Virus (1980)

Oh yeah i'm diving into the eighties zombie movies. I've been a zombie fan ever since I first saw Night of the living dead (I think I was 10 back then, 18 right now, call me a newbie!). I guess it's my favorite subgenre, but I have to admit the last few years have been pretty weak when it comes to traditional zombie films. They just aren't as clever, fun and perhaps clumsy as they used to be. Take Bruno Mattei's (R.I.P) ''Virus'' as an example.... or should I call it ''Hell of the Living Dead'' or maybe just ''Night of the Zombies''. What about ''Zombie Creeping Flesh''? Dude, leave some awesome titles for the years to come..

I haven't seen that many Mattei flicks yet, just one actualy.. but I loved it! It was called ''L' Isola dei Morti Viventi'' or better known as ''Island of the Living Dead''. And while I was watching it I thought to myself: ''this has to be a late seventies / early eighties flick'', but it wasn't untill I finished that I found out it was actualy from 2006! That makes it even better if you ask me. All I know is: there's a lot more lying around for me, and I'm dying to see them. Thank god I just quit my study, plenty of time to spare!

And I'll be filling my time with creeping zombie flesh during nights where the living hellish dead roam the rotten earth, or something like that. I just want them to be trashy, and Bruno is the king of trash. Or at least A king of trash. Because let's be honest for a second, the acting is horrendous, the quality is sickening and there's no logic whatsoever. And you know what? It's one of the best zombie movies ever made!

Because it's not up to the picture quality or triple A cast to make a horror movie good, it's all about the fun. And to create the fun I expect you'll need some amazing gore, a great soundtrack and some cool (possibly oppressive) settings. Fuck off with your smooth filmmaking, I like it rough around the edges. And it doesn't get any rougher than this. It has plenty of awkward situation (what where they thinking?) which made me laugh. I'm not mocking the film, I'm laughing because of the joy I get out of it. That's pretty special.

It takes a simple plot to carry all the shit to come. In this case we see a chemical spill in the 'Hope Center' factory that turns all the employees into living dead, flesh eaters, zombies, you know the drill. Four commando's come across this team of reporters and their 'son'. Together they will fight for their lives and in any other case: risking them needlessly. It's part of the fun, of course, but it does feel really retarded (yes, simply retarded) from time to time.

But why would I care? Again; it's all about the fun. And Mattei get's that, he's no plot-driven genuis nor is he a legendary cinematographer. He's just a great director who knows what his limits are and makes the best out of it by overexaggerating on a few aspects. In this case: the gore! Which is absolutely marvelous. Flesh being eaten, heads exploding, rotten faces and an (if you ask me) classic kill near the end. It will keep you bussy, that's for sure.

There's only one italian zombie movie I like better than this one (at leastso far, i've got some stuff left to watch!), and that's Zombi 2. Nothing to be ashamed off, they're both epic zombie classics. I will never get enough of these wonderful movies, thank you Mattei!

Score: 93/100