Le Notti del terrore (Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror) (The Zombie Dead) (1981)

47% of users liked it
(3,843 ratings)

Another entry in a nearly endless string of Italian variants on George A. Romero's zombie films, Andrew Bianchi's Le Notti del Terrore borrows its scenario most heavily from Night of the Living Dead. The story opens with a loony professor unsealing a crypt and releasing voodoo-animated corpses, who… More Another entry in a nearly endless string of Italian variants on George A. Romero's zombie films, Andrew Bianchi's Le Notti del Terrore borrows its scenario most heavily from Night of the Living Dead. The story opens with a loony professor unsealing a crypt and releasing voodoo-animated corpses, who immediately make up for lost time by devouring him and every other living human within reach. They eventually gate-crash the professor's posh country villa where a collection of painfully annoying upper-crust types are throwing a party... and since these jet-setters are also phenomenally stupid, the shambling zombies are soon enjoying a human buffet. Virtually plotless, this silly little gore-fest may hold a certain perverse appeal for those looking forward to seeing these obnoxious characters eaten alive (at least the zombies have the good sense to keep silent). The most outrageous scene comes when a young mother is so overjoyed to see her weird, huge-headed son (played by an adult dwarf) back from the dead that she immediately decides to breast-feed him! ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Andrea Bianchi, Andrew Bianchi
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

In Theaters: Oct 15, 1981 Wide
On DVD: Jun 11, 2002

Critic Reviews

Alan Simpson, Sex Gore Mutants
a ballsy exercise in no plot and lengthy atmospheric zombie assaults
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
It featured a very disturbing character and subplot that pushed it out in front of the pack (not that zombies move very quickly, so it's easy to outdistance them).

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Featured Audience Ratings

vieras e

A professor with an interest in ancient death rites invites three couples - one bringing with them a strange man-child called Michael - to spend some time in a lovely, old Italian villa. Unfortunately the professor himself ends up being killed by ancient Etruscans before being able to… More
A professor with an interest in ancient death rites invites three couples - one bringing with them a strange man-child called Michael - to spend some time in a lovely, old Italian villa. Unfortunately the professor himself ends up being killed by ancient Etruscans before being able to greet his guests. This does not seem to bother the visitors too much, however, as they soon embark upon a mission to have sex in every corner of the entire estate. Not putting up with this desecration of their ancient burial grounds - or perhaps with a desire to join in on the action - the Etruscan zombies leave their tombs and begin to hunt down the poor unsuspecting visitors. Gore ensues. With the exception of the few zombies that looked more like they had died a bit over two weeks ago instead of well over two thousand years ago, the zombies were exceptionally well executed.
Lee ?

A decent Zombie flick this one. Has it's gory memorable moments, the Zombies look decayingly suitable and there's bizarrely a bit of incest thrown in! A unique little Zombie film to say the least, but one not to be missed for lovers of trashy Italian horror.
A.D. V

Midget in the role of a incestuous son. More disturbing than it sounds.
Ed Fucking H

Damn good Italian Zombie flick. Not much to say as far as plot goes. Very simple and comparable to Night of the Living Dead. The make up effects were delightfully repulsive. Solid gore. Atrocious dubs. Beautiful Italian women. A manchild and his incestuous relationship with his… More
Damn good Italian Zombie flick. Not much to say as far as plot goes. Very simple and comparable to Night of the Living Dead. The make up effects were delightfully repulsive. Solid gore. Atrocious dubs. Beautiful Italian women. A manchild and his incestuous relationship with his mother. Worms and maggots. Boobies. Dope soundtrack. Zombies so sloooooow their barely moving. Great sense of atmosphere. Slow motion and extreme close ups. Yup. A lot to enjoy here. Solid genre flick for sure.
Patrick D

Hilarious, disturbing and fucking gory. This is definetly one for euro shock fans only. It's such a weird story and there's this strange insest thing happening too.
Christopher B

Any film with a man-child has 5 stars immediately. Everything else is just icing on the cake.