Review of Nightmare City (1980) by Christopher S — 04 Sep 2010

A plane full of contaminated people is unleashed on a city. You could call them zombies but they aren't your typical flesheaters. They can run fast, use weapons, drive vehicles, & various other things that normal shambling zombies can't do. And boy do they use weapons. They even shoot people with guns. They don't eat flesh but are bloodsuckers. You also get a random aerobics scene. On the back of the DVD case, it refers to it as gratuitous. Also look out for a TV monitor that seems to explode like a mild bomb.

I loved it. Absolutely loved it.

The gore & make-up effects were hit or miss. The "zombies" looked like they dunked their heads in mud & let it dry. Bullet wounds sometimes wouldn't show up if people were shot. Stabbings & throat slashings were about the same. Those are my only complaints, really. We did get a hatchet to the back of a head, a chopped off titty, an eye ripped out via a spike, & several good headshots...including the wife of one of the main characters are she got contaminated.

Nightmare City also had a very well-done score. It worked quite well. Gotta love those Italian synth scores.

This movie was pretty fast-paced. Everything pretty much started going down within the first ten minutes. It didn't waste any time biting in. Just seeing hordes of these "zombies" running around & brutally murdering people is insane. Action galore!

Fans of boobs, you will see a'plenty of 'em!

The ending is a bit odd. Reminds me a bit of Groundhog Day but with contaminated people & minus Bill Murray. The part right up to when the main character woke up was hilarious...where his wife falls off a helicoptor rope & hits a few parts of a rollercoaster before hitting the ground. It's obviously a dummy. That makes it even more hilarious.

Definitely worth picking up. I own the Anchor Bay version, which is exactly the same as the newer Blue Underground release that came out not too long ago. I think the AB version is out of print but not really that high in price. Get either version. They're both completely uncut. The transfer looks great!