The first time I saw Nightmare City aka The City of the Walking Dead, I just wasn’t ready for it. I was 14 (maybe 15) and was obsessed Romero’s trilogy but had really only seen a handful of Italian genre films. Of these, I was very familiar with Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters. So that was kind of my reference point, this is a great Italian zombie movie, surely this other one will be just like it, right? Wrong. The film was nothing like I was expecting. These weren’t even really zombies. They ran, stabbed people, shot guns, they were arguably not even dead; yet, they kind of followed the zombie mythology at the same time. They still fed (or rather drank) on humans, they kind of looked like zombies, and they were disposed of in similar ways. It was confusing and it turned me off. Because of this, I maintained for years that Nightmare City was a wretched film. I later softened to it, it wasn’t wretched but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I attempted to rewatch it on a few occasions but never made it all the way through. It seemed that Nightmare City and I were doomed to have a complicated relationship.
Not to get too high and mighty, but my experience with the film has kind of been a journey but that journey has finally found closure. Despite my prior distaste, there was always something that intrigued me about the work. I really wanted to love it. If I am being honest, even when my opinion of the film was at its lowest, there was something I couldn’t shake from it. Part of it was the cover art, which has always been a favorite, but I think the other part was and still is Lenzi’s direction. There is something uncontrolled about the film, a feeling that at any (and every) moment it could all fall apart. Yet it never does. It’s a detached, messy, and, at times, incoherent film, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t also engaging and commanding. To quote a term Adam Nayman coined in his monograph reappraisal of Showgirls, It Doesn’t Suck, Lenzi’s film is both a masterpiece and shit, it’s a “masterpiece of shit.”
![Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City (1980) [click to enlarge]](https://diaboliquemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NCity_3-620x349.png)
Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City (1980) [click to enlarge]
A lot of people (present company included) have made the mistake of comparing Lenzi to Bruno Mattei, which is a gross reduction of the former’s talents. Mattei, while not without his own charms, wasn’t nearly as proficient a visionary as Lenzi. Upon a rewatch, this was only made clearer. The first reveal of the infected is, without hyperbole, one of the most effective bits of horror action in cinema. A crowd has gathered to greet a returning scientist who will bare the news of a recent radioactive fallout. The plane unexpectedly arrives and remains dormant for a stretch of time. Nerves rise as the crowd anticipates the opening of the vessel. When the doors finally open, Lenzi impregnates the scene with a lengthy pause. Further, the opening of the doors is made more dramatic by repeating the action slightly with each cut, lengthening the action beyond its natural speed and increasing suspense. It’s clear something isn’t right, that something is about to happen, but for a few minutes everything is eerily calm. Finally, Lenzi breaks the unnerving tranquility and a rash of chaos ensues. Stevio Cipriani’s driving synth score intensifies the manic montage of seemingly unstoppable creatures rushing and attacking the innocent bystanders. Given that this is one of the first incidents of “running zombies” in cinema history (or at least, the first major one following a string of Romero-inspired works), one can only imagine how frightening and chaotic this must have felt for audiences in 1980. Its not a scene without technical mishaps. The violence is cartoonish and the gore is fairly weak but, even with these alienating aspects intact, the scene feels alive with energy and style. It is the perfect summation of Lenzi’s approach to the entire film and a fantastic sequence.
![Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City (1980) [click to enlarge]](https://diaboliquemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NCity_6-620x349.png)
Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City (1980) [click to enlarge]
![Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City (1980) [click to enlarge]](https://diaboliquemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NCity_2-620x349.png)
Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City (1980) [click to enlarge]
Nightmare City is now available on Blu-ray via Arrow Films and Video