Erotic Nights of the Living Dead

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (Italian: Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi) is a 1980 Italian erotic-horror film filmed in and around Santo Domingo and written and directed by Joe D'Amato. It has received mixed to negative reviews.

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed byJoe D'Amato
Written byJoe D'Amato
StarringLaura Gemser
George Eastman
Music byMarcello Giombini
CinematographyJoe D'Amato
Edited byOrnella Micheli
Release date
  • 1980 (1980) (Italy)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

Synopsis

On his second visit to the Dominican Republic, John Wilson, a land developer for a foreign company planning to build a hotel, leases a tropical island from the government, which - unbeknownst to him - carries a voodoo curse. He plans to go there to conduct a survey of the land. At night, he has sex in his hotel room with two prostitutes, whom he ends up scaring away by mentioning the name Cat Island. In the hall, he meets Fiona, a socialite who - as she tells him - has just left her elderly lover and his yacht. He performs cunnilingus on her.

Sea captain Larry O’Hara spends the same night on his skipper, having sex with Liz, the owner of the local nightclub. Just as they are about to leave, Liz spots a zombie walking in the shallow water of the port, his hand outstretched towards them. O’Hara kills him with a grappling iron. Later in the morgue, the doctor examines the maggot-ridden corpse, which suddenly grabs him, kills him with a gory bite in the neck, and walks away.

The next day, Wilson hires O’Hara to take him and Fiona for the trip to the island. O’Hara tells him about the legend surrounding the island, about zombies led by a cat. At night, in Liz's empty nightclub, Liz gets on stage and dances for O’Hara, uncorking a bottle of champagne with her vagina. Wilson, in his room with Fiona, suddenly feels someone's unseen presence. It is Luna's, who sits on the island graveyard and establishes contact with him, scratching her hand until her green blood shows. At the nightclub, O’Hara spots a black cat, which hisses and leaves.

The group sails to the island the next day, where they are greeted by Luna and a shaman. They are warned to leave as the island is the reported home to zombies of dead natives. But Luna, who might be a ghost, takes a liking to Larry.

Cast

Production

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead was filmed at the same time as Porno Holocaust in Santo Domingo with the same cast.[1] Both films involve a group of foreigners who find an island, have sex, and then are killed off one by one.[1]

Release

Theatrical

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead was released in 1980 and was not a large success.[1] As D'Amato remarked in an interview, "Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi was a total fiasco. I had endeavored to mingle my two favorite genres, tending more toward the erotic side in this case, but the film was rejected by the public."[2]

Home media

On 15 June 2018, the film was released on blu-ray by Code Red DVD in its English dubbed hardcore version.[3][4]

Reception

In 2005, Louis Paul wrote in a chapter devoted to D'Amato that the film "is pure cinema horror trash, but watchable nonetheless. In the history of the Italian horror film there is no other feature film quite like it."[5]

In 2011, Danny Shipka, author of Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980 gave both Porno Holocaust and Erotic Nights of the Living Dead a negative review, criticising the acting, gore effects and sex scenes, and stated that the merging of "hard-core sex and extreme violence is disturbing"[1] The book Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide describes the film as "one of the worst if not the worst Italian zombie movie ever made".[6]

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References
  1. Shipka, 2011. p.133
  2. Palmerini, Luca M.; Mistretta, Gaetano (1996). "Spaghetti Nightmares". Fantasma Books. p. 77.ISBN 0963498274.
  3. "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead". www.mondo-digital.com.
  4. "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead Blu-ray Release Date June 15, 2018".
  5. Paul, Louis (2005). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-7864-8749-3. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  6. Kay, 2008. p.170

Notes
  • Kay, Glenn. Zombie Movies:The Ultimate Guide. Chicago Review Press, 2008. ISBN 1556527705.
  • Paul, Louis.Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland, 2005. ISBN 9780786487493
  • Shipka, Danny. Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980. McFarland, 2011. ISBN 0786448881.
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