Hell of the Living Dead

Hell of the Living Dead
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed byBruno Mattei
Screenplay by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Cabrera[2]
Edited byClaudio Borroni[2]
Music byGoblin
Production
companies
  • Beatrice Film
  • Film Dara[2]
Release dates
  • November 1980 (1980-11) (Spain)
  • August 1981 (1981-08) (Italy)
Running time
100 minutes
Countries

Hell of the Living Dead (Italian: Virus – L'inferno dei morti viventi) is a 1980 horror film directed by Bruno Mattei. The film is set in a laboratory in Papua New Guinea that releases a dangerous chemical, turning the technicians and locals into zombies. A French 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 a film similar to 1978's 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, taken from other film scores that the band had performed. The film generally received negative reviews, noting bad dialogue and being derivative of Dawn of the Dead.

  1. ^ Stine 2003, p. 166.
  2. ^ a b c d Jenkins 1982.