''Erotic Nights of the Living Dead'' ( it, Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi) is a 1980
Italian erotic horror film directed and written and
directed by
Joe D'Amato. It has received mixed to negative reviews. It was filmed in and around
Santo Domingo.
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
Voodoo may refer to:
Religions
* African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups
* African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo
** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...
curse. He plans to go there to survey the land. At night, he has sex in his hotel room with two prostitutes, whom he scares away by mentioning the name Cat Island. In the hall, he meets Fiona, a
socialite
A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...
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 local nightclub owner. 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. In his room with Fiona, Wilson 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. O'Hara spots a black cat at the nightclub, 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
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
, takes a liking to Larry.
Cast
*
Laura Gemser as Luna
*
George Eastman as Larry O'Hara
*
Dirce Funari as Fiona
*
Mark Shannon as John Wilson
*
Lucía Ramírez
Lucía Ramírez Ramos (born 2 December 1998) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a defender for Alhama CF in the Primera División.
Club career
Ramírez started her career at Sevilla B.
References
External linksProfileat La Liga
The C ...
as Liz (uncredited)
Production
''Erotic Nights of the Living Dead'' was filmed at the same time as ''
Porno Holocaust'' in
Santo Domingo with the same cast.
[Shipka, 2011. p.133] Both films involve a group of foreigners who find an island, have sex, and then are killed off one by one.
Release
Theatrical
''Erotic Nights of the Living Dead'' was released in 1980 and was not a large success.
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."
Home media
On 15 June 2018, the film was released on blu-ray by
Code Red DVD in its English dubbed hardcore version.
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."
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
Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, specially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religious groups or hav ...
, and stated that the merging of "hard-core sex and extreme violence is disturbing"
The book ''Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide'' describes the film as "one of the worst if not the worst Italian
zombie movie ever made".
[Kay, 2008. p.170]
References
Sources
* Kay, Glenn. ''Zombie Movies:The Ultimate Guide''.
Chicago Review Press, 2008. .
* Paul, Louis.''Italian Horror Film Directors''. McFarland, 2005.
* Shipka, Danny. ''Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980''.
McFarland, 2011. .
External links
*
''Erotic Nights of the Living Dead''at
Variety Distribution
{{Joe D'Amato
Films directed by Joe D'Amato
1980 horror films
1980 films
Italian sexploitation films
Italian erotic horror films
Italian pornographic films
Italian splatter films
1980s pornographic films
Pornographic zombie films
Films about Voodoo
Films set on islands
Films set in the Dominican Republic
Films shot in the Dominican Republic
Films scored by Marcello Giombini
Pornographic parody films of horror films
1980s Italian-language films
1980s Italian films