink your blood! No, they're not vampires. They are radiation zombies! NIGHTMARE CITY is the forerunner of movies like 28 DAYS LATER, w/ it's limber, insane zombies, way back in 1980! Though not the best zombie film ever made, it's certainly better than many. Belongs somewhere between HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD on your shriek shelf...

I almost don't want to use that title because I don't want to disappoint readers that would expect that from this film and not feel like they got it. However, I do think "Nightmare City" is somewhat comparable to a zombie version of "From Dusk Till Dawn". "Nightmare City" is a zombie movie unlike any other you've ever seen. This was the first zombie movie in which the zombies were fast and more human-like than before (a trait that influenced "28 Days Later"), and in addition, these zombies use knives, medical tools, machine guns, drive trucks, slam you around, anything you can think of! Basically picture braindead humans that are literally out for blood, and that's the element of this movie.

You can basically consider "Nightmare City" a horror/action movie crossover, because it's neither fully action film or horror film. However, I think this style is done very well and makes for a great wild-and-out film. Lots of action with, as somewhat previously mentioned, knives and machine guns, and the works. In fact, the zombie attacks are basically high-action, booty-kickin' full-out massacres! Usually a person might die one at a time in zombie films, but in "Nightmare City", people get ripped apart by the truckload. There's also a good amount of nudity which makes for even more B-movie entertainment, not to mention a really cool soundtrack, intelligent character development and swift, no-bull pacing.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable and underrated zombie film that makes for some great B-movie fun. The ending is questionable for the viewers, though: You probably won't dig it much if you're expecting a miracle happy ending, but if you're fine with a realistic ending that makes ironically makes a social and environmental statement, the ending will pretty much be quite acceptable. A few good extras are thrown in here, too, and the price on this is irresistible! Highly recommended for those seeking a cheap but lovable thrill. Thanks for the time, and peace.

I've heard so many bad things about this movie that I rented it to see if they were true. For the most part, they were right.

This really is not a very good movie. The acting is terrible (maybe it has something to do with that English dub?), the scenes are just god awful, and the story seems to be somewhat disjointed.

How does it start? Basically, a plane lands at an airport. Guess what's in the plane? You got it. Zombies, except these guys are wielding axes, pipes, and machine guns which they use to quickly dispose of the army of police officers and soldiers that appear outside. As you can see, these are not your average Romero type zombies. These zombies are fast and quite intelligent.

I said it right, they are intelligent zombies. You see a scene where they attack a power plant and knock out the power. In the meantime, they beat the crap out of the soldiers that were guarding the plant.

Like I said, the movie suffers from bad acting and bad ideas as well. The military are pretty much idiots, and the zombies always outsmart them somehow. That's so stupid. The military even mistake the zombies for aliens from outer space! And don't expect to get attached to the characters. You won't have any feeling for them whatsoever. Also, the movie seems to have a sexist feel to it. If the zombies attack a woman, they seem to feel the need to rip open her shirt and expose her breasts in order to suck the blood out (they suck blood, by the way). That doesn't offend me, but it's just funny how sexist some of the kill scenes are. Also, the kill scenes are really not very good. They just look fake, but I guess they really didn't have a whole lot to work with back then so it's really not their fault. Finally, the ending was the stupidest thing I have ever seen. I won't spoil the ending, but I'll give you a hint. Watch the beginning of the film real closely and memorize it...

I gave it three stars because I actually kind of enjoyed it despite the bad acting and crappy special effects. Just don't expect Dawn of the Dead and you should be fine.

"Nightmare City" is not your typical zombie movie. The zombies run, think, use weapons, feel pain and have brown faces that look like mud masks. Bullets don't bother them but they scream in pain if they get a finger caught in a door. The weirdest part is that they zero in on women's breasts like guided missiles--the female breast has never before endured such a prolonged assault as seen in "Nightmare City." Toss in some disco dancers, ridiculous social commentary and a cheesy twist ending and you have a truly inessential but entertaining way to kill 90 minutes. I watched it right after, and liked it better than, the more highly acclaimed "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie," but what do I know?