Nightmare City (dir. Umberto Lenzi, 1980)
Umberto Lenzi is sometimes credited with the invention of the “fast zombie” in his 1980 sci-fi horror feature. This is contradicted by the facts that George A. Romero’s The Crazies–the clear antecedent to Lenzi’s film–came out in 1973 and that neither Romero’s nor Lenzi’s creations can strictly speaking be called “zombies.” Romero’s are victims of biological weapons testing, while Lenzi’s are afflicted with radiation sickness that does essentially the exact opposite of what it does in reality.
It pains to present that argument, because both Romero and Lenzi’s monsters fulfill the same exact role that a traditional zombie does, and we’ve all heard this too much since the release of 28 Days Later back in 2003, and to be honest, I’m trying to pad this review.
There’s not much to recommend here. Nightmare City is pretty rote and lacks much of what you’ll like from Italian genre films. It has long stretches where not much happens and the gore effects can only entertain you so much. You’ll get some ridiculous aerobics style dancing and actors drinking coffee in tiny cups in tense situations. Thematically it never gets beyond NUCLEAR WAR = BAD, which until about two year ago I thought was a settled matter, but here we are.
If you want a more interesting Italian zombie film, go with Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 a.k.a. Sanguella; The Island of the Living Dead; Zombie Flesh Eaters; Zombie; Zombie: The Dead Walk Among Us; Woodoo; L’Enfer de Zombies; Nightmare Island; and That Movie Where a Zombie Fights a Shark.
You could also watch the one other Hugo Stiglitz film I’ve seen, John Huston’s adaptation of the excellent Malcolm Lowry novel Under the Volcano. I don’t remember Stiglitz being in it, but whatever, watch it instead.
October 2, 2018
oliveresque 