Ten things you (probably) didn't notice in Nightmare City (Umberto Lenzi, 1980)

The movie I've seen most times is without a doubt Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City. I've own a couple of different releases on VHS (and I think also one betamax) and six different releases on DVD. I have a framed letter from Lenzi here at home and it's also the movie that began my life-long Hugo Stiglitz passion. I've seen it so many times and I always find something new. 

It's easy to mock Nightmare City because it's quite corny and cheesy, but I think honestly it's a great action-horror film, made with a massive amount of energy and superb action editing. The hospital attack is still one of my favorite sequences in Italian genre cinema. Every scene is literary packed with details, good and bad, lots of creativity and Stiglitz who actually goes from beardy baby-face to rugged manly-face during the duration of the movie: 

I think he was forced to do this movie. Maybe he was under contract from one of the production companies involved (it's a co-production between Italy, Mexico and Spain), or maybe he needed the money so well he just said yes to anything that fell down on his desk. Lenzi isn't happy with Stiglitz performance had really wanted Franco Nero or Fabio Testi - and in all honesty, both of them would have made more charismatic performances - but in even more honest, it would never have been Nightmare City with out Hugo Stiglitz. He's the man.

When you watch a movie for the umpteenth time you've noticed a lot of details. Some of them quite famous - mentioned even in the most simple review - and some more obscure, harder to see. Or just story-related stuff you don't think about that much. I could bring up all the occurances it seems like Nightmare City actually is edited for violence, but what you see is what you get. No longer version is available and maybe these scenes doesn't exist at all or was edited out becuase the effects look bad or something else was missing. The famous one being the girl by the pool, and the radioactive mutants starting to rip open her chest - I'm pretty sure there's nothing more than that. Another one is when a guard a the hospital gets decapitated. It actaully sounds and looks like the actually decapitation is cut, but I never found any proof it's been seen in any release. 

But back to my main goal with this article, to bring up ten things in Nightmare City you (probably didn't notice before), especially if you're a novice in the world of eurocult and just thinks NC is one of many zombie-esque films from the land of Popes and Pasta. You more experienced fans out there have probably noticed all of these things before, so I dedicate this to all the newbies out there. From Fred to you, from Lenzi to us all!

Look at the guy at the right. That's Antonio Mayans, "the best camera man you can find", according to the boss of the TV-station. This was his eightieth (80th) credit in movies in television, and yet he's just doing a job anyone could have made. I'm not sure he was star, but a very experienced actor - and in Nightmare City he shows up for a couple of minutes, drives away and is never seen again. He's not even credited! 

During the attack in the TV-studio we see this girl, a dance, scream. Well, I'm not sure she can scream. Seriously, she can't act at all! She's just trying not to laugh. This scene was shot with second unit, in a studio in Rome - but I'm sure Lenzi would have created hell if he was there and saw what a lousy performance she did!

TV-monitors (not TV's) explode in a burning ball of hell-fire! That's a fact. They're even highly flammable. I guess that's why the TV-crew wear white lab coats and looks more serious than death himself.

This boy (who obviously have the hots for Laura Trotter) is set-up like his own sub-story. He even tells about a nightmare where he lost his leg! Then the hospital attacks comes, he's found dead in his bead - and he has his leg intact. Still the most confusing part of the whole movie. Why all that set-up and then... nothing?

Here's a classic! The surgeon has a hobby he's been longing to use, and that's knife throwing. And he's friggin' good at it to! 

Why doesn't she turn off the lawn mover? Why? WHY?

This was the happiest day in this dog's life. Playing around with a field together with it's owner and a couple of dozens of more humans! Sure, the smell of sweat could be irritating for other humans - but for a dog it's like coming to heaven. I'm sure he never had such a fun day after this one, and I'm seriously happy for him. 

I can't say it bothers me, but I ALWAYS think about it when I see this scene. The part of the priest's face we doesn't see bear brutal marks of his mutation - but it's not until he turns that side AWAY from Laura Trotter and Hugo Stiglitz they see the radioactive damage. Noy saying it's wrong, but it's... strange.

You see that doctor on the floor? The second before that position he's running out from the elevator, slips on the floor and lands HARD on his ass. You can see the pain in his face even here. Those hospital slippers can be very dangerous!

This is my favorite photo bombing cat EVER. In the foreground a radioactive mutant lurks, in the background, a happy young couple talks by the pool, in the middle a big cat slowly, casually walks right through the scene like he fucking owns the place. That's awesome.

That's it folks. I will try to post something more related to Nightmare City this week. Until then you can read my old poem dedicated to this fantastic movie HERE! :)

 

Comments

[Megatron]

"When you watch a movie for the umpteenth time you've noticed a lot of details."

DAMN YOU!!!!!

I haven´t seen this one......yet.

So I´m not reading this article until I seen the movie...maybe later on.

Thanks for nothing Fred/Ninja.....ohh....nice poem.

[gk]

haha... nice one.

[Umberto]

the last photo (cat+mutant+couple) is exactly the same as the snapshot i took from the movie when i watched it for my first time last night. If u only had Maria Rosaria Omaggio's boobs i may think to propose.