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Released by: Intervision Picture Corp.
Released on: February 10th, 2015.
Director: Bruno Mattei
Cast: Gaetano Russo, Gary King Roberts, Ydaliz Suarez, Yvette Yzon, Alvin Anson
Year: 2005
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The Movie:
One of the final pictures directed by the late, great Bruno Mattei (better known to some as Vincent Dawn), Island Of The Living Dead begins with a scene in which a group of explorers in search of long lost treasure navigate through a storm. After getting lost in the fog, they wind up on… you guessed it… and island. Does this island contain the living dead? Yes it does. There's something to be said for giving your movie an accurate title. Truth in advertising and all of that.
At any rate, Captain Kirk (seriously, that's his name and he's played by Gaetano Russo) takes Victoria (Ydaliz Saurez), Mark (Gary King Roberts), Sharon (Yvette Yzon), Fred (Alvin Anson), Tao (Miguel Franco) and Snoopy (Jim Gaines… who wears a Peanuts shirt for his role in the movie) to the island leaving mechanically inclined Max (Thomas Wallword) behind on the boat. It seems the engine conked out and he's the right man to fix it. Kirk and his crew arrive on the island in hopes of finding water and maybe some food. Sharon, Fred and Tao (Miguel Franco) split off and find a neat old cemetery while the rest of the group go and explore a neat old Spanish fort.
Zombies show up, the boat that Max was working on explodes for reasons never fully explained and a lot of people get eaten. Thankfully that fort will provide the survivors some shelter and maybe… just maybe… they'll find that treasure they were looking for.
Like most of Mattei's later era material, Island Of The Living Dead 'borrows' lots of ideas (and apparently character names) from other, better movies. There are elements here of Tombs Of The Blind Dead, Burial Ground and The Fog all sort of jumbled together through Mattei's skewed vision and, while it's terrible on a technical level, it's all a lot of fun. There's enough zaniness in and amongst the cinematic swipes to keep things interesting and while it may be a stew of a movie, it's a deliciously stupid stew best accompanied by a six pack and some cheese doodles. Damn it, now I want cheese doodles.
The acting is stilted and wooden, resulting in some particularly atrocious (albeit, very funny) line delivery. This isn't an occasional thing, it's a constant throughout the entire movie. Pretty much every single line of dialogue in this film is delivered horribly, you almost become immune to it as the whole thing plays out - but don't let that happen, take it all in and enjoy it. Let it become part of the experience for you. The acting goes along with the dubbing, you just of shrug your shoulders and accept it as part of all that encompasses the Mattei experience.
In terms of the movie's effectiveness as a horror picture, it does throw in a few decent gore effects but where it works best is towards the end where much of the action shifts to some interesting old locations. Here the Burial Ground and Tombs Of The Blind Dead influences creep in and Mattei proves better at borrowing from these films than from The Fog. The makeup effects employed on the zombies are obviously low budget but they are not without their charm and they are actually kind of cool in their own goofy way.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Island Of The Living Dead was shot on digital video and is presented on DVD in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen. Like pretty much everything that Bruno Mattei was involved in, this movie was shot fast and cheap but for the most part the movie looks alright. The transfer offers up about as much detail as you can realistically expect while color reproduction looks quite good, those gooey, gory reds in particular. Some minor compression can and does pop up in a few spots but unless you're specifically looking for it for the purposes of calling it out in an anal retentive review such as this you probably won't be bothered by it. The movie is a little dark in spots, some of those interior shots get murky, but otherwise this movie looks about as good as it should.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 audio on the disc is fine. It's all dubbed in post so nobody's lips really match the dialogue but that's half the fun of the movie right there. Levels are balanced well enough and there are no problems with hiss or distortion. The music sounds fine and the goofy sound effects worked into the track are about as effective as they can be.
The main extra on the disc is a nineteen minute long featurette called Bungle In The Jungle in which we spend some quality time with screenwriter/producer Gianni Paolucci and producer Antonio Tentori. Paolucci tries to explain what made working with Mattei 'special' and how they started working together, making movies for the foreign markets, working on the cannibal pictures together and more. Tentori talks about Mattei's penchant for making 'splatter movies,' the dignity (!) of his films, and the fun that he had working with the late director. This is a nice piece, a fun look back at the work these two men did with the late, great Mattei.
Outside of that we get a trailer for the feature, an 'international sales promo' piece, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Island Of The Living Dead is good, goofy fun. It's occasionally atmospheric but mostly it's kind of dumb - but don't let that dissuade you. There's plenty of entertainment value to be had here and Intervision have done as good a job as one can realistically expect bringing this movie to DVD.
