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, with a title like that I hoped for some torrid, ugly and quintessentially D'Amato, sex.



Eroticism is put front and centre during the first half of the film, it plays like a straight porno, with only a very thin zombie theme running concurrently to the explicit sex. An instantly memorable scene includes a woman giving Eastman a striptease, normal enough right?...Wrong, this is D'Amato country... Out of nowhere she sits a bottle of champagne on the floor, lowers herself onto it and begins to fuck the bottle. It's this kind of thing that makes me click my fingers, point at the TV and yell "YES!". Less than a couple of minutes later you hear the cork pop, premature ejaculating champers, is there anything Joe D hasn't dreamt up? And the question still remains, where did the cork go? It's never explained, and for the rest of the movie I couldn't help but think AND worry about it. 

Eastman has an incredible ability to engage in intercourse with his jeans on, it seems he 'dry humps' every woman he gets lucky with. Some great form contraception? or didn't he want to be shot sans pants? The last 10 minutes is really where this film comes together in a battery of exquisite night shots of the Caribbean sea, zombies that bleed ice cream, a small wooden figure that when thrown against the floor turns into a cat, and zombies rising up from the sand on the beach. Isn't that worth the price of admission alone?

As is the case with a lot of D'Amato pictures they look great, and Erotic Nights of the Living Dead is no exception, with cinematography that makes full use of the lush tropical scenery. Sadly the film is mired with average acting, even from Eastman & Gemser. There are decent looking Fulci-esque zombies, when they finally decide to bloody show up! I prefer this to Porno Holocaust (1981) as it does manage to build something of an atmosphere, even if it is within the last 20 odd minutes. It's one to be seen for sure. Watch it on a surreal double bill with Porno Holocaust, that'll be a laugh and half!