Zombie Movies » 1980 Zombie Movies http://zombiemovies.org Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:13:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Day of the Dead http://zombiemovies.org/day-of-the-dead.html http://zombiemovies.org/day-of-the-dead.html#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:16:01 +0000 Bub http://zombiemovies.org/?p=96 Day of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead) is a 1985 horror film by director George A. Romero, the third of Romero’s Living Dead movies. It is preceded by Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Steve Miner directed a remake which was released on February 15, 2008. Director George A. Romero describes the film as a “tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society”.

Plot

An undead apocalypse has ravaged the Earth whilst America’s last surviving humans study them from within an underground military establishment. The survivors in the film are horrified at the prospect that they “are the only ones left”, creating a crisis within human civilization over whether or not the idea of human society should be continued or abandoned. The living characters in the film are made up of three distinctive groups, each of whom have been given a task by the government – but since the government is no longer providing oversight (and may no longer exist) each group is becoming increasingly subject to temptations that go beyond their instructions. The scientists have been ordered to find a resolution to the epidemic but are tempted to violate nature’s boundaries guarding life and death, soldiers who are assigned to protect the doctors appointed to study the zombies but are tempted to enforce fascistic martial law and destroy the specimens in an act of rebellion, and the civilians who are assigned to serve both groups with basic though necessary services like transportation and communication but are tempted to abandon the cause and, instead, live out their last days in reckless abandon.

Cast

  • Lori Cardille as Dr. Sarah Bowman
  • Terry Alexander as John
  • Joe Pilato as Captain Rhodes
  • Jarlath Conroy as William McDermott
  • Anthony Dileo Jr. as Pvt. Miguel Salazar
  • Richard Liberty as Dr. Matthew Logan / “Frankenstein”
  • Sherman Howard as Bub, The Zombie
  • Gary Howard Klar as Pvt. Steel
  • Ralph Marrero as Pvt. Rickles
  • John Amplas as Dr. Ted Fisher
  • Phillip G. Kellams as Pvt. Miller
  • Taso N. Stavrakis as Pvt. Torrez
]]> http://zombiemovies.org/day-of-the-dead.html/feed 4 City of the Living Dead http://zombiemovies.org/city-of-the-living-dead.html http://zombiemovies.org/city-of-the-living-dead.html#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:00:53 +0000 Bub http://zombiemovies.org/?p=84 City of the Living Dead (Italian title: Paura nella città dei morti viventi) is an Italian zombie film from director Lucio Fulci. It has numerous alternate titles, such as Gates of Hell. It is the first installment of the unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy which also includes The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery. Fulci makes an uncredited cameo as Dr. Joe Thompson in the film.

Plot

After Father William Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine) hangs himself in a cemetery, the gates of hell are opened. Zombies with abilities of super strength, teleportation and levitation appear and start killing off people in town. Investigating reporter Peter Bell (Christopher George) along with psychic Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl) travel to Dunwich, New England, and from the Book of Eibon learn that they must close the portal to hell before All Saints Day, or the dead will overtake the earth. During the movie, actress Daniela Doria actually vomited sheep entrails during the intestine purging scene.

]]> http://zombiemovies.org/city-of-the-living-dead.html/feed 6 The Children http://zombiemovies.org/the-children.html http://zombiemovies.org/the-children.html#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:46:29 +0000 Bub http://zombiemovies.org/?p=67 The Children (a.k.a The Children of Ravensback) is a 1980 low budget horror film. It was written and produced by Carlton J. Albright. The movie is about five children in a small town who, thanks to a yellow toxic cloud, end up being turned into bloodless zombies with black fingernails who microwave every living thing they put their hands on. The surviving adults of the town have to try to put a stop to them. The film is rated R for language, drug use, and gory violence.

The film is currently being distributed by Troma Entertainment.

Trivia

  • One drive-in theater in Tucson, Arizona had a 6-mile traffic backup on the film’s opening weekend.
  • The sound made when the zombified children are killed is made from the sound of cats in heat.
  • Most of the actors and actresses in this movie are unknowns. In fact, this movie was the first and last role of four of the five children who acted in it. Gil Rogers (Billy) appeared on daytime soaps Guiding Light and All My Children, and Gale Garnett (Cathy) had a hit record in 1964 with “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine.”

Cast

  • Martin Shakar John Freemont
  • Gil Rogers Sheriff Billy Hart
  • Gale Garnett Cathy Freemont
  • Shannon Bolin Molly
  • Tracy Griswold Deputy Harry Timmons
  • Joy Glaccum Suzie MacKenzie
  • Jeptha Evans Paul MacKenzie
]]> http://zombiemovies.org/the-children.html/feed 1 Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror http://zombiemovies.org/burial-ground-the-nights-of-terror.html http://zombiemovies.org/burial-ground-the-nights-of-terror.html#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:42:56 +0000 Bub http://zombiemovies.org/?p=64 Burial Ground: Nights of Terror (Le Notti del terrore) is an Italian grindhouse movie directed by Andrea Bianchi with cult status, primarily due to the casting of a middle aged dwarf as the child of an incestuous relationship. Furthermore, the poor quality acting and dubbing add to its cult charm.

Censorship

During the 1980s, this film was difficult to get a hold of in the UK in its uncut form due to the stricter rules regarding the Video Recordings Act of 1984. It was instead released on video in a heavily censored form under the title Nights Of Terror, having 25 minutes of footage removed. As of 2004 the film has been available uncut under the title The Zombie Dead.

Unique Zombies

This film differs from many other zombie films in that the zombies are seemingly far more intelligent than the characters and actually consciously utilize weapons, including: pitchforks, machetes and other gardening implements, much like Bill Hinzman’s Flesheater.

]]> http://zombiemovies.org/burial-ground-the-nights-of-terror.html/feed 0 The Beyond http://zombiemovies.org/the-beyond.html http://zombiemovies.org/the-beyond.html#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:36:11 +0000 Bub http://zombiemovies.org/?p=30 The Beyond (also known as E tu vivrai nel terrore – L’aldilà or Seven Doors of Death) is a 1981 Italian horror movie directed by Lucio Fulci. It is considered by some horror film fans to be one of the best movies made by the Italian director. The second film in Fulci’s unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy (along with City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery), The Beyond has gained a cult following over the decades — in part because of the film’s gore-filled murder sequences, which had been heavily censored when the film was originally released in the United States in 1983.

Background

Following the release of City of the Living Dead, Fulci decided to continue that film’s exploration of metaphysical concepts — in particular, the ways in which the realms of both the living and the dead might bleed into each other. Fulci also wanted to do a film that would pay homage to his idol, the French playwright Antonin Artaud. Artaud, a sometime member of the early 20th Century Surrealist movement, envisioned theatre being less about linear plot and more about “cruel” imagery and symbolism that could shock its audience into action.

Thus, Fulci’s original outline for The Beyond was of a non-linear haunted house story with the only solid plot element being that of a woman moving into a hotel built on one of the seven gates of hell (another such gate is depicted in City of the Living Dead). This original story focused on the dead leaving hell and entering the hotel with little outside of the ensuing carnage to link the scenes together.

However, the German distribution company that owned the release rights to Fulci’s films at the time were not interested in a haunted house story. Zombie movies were still popular at the time in Europe and Fulci’s backers wanted something similar to his previous zombie films. Fulci agreed to rewrite his film, adding zombies and completely rewriting the film’s final act to include a shoot-out between the main characters and a zombie horde at a local hospital. Despite these revisions, the final product is considered by many fans to be one of Fulci’s best films and has even been praised for its oneiric incoherence.

Trivia

  • The theme of “The Beyond” was used in the song “Seven Doors Hotel” by the band Europe on their debut album, released in 1983.
  • This film was #60 on Bravo‘s 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
  • During the final scene in the Beyond’s abyss, the sand covered bodies lying on the ground were actually stark naked street derelicts who were coerced with, and paid in, alcohol.
  • In the scene near the end, where David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl enter the elevator with the little girl, David can clearly be seen reloading his revolver by dropping the rounds into the barrel. Catriona notices and begins to smile as the elevator doors close.
  • There is an alternate take of the opening sequence. Normally shown in sepia-tone, some German prints feature this sequence in color. It can be found on Anchor Bay’s DVD release.
  • Several different cuts of the movie exist on video and DVD. The most heavily edited is known as “The Seven Doors of Death” and is the version first distributed in the US. The uncut version of “The Beyond” on the DVD made by Anchor Bay is 89 minutes. There are other DVD editions made in Korea and Australia that range in length from 83 minutes, 84 minutes, and 87 minutes.
  • “The Beyond” served as inspiration for Candlemass’s bassist and main-songwriter Leif Edling when he wrote the song Demons Gate, which is on Candlemass’s debut album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus .
]]> http://zombiemovies.org/the-beyond.html/feed 1 Alien Dead http://zombiemovies.org/alien-dead.html http://zombiemovies.org/alien-dead.html#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:19:54 +0000 Bub http://zombiemovies.org/?p=12 Alien Dead is a 1980 American horror film directed by Fred Olen Ray, and the final screen appearance of Buster Crabbe. Ray co-wrote the script with Martin Nicholas. The film was not successful on its initial release, but later gained cult status as an unintentional comedy.

Plot

A meteor strikes a houseboat in the swamps near a southern town, causing the people on the houseboat to become zombies. The zombies feed on the alligators in the swamp and when they run out of alligators, they start going for the citizens. When the people start to disappear, a local scientist tries to figure out what’s happening and how to stop the zombies from killing more people.

Cast

  • Buster Crabbe as Sheriff Kowalski
  • Raymond Roberts as Tom Corman (billed as Ray Roberts)
  • SHELLEY YOUNGREN AS THE ANGRY WIFE
  • Linda Lewis as Shawn Michaels
  • George Kelsey as Emmet Michaels
  • Mike Bonavia as Miller Haze
  • Dennis Underwood as Deputy Campbell
  • John Leinier as Paisley
  • Rich Vogan as Krelboin
  • Martin Nicholas as Doc Ellerbee (as Martin Alan Nicholas)
  • Norman Riggins as Mr. Griffith
  • Nancy Kranz as Mrs. Griffith
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