31 Days of Gore: Nightmare City (1980)

It’s October. Time to talk horror. This year I’m reviewing a different horror movie each day of the month. 

While watching an interview with director Umberto Lenzi, it occurred to me he’s legitimately fucking insane. Here’s what Lenzi had to say about Nightmare City:

• The script was horrible.
• Hugo Stiglitz was a stiff actor.
• Franco Nero or John Saxon should have been cast in the lead instead.
• The producer wanted zombies in the tradition of Romero and Fulci.
• The film is based on reality.

Yeah, you read that last bullet point right. Everything that happens in Nightmare City, Lenzi suggests, is reality. He talks about media cover-ups and exploding chemical plants before going on to compare the importance of his own movie to Tom Hanks’ Philadelphia. Either Lenzi’s English translator is having a little fun on our behalf or Lenzi has genuinely lost his mind.

It takes a crazy person to make a movie like Nightmare City, aka City of the Walking Dead. The “infected people” don’t just stumble around, waiting for dinner to enter their line of sight, but actively hunt their prey with Thompson machine guns and hatchets. Whereas most horror films spend an eternity getting to the good stuff, Lenzi opens his picture with a surprisingly tense scene involving an unauthorized plane landing. The plane violently births a hundred bloodthirsty psychopaths.

What’s great about it is there’s no bullshit—at least if you’re a fan of mindless exploitation—and there’s remarkably little filler. It’s just ninety ridiculous minutes of crazy shit and Hugo Stiglitz kicking ass in a tweed suit. And I stress “kicking,” as kicking seems to be his move of choice. Why, exactly, is this television reporter such a bad ass? Beats me. But after watching Fear the Walking Dead and its characters’ reluctance to do anything of interest, Hugo’s sense of agency is a welcome change of pace.

Watch it with a group of friends who love this kind of shit. The more booze, the better. It’s a hell of a lot of fun with the right mindset. I would have said it was the basis for 28 Days Later if I believed Danny Boyle had ever seen this movie, which I don’t.

Come back at midnight Central Time for the next movie.