Review: Horror/sex comedy about four zombies who are running a hotel and trying to eat their customers. Three men are involved in a fatal car crash and taken to the local cemetery for burial. The Gravedigger is in no rush, and he figures his customers are not as well. So he sits back and reads aloud from a horror novel about voodoo. As he recites the incantation of the zombie, the three men in the caskets get brought back to life. The Gravegdigger turns to see them sitting up and dies from fright, but the zombies return the favor and soon all four of the men are the living dead. With no experience on how to be a zombie, they refer to the novel and learn that human flesh is their new sustenance. After several failed attempts at snaring a victim, they take over a hotel intending to have their patrons for dinner.
This is a very entertaining film, even if I understood only a small fraction of the dialog. That's right, this one is such a hard to find gem that it's still fully in Italian. That's ok though. As with a lot of European comedy from this era, it is very broadly played, and the movie works on a pure physical level. From their failed attempts at capturing some lunch to their hotel business and the final showdown in the mall, these zombies will be unlike any you've ever seen. There are a great many homage's to George Romero's work that the savvy viewer will pick up on, and the mall scenes definitely are there to turn Dawn of the Dead on its ear. So don't fear the language barrier, pick this one up and check out the only zombies I know of that are more afraid of us than we are of them. Fullscreen, in Italian language only, no subtitles. Quality B+
Directed by: Nello Rossati
Starring: Duilio Del Prete, Renzo Montagnani, and Nadia Cassini
