{"title":"Fast Zombies and Social Rights: The Case of Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City (1980)","authors":"Alberto Iozzia","doi":"10.3998/fc.5694","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In the tense atmosphere that preceded the May 1981 Italian referendums on abortion, Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City is released. Included in several ‘Best Zombie Movies’ lists, Nightmare City is important for at least two reasons; first, because it inaugurates a significant and eventually successful variation on the zombie image: the fast zombie; second, as a commentary on the most salient social debate of the late 1970s and early 1980s – the one on the self-determination of Italian women. The aesthetic and the metaphorical levels of Lenzi’s film are strictly connected and the infected people running around drinking the blood of others are the embodiment of a reactionary response to the ongoing social transformation. Nightmare City joins the Italian political dispute of the late 1970s by openly opposing the women’s freedom of choice and by channeling and amplifying the most conservative side of that quasi-eschatological battle.","PeriodicalId":42834,"journal":{"name":"FILM CRITICISM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"FILM CRITICISM","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3998/fc.5694","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the tense atmosphere that preceded the May 1981 Italian referendums on abortion, Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City is released. Included in several ‘Best Zombie Movies’ lists, Nightmare City is important for at least two reasons; first, because it inaugurates a significant and eventually successful variation on the zombie image: the fast zombie; second, as a commentary on the most salient social debate of the late 1970s and early 1980s – the one on the self-determination of Italian women. The aesthetic and the metaphorical levels of Lenzi’s film are strictly connected and the infected people running around drinking the blood of others are the embodiment of a reactionary response to the ongoing social transformation. Nightmare City joins the Italian political dispute of the late 1970s by openly opposing the women’s freedom of choice and by channeling and amplifying the most conservative side of that quasi-eschatological battle.
期刊介绍：
Film Criticism is a peer-reviewed, online publication whose aim is to bring together scholarship in the field of cinema and media studies in order to present the finest work in this area, foregrounding textual criticism as a primary value. Our readership is academic, although we strive to publish material that is both accessible to undergraduates and engaging to established scholars. With over 40 years of continuous publication, Film Criticism is the third oldest academic film journal in the United States. We have published work by such international scholars as Dudley Andrew, David Bordwell, David Cook, Andrew Horton, Ann Kaplan, Marcia Landy, Peter Lehman, Janet Staiger, and Robin Wood. Equally important, FC continues to present work from emerging generations of film and media scholars representing multiple critical, cultural and theoretical perspectives. Film Criticism is an open access academic journal that allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose except where otherwise noted.
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