Hell of the Living Dead (Italian: Virus – L'inferno dei morti viventi) is a 1980 horror film directed by Bruno Mattei.

The film is set in a laboratory in Papua New Guinea that releases a dangerous chemical, turning the technicians and locals into zombies.

As two workers investigate, the rat suddenly comes back to life and kills one of the men, who likewise revives and attacks his co-workers.

A four-man team of Interpol commandos, consisting of Lt. Mike London, Osborne, Zantoro, and Vincent, are deployed to eliminate a group of eco-terrorists who have taken hostages at the US Embassy in Barcelona, Spain.

Rousseau and London's men battle their way to a beach, escape by raft, and finally arrive at Hope Center #1, where they find all of the workers either dead or roaming the facility as zombies.

Rousseau theorizes that the chemical, codenamed "Operation Sweet Death", has been invented to curb the Third World population by driving it into eating each other.

While politicians and scientists dispute the matter, a young couple in the developed world is attacked and devoured by a horde of zombies in a city park.

[5][11] Fragasso stated that when the crew arrived in Barcelona to shoot the film they found they had no money and had to improvise and rewrite the previous script.

[18] In a contemporary review, Steve Jenkins (The Monthly Film Bulletin) noted that the possibility of a subversive subtext involving Third World victims corrupted by scientific research was "truly buried here in an orgy of flesh chewing and vomiting, as well as dialogue that beggars belief.

"[2] The review commented positively that the film had unexpected pleasures, such as "the ludicrous attempts to dub speech on to stock footage (featuring humans) and a story, low-budget UN meeting consisting of a handful of delegates hurling pieces of paper at each other.

"[2] From retrospective reviews, Glenn Kay (Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide) also noted the poor dialogue, as well as bad shot composition—with scenes changing from day to night between cuts, slow pacing and overacting.

"[1] Donald Guarisco of AllMovie described the film as "cluelessly bad" with a script of "dreadful characterizations and dialogue," noting that it would be enjoyed by fans of cult and trash cinema.