H D - S E N S E I

A view on Blu-ray by Gary W. Tooze

Nightmare City aka "Incubo sulla città contaminata" aka "City of the Walking Dead" [Blu-ray]

(Umberto Lenzi, 1980)

Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Theatrical: Televicine S.A. de C.V.

Video: Arrow Video

Disc:

Region: FREE (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime (both): 1:31:00.746 / 1:31:01.539

Disc Size: 49,886,343,212 bytes

'Original Negative' Size: 27,681,687,744 bytes

'Reverse Dupe' Size: 18,427,109,952 bytes

Arrow Negative Video Bitrate: 34.97 Mbps

Reverse Dupe Video Bitrate: 21.98 Mbps

Chapters: 12 / 13

Case: Transparent Blu-ray case

Release date: August 24th, 2015

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Audio (both versions):

LPCM Audio Italian 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit
LPCM Audio English 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Subtitles:

English (SDH) for English version, English (for Italian version), none

Extras:

• Brand new audio commentary by filmmaker, Fangoria editor and Nightmare City fan Chris Alexander
• Radiation Sickness a brand new interview with director Umberto Lenzi (28:41)
• Sheila of the Dead a brand new interview with star Maria Rosaria Omaggio (7:41)
• Zombies Gone Wild! director, producer and actor Eli Roth on Nightmare City and the wild cinema of Umberto Lenzi (10:33)
• Nightmare City and The Limits of Restoration featurette looking at the differences between the two transfers included on this release (4:35)
• Alternate Opening Titles (2:11)
• Original Trailer (3:45)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Martin, author of Seduction of the Gullible: The Truth Behind the Video Nasty Scandal, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

Bitrate:

1) Arrow (original Negative) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Arrow (Reverse Dupe) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

Description: Long before zombies took up jogging in 28 Days Later and Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, they were brandishing axes and other sharp implements in Umberto Lenzi s utterly insane radiation-sickness opus Nightmare City.

In true Zombie Flesh Eaters form, our story begins with the arrival of an ominous, seemingly unmanned craft in this instance, a military plane making an unscheduled landing at a European airport. Upon forcing the aircraft doors open, the waiting soldiers get a nasty shock when out bursts a horde of flesh-hungry, pizza-faced radioactive ghouls. The walking dead are here, and they re hungry!

Counting amongst its fans the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth, Nightmare City (aka City of the Walking Dead) is a bonkers slice of Italian zombie carnage from the man who shocked the world with the notorious Cannibal Ferox.

1) Arrow (original Negative) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Arrow (Reverse Dupe) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

The Film:

CITY's inspired beginning features a tv reporter waiting at the airport for an arriving physicist. An unmarked military transport lands unannounced and is surrounded by government troops. Zombies disembark and all hell breaks loose! They attack the live broadcast of a "Solid Gold" style tv show, a hospital, and some people at poolside.

The reporter and his wife (a doctor) take off into the country in an ambulance in an attempt to get away from the carnage. The wife is a constant downer, repeatedly saying things like: "It's part of the vital cycle of the human race. Create and obliterate until we destroy ourselves." Thanks babe, you're really making this a fun trip for everybody.

Excerpt from Exploitation Retrospective located HERE

This delightfully bizarre Italian/Spanish co-production from Umberto Lenzi starts off with the local news station reporting a leak at the state nuclear plant. A Professor Hagenbeck is arriving back into the city by plane after going with his team to investigate the leak. TV reporter Dean Miller (Stiglitz) is sent to interview the professor. Miller arrives at the airport just as an unidentified military plane makes an emergency landing. Airport security and a small number of army personnel surround the aircraft and demand whoever is inside to open up. Big mistake, because inside is the Professor and his team who have now become murderous zombie type creatures!

Worse than that though is their skin condition, as the Professor and friends now look like they have fallen face down in a bowl of chocolate oatmeal! The horror!! Before the startled eyes of Miller the Chocolate Oatmeal Faced Toxic zombies (who we shall call COFTZ from here on in) are hacking, stabbing and shooting their way through the troops and drinking their blood. Yes I did say shooting. None of your slow shambling unarmed rotters here, these COFTZ brandish weapons and run after their victims!

Excerpt from HorrorExpress located HERE

Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Firstly, there is also a Kino Lorber (through Raro) release of Nightmare City in region 'A' HERE, but we can safely assume that it pales in comparison to this complete package from Arrow that offers HD transfers of two different prints - Arrow's 2K restoration from the original camera negative and a 'Reverse DUPE negative' source. You can see for yourself in our matched screen captures what the issue is. The original has some damage - almost exclusively in the plane sequence at the beginning and end of the film. It shows in the form of a yellow mist (chemical deterioration). But while the DUPE source is cleaner - it is no where near as sharp (loss of resolution) and crisp as the original camera negative. The original camera negative transfer has a max'ed out bitrate while the DUPE is still 1080P but has not gone through such a robust transfer. The original shows more information on the left and bottom edges and both are in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The original has the Italian title sequences and the DUPE has the English, after that it is exactly the same film - but Arrow have made the audio tracks and subs available for both. We get this preface text screen before the original camera negative presentation:

I think it's great to have the option, but I imagine most would lean to the original despite the damaged sequences. I must applaud Arrow for producing the Blu-ray in this manner. Neither, alone, would be a complete package. The only thing I thought might have been discussed is to replace the damaged parts with those from the DUPE, but the disparity may have been too obvious and 'unacceptable quality'.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

1) Arrow (original Negative) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Arrow (Reverse Dupe) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

NOTE:Chemical Damage on the Original camera Negative - TOP