Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi, aka Sexy Nights of the Living Dead) is an Italian erotic-horror film directed by Joe D'Amato

Joe D'Amato

Joe D'Amato, was a prolific Italian filmmaker who directed roughly 200 films, usually at the same time acting as producer and cinematographer, and sometimes providing the script as well...

 and released in 1980.

Plot

A tropical island cursed by voodoo is purchased by a land developer (Mark Shannon) who plans to open a luxury hotel. He hires a sea captain (George Eastman) to take him and a socialite (Dirce Funari) to the nearby island. Arriving at their location, the group is greeted by a shaman and his granddaughter Luna (Laura Gemser). They are warned to leave as the island is reported home to zombies of the dead natives. But Luna, who just might be a ghost, takes a liking to the greedy land owner.

Cast

• Laura Gemser
  Laura Gemser
  Laurette Marcia "Laura" Gemser is a Dutch-based actress of Indo descent, now Italian citizen. She is known for her work with director Joe D'Amato and Bruno Mattei, in particular, for doing a set of exploitation-style and Black Emanuelle films.Gemser has also been credited as Moira Chen, most...
  
   as Luna
• George Eastman
  George Eastman (actor)
  George Eastman is an Italian B-movie actor and screenwriter.Eastman was born in Genoa, Italy. He took his Americanized alias "George Eastman" when he was cast as a "heavy" in many spaghetti westerns made in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
  
   as Larry O'Hara
• Dirce Funari as Fiona
• Mark Shannon as John Wilson
• Lucia Ramirez as Liz

Production

Shot concurrently with D'Amato's similar Porno Holocaust, the film was shot on location in the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

.

Release

Despite being a popular bootleg title, the film was not officially released in the United States until a 2004 DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 release by Shriek Show.

The film was released in both hardcore

Hardcore pornography

Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...

 and softcore

Softcore

Softcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or erotica that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography. It is intended to tickle and arouse men and women. Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic...

versions. The Shriek Show DVD represents the longest version of the film.