Nightmare City

Now here's a strange one - no, not the film itself (well yeah!?) but this bizarre DVD release. An often berated zombie film, Umberto Lenzi's 'Nightmare City' is actually a gutsy little film that deserves more praise than it normally gets.

Virtually plotless (but fun), the scene is set when a plane full of hyperactive zombies (complete with axes and knives) land at an airport and run rampage doing what the undead do best - kill everyone in sight!

Mayhem ensues with various zombie killing scenarios - hospitals, army base, TV disco show (?!!) - all backed up with a nice thumping Italian 'we're coming to get ya' soundtrack, which is how the film pretty much goes for the next 90 minutes running time up to the hilarious ending which has horror fans split on the 'lame/love it' front.

Wow, sounds great I hear you cry ! Well, hold your horses just a moment. Sure, it's cheesey but cool zombie fun - I love it, but it's this particular DVD release that lets the side down. Released in Germany by Laser Paradise (as 'Grossangriff der Zombies') it's a real mish-mash oddball disc of nationalitys. The first half of the films print shows some graininess at times (and regretably some cuts to the gore fun) but the second half print quality is lovely and nice n' gory too. Add to that, every now and again there is random japanese subtitles that pop up on screen that cannot be removed - well bizarre, so mix that with the german and english audio tracks and you have a real continental experience of sorts!!

We really shouldn't complain though as seemingly the inclusion of the English audio track is a licensing error (yeah right!!) and all future pressings will be in German only, so fans really should try pick this one up if they can. Though there is a UK release on the way (wahey!) and 'Anchor Bay' will indeed get round to releasing this gutsy little gem in time too (if you can wait!)

A cool zombie pastiche from Lenzi with guts, balls (and some nipple ripping too) - check it out !!