Hell of the Living Dead is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Bruno Mattei. The film is set in a laboratory in Papua New Guinea that releases a dangerous chemical, turning the technicians and locals into zombies. A French news reporter (Margit Evelyn Newton) and her crew land on the island to investigate.
Hell of the Living Dead was a project developed by producers and given to director Bruno Mattei, who attempted to create a film similar to Dawn of the Dead but lighter in tone. It was shot in five weeks in Spain with a script that was not Mattei's first choice and a score by the band Goblin, taken from other film scores that the band had performed. The film generally received negative reviews, noting bad dialogue and its obvious derivation of 1978's Dawn of the Dead.
Plot[]
At a top-secret chemical research facility called Hope Center #1, a rat causes a chemical leak and dies. As two workers investigate, the rat suddenly comes back to life and kills one of the men, who likewise revives and attacks his co-workers. Subsequently, the entire staff of the plant turns into flesh-eating zombies.
A four-man team of Interpol commandos, consisting of Lt. Mike London, Osborne, Zantoro, and Vincent, are deployed to eliminate a group of eco-terrorists who have taken hostages at the US Embassy in Barcelona, Spain. The terrorists demand the closing of all the Hope Centers, which both the government and the military deny exist. Under orders of the local authorities, the press does not publicize the terrorists' demands or mention the disaster at Hope Center. After another team pumps tear gas into the building, Lt. London and his three commandos burst in, killing the terrorists.
Once the mission is completed, the team loses contact with Hope Center #1. Thinking that terrorists have infiltrated the complex, the team flies to Papua New Guinea. There, they meet journalist Lia Rousseau and her cameraman Max, who are investigating a series of mysterious, violent attacks on the locals. While stopping at a native village, they encounter several zombies. The commandos and the journalists travel through the New Guinea jungle in the commando's jeep, trying to survive while evading the zombies. The group takes refuge at an abandoned plantation, only to come under attack from the zombie residents. The walking dead kill and eat Osborne, forcing the survivors to flee.
Rousseau and London's men battle their way to a beach, escape by raft, and finally arrive at Hope Center #1, where they find all of the workers either dead or roaming the facility as zombies. The zombies kill Max and Zantoro and infect London. Rousseau and Vincent learn about the experimental chemical accidentally released, which is causing the zombie infestation. Rousseau theorizes that the chemical, codenamed "Operation Sweet Death", has been invented to curb the Third World population by driving it into eating each other. She vows to tell the world, but a horde of zombies – including their now zombified comrades – close in and devour the last survivors of the team.
Sometime later, the zombie contagion has spread beyond New Guinea's borders and throughout the world. While politicians and scientists dispute the matter, a young couple in the developed world is attacked and devoured by a horde of zombies in a city park.