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italian poster
Burial Ground: Nights of Terror (Le Notti del terrore) is an Italian zombie movie directed by Andrea Bianchi with cult status, primarily due to the casting of a middle aged dwarf as the child of an incestuous relationship. Furthermore, the poor quality acting and dubbing add to its cult charm.
Synopsis
A scientist studying an ancient crypt near a grand mansion accidentally unleashes an evil curse. The curse reanimates the dead buried in the area and the zombies devour the scientist. Three jet-set couples and the son of one of the women arrive at the mansion at the scientist's invitation. The guests are quickly attacked by rotting corpses as they begin rising from their graves. The group of people locks themselves in the mansion, and past nightfall, the zombies begin their siege. The first victim is Kathryn, the maid (Anna Valente), who is pinned to a window and decapitated with a scythe. The zombies then begin to display unusually high levels of intelligence, using tools, axes to chop through doors, etc. One of the guests, George (Roberto Caporali) tries shooting at them, but quickly runs out of bullets. Zombies then break into the mansion and attack the guests in the library. One of the guests, the young Michael (Peter Bark) has become traumatized, and his mother Evelyn (Mariangela Giordano) tries comforting him in another room. Michael, however, seems to be becoming sexually attracted to his mother, and fondles her breasts while kissing her. Evelyn slaps him, and he runs off, screaming "what's wrong?! I'm your son!" Michael then encounters the zombified Leslie, another guest, and stands still and stares at her while she shambles towards him, snarling and covered in blood. The group then decides to let the zombies inside the house, reasoning that they can distract them while they escape. Evelyn goes off to get Michael, but finds he has been killed by Leslie, then has a nervous breakdown. The remaining survivors escape from the mansion, and hide out until morning. They then find a monastery, but discover that all of the monks have become zombies. The zombie monks chase the rest of the survivors to a workshop in the middle of the forest, where they encounter the zombified Michael. Evelyn offers Michael to suckle at her breast, and he bites off her nipple. The last two survivors, Mark (Gianluigi Chirizzi) and Janet (Karin Well) are assaulted and killed by zombies in the workshop; as the scenes fades, the zombies put their hands on Janet's head while she screams in terror. The misspelled "Profecy of the Black Spider" then appears on the screen ("The Earth shall tremble, graves shall open...they shall come among the living as messengers of death, and there shall be the nigths (sic) of terror") as the film ends.
Censorship
During the 1980s, this film was difficult to get a hold of in the UK in its uncut form due to the stricter rules regarding the Video Recordings Act of 1984. It was instead released on video in a heavily censored form under the title Nights Of Terror, having 25 minutes of footage removed. As of 2004 the film has been available uncut under the title The Zombie Dead.
Unique Zombies
This film differs from many other zombie films in that the zombies actually consciously utilize weapons, including: pitchforks, machetes and other gardening implements, much like Bill Hinzman's Flesheater.
DVD release
Burial Ground: Nights of Terror was released on June 11, 2002 by Shriek Show. It is available separately or in a triple feature package Zombie Pack, Vol. 2. The Zombie Pack, Vol. 2 includes Burial Ground: Nights of Terror, Flesheater, and Zombie Holocaust.