Wednesday, October 3, 2018

The Nights of Terror a.k.a. Burial Ground (1981)

This weird little Italian zombie movie is #664 on Chris Goodwin's list. (https://www.instagram.com/top666horrormovies/) 

I'd seen this previously, many years ago, probably in the early 1990s, and I didn't remember thinking much of it. I could only really remember one scene, which is the scene everyone remembers. I shan't mention it in this review, because either a) you know about it, b) you don't want spoilers, or c) you don't want to know about it, because it's gross.

Watching it again, I liked it a lot more, but it still has plenty of flaws, and isn't one of those films you can recommend without a lot of caveats.

Undead monks go to work

The Nights of Terror was directed by Andrea Bianchi, who died in 2013, but apparently hadn't worked in movies since 1995. He gave us such greats as Strip Nude for your Killer (1975), Confessions of a Frustrated Housewife (1976), Exciting Love Girls (1983) and Fleshy Doll (1995). It wasn't all fun and games though. He did find time to direct Commando Mengele (1987) in which Jewish commandos track down Nazi war criminals in the jungle.

The plot of The Nights of Terror is simple enough. A bunch of jet-setters come home from a long holiday to the big country house of one of their number. A history professor has been staying there in the meantime, studying the occult, and investigating strange passages under the house. Before the opening titles he foolishly calls up a bunch of undead monks from their crypt, and they kill him, but he'll be back later.

The jet-setting cast are all pretty unpleasant, rich, idle arrogant types, not particularly well-drawn characters, but after all, they're only there to be hunted down by undead monks, so what difference does it make? There's some love-making, some amateur photography in the grounds, plenty of lounging about. It's just a matter of time before the screaming starts.

The weirdest among them is a strange young man played by Peter Bark (aka Pietro Barzocchini). The character seems to be about 12 or 13, but he looks so much older. He was actually 25 at the time, and he's a very disconcerting actor. Like Michael Berryman his weird looks are a gift to a horror film maker. His IMDb bio describes him thus: "Peter Bark was a supremely creepy and unnerving Italian midget thespian who bore an uncanny resemblance to a diminutive Dario Argento." I kind of see what they mean, but it's not that uncanny. Also, Dario Argento isn't such a big chap.

Peter Bark: "a diminutive Dario Argento"
Dario Argento "a larger Peter Bark"

Back to the mansion, where zombie monks are appearing from all over the place, causing the jet-setters to scamper in every direction. Frankly, the best thing about this movie is the zombie monks, and so I'll show you these images to give you an idea:





As you can see, these are some special undead monks. As well as looking totally bonkers they can also work together, use tools, and have no problem killing everybody. At one point they manage to decapitate the maid who is looking out of an upstairs window. Not something your average zombies would be able to achieve.

It's all a bit pointless really, but like a lot of Italian horror, works best if you think of it as a nightmare you're having. You can't run fast enough, you're being chased by something impossible, and there's horror movie music playing. Fun stuff.

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