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Playing with jungle zombies.
Review: Four members of a SWAT team earn a vacation after successfully
thwarting a hostage situation. They go to New Guinea (of all places)
expecting to meet plenty of topless girls in grass skirts. At the
same time, a female TV reporter, her cameraman, and three others are
also visiting the area.
Unbeknownst to all of them, something is turning the locals into
flesh-eating zombies. One by one the group members become
food for the undead as they fight to get back to the modern world to uncover the
truth.
That sums up Bruno Mattei's Virus aka Hell of the
Living Dead, one of many in a long line of low-budget Italian
zombie films. And in this case, it is some of the worst filmmaking
ever. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time and it's not a
comedy.
The funniest moments come when the SWAT members are on screen.
They move in the stupidest and most ridiculous manner and clearly
had no training for their roles. They exhibit no evidence whatsoever
of their supposedly elite SWAT team status.
The characters' reactions to danger are also hilarious. As their
friends are attacked and eaten, they stand motionless watching the
carnage and can only muster some inane facial expressions.
As for those doing the eating, some of the zombies were made up
quite well, while others just had painted faces and ragged clothing.
Overall, the special effects were acceptable for a small budget
horror flick.
The lack of money was particularly apparent in one scene where an
extremely poor job was done weaving footage of a real native funeral
ceremony into the film. The dramatic difference in picture quality
exacerbated the fact the footage was taken from another source.
Worst of all, the scene was worthless and added nothing to the film.
Virus is a gold mine when it comes to material to goof on.
As such, it can make for a fun experience.
Learn more: IMDb
DVD version viewed: Hell of the Living Dead
(Anchor Bay, UPC 013131175097)
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