LUCIO FULCI and his Gothic Hell
February 12th 2007 06:15
Dario Argento holds the flame of sophisticated style as far as Italian horror is concerned. He is technically ambitious, innovative and audacious. The late Lucio Fulci, on the other severed hand (he died in 1996), was the Italian godfather of gore. Sure Argento can be graphic in his use of violence, but Fulci commanded an almost fetish for lingering detail, the kind of perverseness that would permeate a deeply disturbing dream.
Fulci was superb at creating mood and atmosphere, to the point where all else became secondary. Even more so than Argento, Fulci’s horror movies defy any kind of plausibility or narrative coherence. The exist in a realm of nightmarish logic. And that’s what makes them so effective.
Fulci had been making features since the beginning of the 60s, all kinds of genres, but it wasn’t until he directed a Romero-inspired zombie flick called Zombi 2 (1979, to cash in on Romero’s Dawn of the Dead which was re-titled Zombi in Italy) that he unearthed a massive cult following. Known in America, United Kingdom and Australasia as Zombie Flesh Eaters it featured the now infamous 14” wooden splinter through the eyeball sequence, a must for all gorehound completists.
After Zombi 2 the next horror staple he delivered was City of the Living Dead (1981, aka The Gates of Hell). With little regard for solid plot Fulci’s tale revolved around the township of Dunwich and the weird and ghoulish goings on that follow the suicide of a priest. Seems in taking his life in the grounds of the Dunwich cemetery he opened the gates of Hell, and so a cocky reporter and a psychic have to destroy the tomb of the priest and the undead priest to prevent all Hell breaking loose on All Saints Day.
Fulci’s films are train wrecks, but you can’t help stare. Continuity is out the window, narrative logic is severed, and production values are low, yet combined the whole end result works as a squelchy, guilty pleasure. It’s an acquired taste, it has to be said, kinda like eating sweetbreads and tripe, perhaps.
City of the Living Dead has some truly audacious gore; especially the now legendary – and altogether gloriously over-the-top – girl bleeding from the eyes and then slowly, intestine by intestine, she vomits up her entire guts. Her boyfriend (played by superb Italian horror director Michele Soavi) watches on in petrified horror, then has the back of his head torn into by his girlfriend-cum-ghoul.
Another show-stopper is the industrial power-drill through the head scene. Yes, City of the Living Dead is definitely not for the squeamish. Yet the specials are so cheesy it detracts from being truly upsetting. But let me re-iterate that what does resonant are the movies’ rich and shadowy atmospherics, combined with Fulci’s interest in shadowy pseudo-metaphysics, and the ghastly visages of the bung-eyed zombies staring dead down the barrel of the lens.
The House by the Cemetary (1981) was the last in what Fulci described as his Gothic trilogy (City, Beyond and Cemetery). This basement tale was the story of a deranged Dr. Freudstein (!) and his ghoulish and grisly desires. Stealing body-parts and murdering people to rejuvenate his own undead cells. Although not as “good” as the previous two movies, The House by The Cemetary still commands that unmistakable Fulci stamp of worm-infested, slowly congealing blood and a creeping, pervasive atmosphere of doom.
Lucio Fulci’s movies are late night escapist fare when your mind doesn’t want to have to reason, but demands some perverse thrills and surreal spills with creepy music to boot.
Here is the Italian trailer to City of the Living Dead (it's original title translates as Fear in the City of the Living Dead). The native language only adds fuel to the fire of Fulci's sound and vision of Hell on Earth ...
* the images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery
They are licensed under the GNU Free Document License
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by David
If I had a DVD player ... I'd hire a lot of these movies you talk about and watch them ...
Just on an aside ... have you checked out 'Coffin Conversations' by Dementia on Orble ... ??? ...
I love her site ...
David ...
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
That dubbing! Are the actors even Italian?
ha ha! ha ha ha!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
take them with a grain of bloodied salt ... they have to be seen to be truly appreciated ...
David,
thanks for the dead tip, I'll check her blog out ... and you should invest in a DVD player ... take your eyes away from all the Net porn for moment or two ... lol
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile