Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980)

Joe D'Amato's other secluded island zombie-porno-horror-mess, Le Notti Erotiche dei Morti Viventi also known as Sexy Nights of the Living Dead.
Starring the usual suspects: Laura Gemser, George Eastman & Mark Shannon.

In a nutshell the plot follows Larry O'Hara (Eastman), a sailor who takes John Wilson (Shannon), an American business man and his girlfriend Fiona to a supposedly cursed tropical island, where he plans to build a holiday resort. Upon arriving on the island they meet the mysterious Luna (Gemser) and her decrepit father. Luna gives O'Hara a small figurine as protection and warns them to leave the island as bad things will happen if they stay.
John's refusal to leave somehow spurs on the inevitable resurrection of the island's deceased inhabitants, who soon start to rise from their graves. They also manage to fit in excessive amounts of sex along the way. Marvelous.



The first half of this film plays out almost as a straight up porno, with a very mild zombie theme running alongside the explicit sex. An instantly memorable scene includes a woman giving Eastman a striptease, normal enough right?...Wrong. Out of nowhere she sits a bottle of Champagne on the floor, proceeding to lower herself onto it and beginning to fuck the bottle, well it didn't last long because it quite literally pops its top and the question still remains. Where did the cork go? This is something that is never explained and for the rest of the movie I couldn't help but think/worry about it.
I feel I must also mention Eastman's incredible ability to engage in intercourse with his jeans on, it seems he 'dry humps' every woman he gets lucky with, hows that for contraception?

The last 10 minutes is really where this film comes together in a cacophony of exquisite night shots in the Caribbean sea, zombies that bleed ice cream, a small wooden figure that when thrown to the floor turns into a cat and bounces right back at your face and zombies rising up from the sand on a tropical beach.
Overall, as with most D'Amato movies they look great and Erotic Nights of the Living Dead is no exception with both lush cinematography and tropical scenery. Average acting and decent looking Fulci-esque zombies, when they decide to bloody show up! I also personally prefer this to Porno Holocaust (1981) as it does manage to build something of an atmosphere, even if it is within the closing minutes.
It's one to be seen, with or without the hardcore footage.