Hell of the Living Dead, (1980)

Also known as 'Visus,' 'Night of the Zombies,' 'Zombie Creeping Flesh,' and 'Zombie Inferno.'

A tissue-thin plot about a chemical plant leak in Papua New Guinea, a squad of very unprofessional Special Ops, and a couple of reporters ties together this early Italian zombie gore-fest.

The acting is poor, get that straight. Much too much time staring in horror as attacks occur, (so as to allow the maximum amount of biting, blood and guts, no doubt,) and screaming but not trying to escape when being attacked. Also, the insertion of a metric ton of stock jungle footage is distracting, (especially the inclusion of African Elephants!)

Those are the cons. As for the pros, well, this movie adheres quite strictly to the laws of Romero. 1) They are reanimated dead, and move and act accordingly, (or as Sheriff McCelland in ‘Night of the Living Dead’ said, “Yeah. They’re dead. They’re all messed up.”) 

2) They attack and consume the flesh of the living. 

3) The virus is transferred through bites and fluids.

And 4) They can only be stopped by a shot to the head.

Well, alright! A little respect for canon.

Also, mood is created in part by the music of the band Goblin, the same progressive rock band that created the soundtrack for Dawn of the Dead, which is why the score sounds so familiar. And good.

Sure, the inclusion of cannibals was a bit gratuitous, so was the naked anthropologist, but this is just nit-picking. 

So, in summation, a very enjoyable, early entry to the zombie genre. Oh, sure. There are many WTF!?! moments here, but some good scares, and good zombie moments.

On my Zombie Movie Rubric it scored a generous 1.77 out of a possible 4.0 - dragged down by terrible acting and weak story, but buoyed by good scary bits, nice zombie action/gore and being a true horror film in the classic sense. 

Really LONG Youtube trailer here: HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD 

Cool cover art, too!