Island of the Living Dead

Getting stranded by a thunderstorm, a group of treasure hunters land on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean overrun by zombies from the colonial days along with other supernatural beings trapped there and must fight them off to escape.

This here is one of the most enjoyable and entertaining Italian zombie films. What really gives this such a great deal to like is the old-school atmosphere here that recalls the epic feel and tone of the whole affair as a great throwback feel here. This starts from the very beginning as the opening scene of the Conquistadors confronting the afflicted natives down in the dungeon while the rabid voodoo ceremony brings them back to life is an absolutely spectacular start here that's full of cheesy action along with the Gothic atmosphere, the later encounter in the cemetery is the epitome of cheesy action with the kung-fu attack following the initial stumbling encounter hidden from the others by the rolling fog and the big battle on the ship that blows up the whole thing which all form a solid opening that recall all the fun and enjoyment of the earlier Italian zombie films. Given that as well with the film's other big action scenes here as the massive shootout that erupts when the group wanders into the swarm in the catacombs, the resurrection in the burial chamber below group or the group trapped in the various rooms full of gold with rotting skeletons, dead bodies being feasted upon and ravenous zombies breaking in through all manner of barricades offers some great action-packed moments that are a lot of fun. Still, even with all this the film really hits it's stride with the wallowing in the cheesy realms Mattei usually works with, as there's plenty of that kind of material here. From the fact that the film's storyline allows it to feature numerous references and scenes throughout here that really stick out yet comes comes off as part of the charm with this one, as the graveyard attack is a carbon-copy of a legendary sequence, the entire plot is basically one long rip-off cobbled together from three other movies, a narration sequence for the backstory is taken directly from yet another film while there's even several scenes here that rip off his own work from before. Even on top of that the nonsensical elements like the flamenco dancers, ranting and raving characters that are always in complete hysterics, unexplained plot lines like the friendly, talking ghosts explaining everything and the cheap charm all on display here which adds to the fun and delirium of a Mattei effort. Along with the stomach-churning gore and fine, mess make-up work for the zombies, these here all manage to make this one of the best of the Italian zombie films. About the only flaw here is in how this one deals with these elements which may not be suited for everyone who don't appreciate or are distracted by such material in a film. Otherwise, there's nothing really wrong here.

Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Given my love of all things horror and my fascination with all things zombie, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch the 2007 movie "L'isola Dei Morti Viventi" (aka "Island of the Living Dead"), as I had the opportunity to do so here in 2025.

Granted, I must admit that I harbored zero expectations to the movie, as the cover had that particular 1980s Italian low budget zombie feel to it. And the movie actually looked, felt, and sounded like exactly that. So hey, if 1980s low budget Italian zombie movies is your thing, then you're in for a treat here. However, if you are hoping for a more contemporary zombie movie, don't get your hopes up.

The dialogue in the movie was pretty horrible. It was so campy and cheesy, and so poorly delivered and dubbed, that it has to be experienced and heard in order to fully grasp.

The acting performances in the movie were questionable. Now, the movie is listed here on IMDb to be in English language, but I think it was a poorly done dub, because the dialogue was atrociously delivered and didn't match with the movement of the lips. Needless to say that I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, and that was actually one thing that spoke in favor of the movie.

The special effects in the movie were exactly that; special. Again, if you enjoy 1980s low budget zombie movies, then you know what you are in for here. Don't expect over-the-top special effects in any way. And when there was suddenly vampire fangs introduced into the narrative, I was good and ready to just call it a day and give up on the movie; that was seriously some of the most ridiculous stuff I've seen in movies in a long time, and I watch a lot of questionable movies.

Since this particular subgenre of zombie movies isn't really something I enjoy, then "L'isola Dei Morti Viventi" didn't exactly rock my boat.

My rating of director Bruno Mattei's 2007 movie "L'isola Dei Morti Viventi" lands on a very, very generous three out of ten stars.

Island of the Living Dead is an awesome zombie film that reminds me of those 80s zombies flicks everyone knows and loves.

Plot: A group of scientists end up on an uncharted island but they are out alone. All of the people who once inhabited the island have now be come the living dead and a hungry for flesh. From there its a struggle for survival for the group.

Acting: The film was dubbed so its hard to tell if the acting is good or not but, all in all, the whole cast was pretty convincing. The two standouts are Yvette Yzonne and Ydalia Suaraz. They are true beauties.

Directing: Bruno Mattei does a wonderful job here. This was shot on high end digital video and looks very professional.

Overall: An awesome zombie flick. Feels like the 1980s again.

Island of the Living Dead (2006)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The one and only Mattei got to end his career with a couple zombie movies, which will be good news for fans of the genre and horrid news for non-fans. In the film, a group of treasure hunters got lost in a fog bank and in the morning they notice what appears to be a deserted island. The group goes on shore and sure enough there are zombies running around. If you're looking for any type of actual story then you're obviously not too familiar with the work of Mattei. He's considered one of the biggest hacks in Italian history but at the same time he's made some rather entertaining bad films. This one here really doesn't work but there's enough gore and badness for fans of bad cinema to at least want to give it a single viewing. As is the normal case with the director, we get all sorts of stuff stolen from other movies including dialogue lifted from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the infamous eye/splinter sequence from Fulci's ZOMBIE and the Blind Dead movies are certainly playing a big key here. We also get stock footage which is another Mattei trademark. It's pretty hard to judge the acting in the film because the dubbing is so horrendous you really can't tell what's going on. I'm not sure who did this dubbing job but it's among one of the worst tracks I've ever heard but this does lead to some rather campy moments. I think zombie fans will enjoy some of the gore here as we get some (bad) CGI as well as real effects. We have heads being blown off, arms ripped off and plenty of flesh being eaten with all types of blood flowing at ease. We also get some rather bizarre zombie stuff including some having fangs, a few ghost zombies and one that can grow his dead parts back after they're shot off. On a technical level pretty much everything here is bad but those checking this title out are going to know that going in. The film's biggest flaw is its 90-minute running time, which is just way too long for a movie like this especially when you've only got enough plot for a half-hour movie and not enough attacks to justify the long time.

A group of treasure hunters get their boat lost in some wicked fog and run aground on an island inhabited by the living dead. Yay, Bruno Mattei dusts of his Vincent Dawn pseudonym and returns to the genre that gave him his biggest hit (HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD) of his career. And don't think 25 years has changed his improved his style at all as this is as equally gory, stupid and amusingly dubbed. It is like he didn't miss a beat between this and his last collaborative effort ZOMBIE IV (1988). Technically, the film has more in common with his soap opera looking THE TOMB (2004) than his previous shot-on-film zombie entries. But the locations in the Philippines look nice and this allows Bruno to recruit some eager extras to be his zombies. There are some odd twists thrown in here like the zombies having fangs and some zombie ghosts (including one that does some Flamenco dancing!?!). Uncle Bruno also takes it easy on the "borrowed" footage this time, only using stuff from another film once during a flashback (a galleon battle that looks like it is from a 1960s film). This was Mattei's next-to-last film with his final film (ZOMBIES: THE BEGINNING) being a sequel to this. Color me blood red excited! The film ends with a dedication to veteran Italian character actor Mike Monty, who was the script supervisor on this and died while it was being made.