Search - Nightmare City on DVD

ALERT! Channel 5 News Flash!

Holly Apollyon | The Overlook Hotel | 08/12/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"From the scattered and mottled composition of Nightmare City, I have gleaned the following intriguing facts:

(A) Radioactive Zombies are not like ordinary zombies; Radioactive Zombies are capable of piloting planes and wielding weapons of virtually any description.

(B) Radioactive Zombies do not look like ordinary zombies; Radioactive Zombies wear normal clothes, suits and ties, and look like someone dumped large buckets of pigeon excrement all over their heads and faces.

(C) Radioactive Zombies disregard the consumption of human flesh in favor of non-polite exsanguination.

(D) Radioactive Zombies have absolutely no regard for the institution of physical fitness and will brazenly slaughter aerobics instructors in the middle of a television broadcast.

Nightmare City occurs in the wake of some undisclosed radioactive spill, the result of which is a horde of blood-crazed maniacs. The city authorities are waiting for the return of the renowned professor sent to investigate the spill; however, when the professor does return he does so in an unmarked plane with no apparent flight plan. The professor himself leads the initial disgorge of zombies from the plane, attacking the military and airport personnel. AHHHHHH! The zombies prey upon the hapless and stupid humans, stabbing their victims and tearing open their throats to release geysers of spurting blood.

Unfortunately for Nightmare City, the protagonist is a sanctimonious reporter. The reporter flees from the airport massacre to interrupt an apparently very popular aerobics show to report the horrific events via a "special news flash" on Channel 5. The news flash is canceled, however, when the watchful military intervenes. The reporter disgustedly resigns his post. Meanwhile, the blood-crazed radioactive zombies have invaded the station and have begun to violently exsanguinate the aerobics instructors. Is nothing sacred?

Even worse than the forced cancellation of everybody's favorite aerobics show, the zombies are spreading their radioactive contagion to their victims. Sweet Jesus, the unthinkable carnage. The reporter manages to reach the local hospital, where he collects his wife and sets out with the intension of raiding for fuel and provisions and ostensibly fleeing Nightmare City; in the process of doing so, however, the reporter and his wife decide to pause for roughly ten minutes while they smugly wax philosophical and self-righteously condemn the race of man for his cruel disregard and technological trespasses. This gives the zombies just enough time to catch up, and the reporter and his wife subsequently lose access to the provisions as well as their vehicle.

At the end of the day, Nightmare City is stupid, disoriented, and lavishly violent, and since those are three qualities that I myself greatly appreciate, I have thenceforth bestowed upon the tangled mess called Nightmare City a rating of 4 stars.
"

Nightmare Movie!

Monty Moonlight | TX | 07/04/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, that's a bit harsh, this film is actually growing on me. My feelings at this point are a bit torn. I found the first half of the movie to be rather monotonous; the second half really picked up. Perhaps it was more the final 3rd of the movie. Anyway, this is a hard film to describe without oversimplifying, because for much of it there was just a lot of killing and nothing much else, but I'll take a shot at a synopsis anyway.

"Nightmare City" is the story of a violent zombie attack on a metropolitan area as a result of a planeload of radiated passengers overpowering the population. Actually, I use the word "zombie" rather loosely here. These aren't really zombies. Truly, the Romero zombies aren't really zombies either, but that's another argument altogether. Taking George Romero's creations as the standard for movie zombies, or even the simple understanding that zombies are the walking dead, you couldn't classify the creatures in "Nightmare City" as being anything remotely close to zombies. The creatures in "Nightmare City" are more akin to what we saw in the recent film "28 Days Later." These are living humans who are infected with some sort of nuclear radiation sickness that makes them incredibly violent and powerful, with a desperation to fill their bellies with human blood. They also look like they've got taco meat on their face. From the moment they spill out of their plane and attack the city, the creatures embark on a weapon wielding killing spree that runs for most of the movie, with little scenes stuck in here and there to introduce characters that really aren't very important at all. Unless you're a complete gorehound, it can be really tedious to get through. However, the film does pick up in the latter half, when the attention begins to focus on a reporter character and his wife as they attempt to escape the madness. This last portion of the film does become moderately enjoyable, and the twist ending, while some who can't tolerate the cliche of it may complain, is really a welcome element. It adds a much needed kick to a generally lackluster film.

"Nightmare City" comes off as a rather amateurish film from Italian director Umberto Lenzi. The character development is virtually nonexistent, and the make-up is just plain awful. There's very little positive I CAN say about the film, except that it has its moments that do catch your eye, and the final act is really not too bad. It also must be given credit for the original spin it puts on the zombie genre. Still, I can't recommend the film to anyone except the most hardcore gore-lover and zombie film enthusiast. For those who ARE interested, however, the DVD includes an informative interview with the director, a theatrical trailer that would never have been shown in an American theater, and a bio of Umberto Lenzi. I suppose "Nightmare City" is a must watch for anyone wanting to explore Italian zombie horror, but do so at your own risk.


"

Lenzi drops a stink bomb.

Christopher A. Houtz | Pittsburgh, PA | 04/05/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Director Umberto Lenzi may be of a similiar lineage as other Italian exploitation/horror movie directors, but he is in no way in the same class as some of his brethern. Mario Bava, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci are generally considered to be the best of the best, but on a level or three below them are Jess Franco, Joe D'Amato and Umberto Lenzi.

I own many of all of these directors movies, some are ecxellent (Zombi, Suspiria, Black Sunday), some are ok (Death of the Twitch Nerve, City of the Living Dead, Inferno) and some are complete crap. We must file Lenzi's "Nightmare City" under the latter category. I really didn't realize that you could actually pack a steaming pile of feces in a DVD case but "Nightmare City" proves that it can be done.

I am not even going to go into a plot synopsis, or character descriptions as there really is no reason to when a stinker like this is being reviewed. The acting is atrocious, the dubbing horrific (in a bad way), the make-up/special FX amateurish, the sound is awful, the story is ridiculous, and the ending is a total cop-out.

This movie is about an hour and a half of wasted time you will not be able to get back. Waste not your time or your money on this movie. Instead get a six-pack of Labbats and watch a Fulci movie, you'll have more fun and have a better value for your time and hard earned cash."

A very fun running zombie film, with guns, knives and gore!

QuickSilverSeven | USA | 07/06/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is cheese, right off. You know, bad in a funny way, thanks to poor dubbing, a goofball story, and hilarious toxic 'zombies' that are so relentless, they race off a jetliner shooting, stabbing and sucking the blood of anyone in sight!

This is a classic cheese zombie film, a must see for zombie gorehounds. Most of the film contains chases and evasive tactics by a man and woman team as they try to survive a day in Nightmare City. Plenty of gore, TONS of crappy looking, running, stabbing zombies that shoot machine guns.

The end Amusement Park location zombie attack scene is a must see."