Video Nasty - Zombie Creeping Flesh

Zombie Creeping Flesh

(1980)

AKA - Virus

AKA - Hell Of The Living Dead

Beatrice Film / Films Dara : Merlin Video / Vestron Video / Creature Features Video / Video Instant Picture Company.

4 / 5

This is a terrible film that had the opportunity to have been considerably better.  It has an admirable start with Goblin's electronic music mixed in with story narrative, this gives it a modern feel.  As the movie begins we are at a chemical plant that is not as secure as they thought.  A rat is found in one of the rooms, though it's not dead as the workmen first think. It attacks one of the workmen killing him, unfortunately, he doesn't stay dead.  As the trouble progresses the noxious gas starts to leak out of the facility and infects the air... bringing on an extinction event.

From here on it should have been an awesome film but the Directors, Bruno Mattei (who used the name Vincent Dawn) - this action speaks volumes - and Claudio Fragasso (who also co-wrote the story with Jose Maria Cunilles) decided to go an entirely different route than you would ever imagine.

The viewer is then subjected to some really bad over-the-top acting (more than usual for an Italian horror) as we are introduced to a crack army assault team who stop a siege at an embassy.  This ten minutes is a waste of time as it's really bad and is only there to let the audience know their next mission is in New Guinea.

It appears the location was only introduced into the story so the director could hop onto the tribe and animal cruelty bandwagon, as they weave stock film of death rituals into the movie. Once again, these are not actually required and are not relevant to the film.  However, it does mean the lead lady can get her boobs out and they are nice boobs.

Another handicap is the speed of the Zombies, these are your old-time shambling dead. Even Richard Briars on a Zimmer-frame could out run these stiffs (Cockney's V's Zombies).  It's even played up in the film.  Even the zombie make-up is poor most are just covered in light blue powder and any other embellishments are large, bulky, and unrealistic.

The twist at the end is a nice one and again if they hadn't gone the wrong direction with the story then, it could have been an outstanding Zombie movie.

I wouldn't recommend this one to anybody as there are much better Zombie flicks about, my favourite being Return Of The Living Dead... "Brains... We Need More BRAINS!!!"