Better Late Then Never

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

"Nightmare City" is a movie that hasn't held up over the years as well as I'd hoped, but it's still leagues ahead of 99% of other Italian horror movies.It's not technically a zombie movie. While it does feature hordes of bad guys, who do look like zombies, outnumbering the good guys, they don't behave like zombies. For one, they use weapons. They also motion to each other, suggesting a coordination separate from the average crowd of flesh eaters. Speaking of coordination, they move a lot faster. They also do not each flesh, but rather, drink blood, generally from the chests of women they have just exposed with knives.The "nightmare" begins when an airplane touches down on a runway after a radiation leak is reported on the news. The plane door opens and out spills a horde of hideously mutated, violent freaks. They soon invade an aerobics studio where breasts are hacked off and eaten.The military in this movie is pathetic. The only time they display any acumen for combat is when, in one memorable scene, one soldier is gunned down by his teammate for going crazy and thinking they're mutants, too.The only character with any nouse is, improbably, a scientist, the hero of our story, who also happens to be ugly, balding and bearded. This is the kind of movie where scores of soldiers are killed, and then the hero gets away simply by unbelievable luck; eg. when he throws a TV at the group of mutants and it explodes as if there was a molotov cocktail inside. He later makes an actual molotov cocktail, throws it at a car, which also explodes, roasting several mutants.He carts a lady around - his wife - and it gets a bit tiresome seeing her do absolutely nothing of value while the old man saves the day.Aside from this the only real problem for the movie is that it falls apart toward the end and I lost interest. The characters are one dimensional, and spending so much time with them becomes a chore. There are still highlights at the end, though, and "Nightmare City" is certainly entertaining enough to be worth checking out.

If you like your "zombies" in turtle necks and blazers then you're in luck. I'm not exactly sure why every "zombie" in this movie is wearing some sort of suit/turtle neck/sweater w button up/etc but it happened. These "zombies want your blood and your Khol's card.Speaking of "zombie" appearances, this might be the worst zombie makeup I've ever seen in a movie. Half of them just have a piece of brown clay or something on their cheek and it looks more like eczema than rotting flesh. And yes I am purposefully putting the word "zombie" in quotes because these things are really hard to define. They're dressed up, fairly normal looking, use weapons, and desperately try to get their hands on boobs. If that's what it takes to be considered a zombie then I guess I'm one too.Speaking of boobs, one of my favorite scenes is when the "zombies" overtake a hospital and one of them pulls open a nurses smock to reveal naked breasts. Did nurses in 1970s Europe really not wear bras or undershirts to work? If so, does anyone have a time machine because I feel the need to schedule a doctors appt.Anyway, as far as the story goes, there isn't much of one. "Zombies" overtake an airport from a mysterious plane and then run amok in the city. The military tries to stop them, but (shockingly) fails miserably. In many scenes it's hard to distinguish who is a "zombie" and who is a regular person. The best way to tell is to look for the figure wielding a baton or a small knife. I've never seen such well armed "zombies" before, this group really has their stuff together. Why bite when you can stab! There are many silly scenes throughout, like when a man camping with his girlfriend decides that something must be wrong because he hears a dog barking in the country...then 1 second later he sees a zombie laying on the ground beside him. One usually does lead to the other so next time you hear a barking dog, watch your step. I should mention that after this a group of "zombies" drive up in a car, yes they drive, and proceed to shoot and stab the couple. Did I mention that these zombies like weapons? There is also a scene where a woman is an artist and makes clay sculptures and happens to make a bust that looks exactly like the "zombie" who breaks into her basement and kills her? I don't know if this was some misunderstood meaning of the word foreshadowing or if she's some kind of precog or what, but the scene does end in the "zombie" stabbing her friend and fondling her boobies. As a director you win some and lose some, at least he got the end of the scene right.As far as the end of the movie goes, it's possibly the most unoriginal "shock" ending they could think of. The main character is about to die and...he wakes up! Whaaaaaaat, it was all a dream?? Or was it...but seriously it wasn't. Because then he goes to the airport and the "zombies" really do come out of the plane just like in his dream. Consider your mind blown.

"Dean Miller" (Hugo Stiglitz) is a television journalist who is sent to the local airport to interview an arriving nuclear scientist. Without obtaining any clearance, a military passenger plane lands on the runway which results in airport security surrounding it when it finally comes to a halt. The door opens and radioactive mutant vampire zombies emerge brandishing all types of weapons. Soon the entire city is overwhelmed as the military is unable to stop them. Anyway, so much for the plot. As far as the film is concerned, there are a lot of action scenes with plenty of gore to go around. Unfortunately, the movie didn't flow very well from one scene to the other. The acting and dialogue were terrible and the costumes and sets looked very cheap. In short, this is definitely not a first-run movie by any means and unless a person enjoys European horror films of this type I would probably avoid it.

Italian zombie films are a mixed bag. Films like "Zombi" and "The Beyond" are classics in the zombie genre. But films like "Burial Ground" and "Zombie 3" are painfully bad. "Nightmare City" is somewhere in the middle."Nightmare City" was released as "City of the Walking Dead" in America. A rather misleading title because the zombies actually run. They also attack with weapons (bats, knifes, chains, guns) before drinking their victims blood. So the film gets points for originality and the attack sequences are frantic and exhilarating. But the appearance of the zombies leave something to be desired. Most of them just have charred faces or look like they dipped their heads in oatmeal.The plot is absent and dismal. It revolves around Hugo Stiglitz running around the city trying to survive the epidemic while some military personnel discuss the situation in a command post. Several characters are introduced and then dispatched quickly by the zombies.The nudity is on overload in "Nightmare City". Many of the walking dead have a knack for tearing off the blouses of females before killing them. Several zombies even fondle these unlucky victims breasts. One poor gal gets one of her breasts cut off completely. Speaking of the gore, it ranges from decent to bad. A scene with hatchet is memorable and there are some good head-shots.Overall, "Nightmare City" lacks plot and acting but has a fun and kinetic energy about it. Far better than most Italian zombie flicks."Nightmare City" features plenty of breasts, "aerobicide", a zombie priest, eye gouging, a carnival shootout, and a really lame "twist" ending.Till next time horror hounds and fright fanatics, beware the darkness