Nightmare City (1980)
TV news reporter named Dean Miller (Hugo Stiglitz) along with his cameraman (Antonio Mayans) waits at the airport for the arrival of a scientific that he is about to interview . Then , a Hercules C 1330 lands, and soon enough quick footed zombie types are piling out of the plane, shooting, biting and knifing absolutely everyone in sight . Miller records and reports on these horrific events . They go on a criminal spree , slicing , dicing , and biting their way across the city and countryside . While the military leaders as General Murchison (Mel Ferrer) of Civil Defense , Officer Holmes (Francisco Rabal) and Donahue (Manuel Zarzo) fight a losing war of attrition against the relentless atomic zombies . Later on , Dean , the brave reporter who witnessed the original attack fights to find his wife Anna (Laura Trotter) at the hospital before the horde completely take over the city .
Gory , gruesome , pretty repellent , and ghastly cannibal feast in which the nimble flesh-eating atomic zombies carry out a real slaughter and can be only destroyed by fire in the head . Unrelenting shock-feast plenty of disturbing as well as frightening images laced with brief touches of black humor , including lots of blood drinking zombies who have been exposed to radiation emerge armed with knives , weapons and raging teeth . Taking in elements of classic horror gore and crafting a flawed yet exhilarating slice of horror trash , Nightmare City is a bonkers fusion of non-stop jumps and fast-moving zombies . Army of Zombies appearance roaming the city , countryside , and some people besieged inside a mansion , hospital , factory , church and attraction park deliver the goods , enough to be interesting . It is a batshit crazy zombie movie which may be the first instance of running zombies, all the way back in 1980 . Umberto Lenzi’s main great success is middlingly directed with startling visual content and acceptable production by Luis Mendez . Furthermore , special mention to filthy make-up by expert Giuseppe Ferranti . The script had to be altered considerably due to budget limitations dealing mainly how a group of military and civil people fights against the relentless atomic zombies . Umberto Lenzi’s utterly insane radiation-sickness opus Nightmare City is plenty of thrills , chills , high body-count executed by the eerie Zombies and photographed in pallid color with lurid images and acceptable results . Mediocre acting by Hugo Stiglitz, though both Franco Nero and Fabio Testi were considered for the lead in the film, but the producer insisted on a Mexican leading man to appeal to Mexican audiences ,hence, the role went to Hugo Stiglitz . He gives an average performance as the reporter who attempts to encounter his spouse , Laura Trotter , and both of whom getaway from the blood-thirsty zombies that are all over the city . Being a Spain/Italy co-production here appears several Spanish actors as Francisco Rabal , Manuel Zarzo , Eduardo Fajardo and uncredited Antonio Mayans , Jesus Franco usual , as a cameraman . This is an ordinary excruciatingly Zombie film where the intrigue , tension , suspense appears threatening and lurking in both , city and countryside . At the time considered the plus ultra of thoroughly disturbing movie is less stomach-churning by nowadays’s standards, yet its fundamental power to thrill remains undiminished . This genuinely embarrassing story with correct utilization of images-shock is professionally photographed by Hans Burmann in Eastmancolor . Anti-climatic and inappropriate musical score Stelvio Cipriani .
The picture was regularly directed by the prolific filmmaker Umberto Lenzi . Talented and versatile writer/director Umbert Lenzi has made a vast array of often solid and entertaining films in all kind of genres as horror, comedy, Western, and science fiction in a career that spans over 40 years .Umbert Lenzi used the pseudonym Hank Milestone and Humphrey Logan . Umberto made his directorial debut with ¨Queen of the Seas¨ (1961) . Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with ¨Pirates of Malaysia¨ (1964) starred by Steeve Reeves, which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood , Catherine the Great, Zorro , Sandokan and Maciste . He subsequently directed a ¨Fumetti¨ titled The mask of Kriminal (1966) . After directing a war film and two “spaghetti westerns,” Lenzi turned to the Giallo genre with ¨Orgasmo¨ (1969). During the 1970s, Lenz filmed a number of Giallo and thrillers , among them : ¨So Sweet, So Perverse¨, ¨Seven Blood-Stained Orchids¨ and ¨Eyeball¨ . Lenzi turned to the police thrillers called ¨Polizieschi¨, which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity . Titles like ¨Almost Human¨ , ¨Free Hand For a Tough Cop¨ and ¨Brothers Till We Die¨ were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers . Lenzi is an expert on wartime genre such as he proved in ¨Desert commandos¨ , ¨Battle of commandos¨ , ¨From hell to victory¨ , ¨Young Lions¨ and ¨Bridge to hell¨. Prior to the Polizieschi, Lenzi directed ¨Man from Deep River¨ , which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre . Later on , he directed two very gory jungle cannibal features , ¨Eaten Alive¨ and ¨Make Them Die Slowly ¨which was banned in 31 countries, made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre . Then Lenzi directed this zombie flick ¨Nightmare City¨ (1980) , and ¨Iron Master¨(1983) . In the 90s his films were extremely low-budgeted and failed at box-office
