And so, we finish off out second loose Italian trilogy in as many weeks; this time Fuluci's "Gates of Hell", which also included the DPP movies 'The Beyond' and 'House by the Cemetery'. Like Argento's "Three Mothers", These three films are only loosely connected, and can be watched in any order; the only connections are references to a book of magic / prophesy (The Book of Enoch) and a couple if cast members (playing different characters in each film).
In this, the first of the trilogy, the suicide of a priest opens a gate to hell in Dunwich.
Two things before we go any further.:
1. We are told (repeatedly) that Dunwich is cursed because it was by it on the ruins of Salem, and that the residents are the defendants of the original witch burners; I appreciate that the movie predates google and Wikipedia by a couple of decades, but in reasonably certain that even a cheap printed encyclopaedia would have told the writers that Salem is still standing, and still called Salem.
2. The priest no only looks uncannily like a young Christopher Lee, but is made up to be pale, with a slight redness around the eyes and brushes back dark hair. I honestly expected to see fangs every time he opened his mouth!
Back to the movie:
This suicide is 'witnessed' by a group in another part of the country, who are holding a seance - this proves to be too much for one poor young lady, who dies of fright on the spot.
Inexplicably, her death doesn't stick, and so after she is freed from her coffin by a reporter who was originally investigating her death, they head off to Dunwich together to try and close the gate to hell before All Souls' Day.
The best character (and only person in the movie who seems to be actually acting, rather than collecting a payslip) is Local simpleton Bob (John Morghen - Cannibal Apocalypse / Cannibal Ferox); not the most popular man in town, after he was once caught in the woods with a young lady (who remains his friend, so I can only guess he was with her in all innocence) Bob seems to have been branded the town pervert and scapegoat; when the people of Dunwich start dying, it isn't long before the local barflies start blaming poor old Bob.
Of course, we know that the killer isn't Bob; it's a group of super-strong, teleporting Zombies, lead by the suicide priest.
The All Souls' Day deadline, by the way, seems to be entirely arbitrary; At one point in the movie, our heroine points out that it is now All Souls' Day... But they continue anyway, and still have their final battle.
The zombies are great in this (although I'm not sure about the teleporting) with a nicely decayed look and the strength to rip the backs of people's skulls off, but it's the priest who steals the show, with his ability to fix his victims to the spot with a stare, causing their eyes to bleed and their organs to climb up out if their mouths!
The gore is top notch (duh; it's Fuluci), the plot is enjoyable, but mad (Fuluci), and the ending makes dick-all sense (again... Fuluci), but thankfully the story proper does have some resolution before the nonsensical final scene.
All in all, I feel quite happy recommending this one, but (despite the title, and the fact that it has zombies in it) don't go in expecting a 'Zombie movie' in any traditional sense.
Showing posts with label City of the Living Dead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label City of the Living Dead. Show all posts
Saturday, 30 March 2013
City of the Living Dead - Lisa's Review
*** SPOILERS ***
So after a couple of Argento weeks, I was relatively pleased to have a Fulci offering this week. I didn't know a great deal about Fulci before starting 'The Nasties' and was pleasantly surprised with what I have watched so far. So what about 'City of the living dead'?
This movie rang bells with me and I wasn't sure why... then I remembered. This was a movie my husband (a BIG zombie fan) had watched many years ago and the memory got lost in the recesses of time. In more recent years, he was reading an online review which listed it as one of the greatest zombie movies of all time. Of course he had to go out and buy a copy. That was where my memory came from. He watched it and was mightilly disappointed with the outcome. This is from a man who has probably seen most zombie movies out there.
Our very basic premis starts with a pirest committing suicide and in the process opening the gates to hell where dead residents of a town called Dunwich reanimate and set about killing everyone in sight. We have a medium called Mary, who supposedly 'dies' at the start of the movie out of sheer fright when we see's the situation surrounding our priest. She is buried alive and when she comes to, she is rescued by a reported called Peter. They set off to Dunwich to attempt to save the world from the ensuing madness....
Sooo what did I think? Well there was a 'feeling' to the movie that I liked, which Fulci always manages to create. I liked the special effects (although you have to allow for its time). We have vomitting entrails, bleeding eyeballs (I particularly like this one), crusty zombies and a horrific drill death. The zombies in this one are very different to the normal shuffling, moronic ones. These ones are smart and can even teleport! You think they're far away and KABOOM, there they are, right in front of you. Jumpy!!! They also look different, more like burns victims I thought. It's nice to sometimes see different interpretations of the living dead.
So after a couple of Argento weeks, I was relatively pleased to have a Fulci offering this week. I didn't know a great deal about Fulci before starting 'The Nasties' and was pleasantly surprised with what I have watched so far. So what about 'City of the living dead'?
This movie rang bells with me and I wasn't sure why... then I remembered. This was a movie my husband (a BIG zombie fan) had watched many years ago and the memory got lost in the recesses of time. In more recent years, he was reading an online review which listed it as one of the greatest zombie movies of all time. Of course he had to go out and buy a copy. That was where my memory came from. He watched it and was mightilly disappointed with the outcome. This is from a man who has probably seen most zombie movies out there.
Our very basic premis starts with a pirest committing suicide and in the process opening the gates to hell where dead residents of a town called Dunwich reanimate and set about killing everyone in sight. We have a medium called Mary, who supposedly 'dies' at the start of the movie out of sheer fright when we see's the situation surrounding our priest. She is buried alive and when she comes to, she is rescued by a reported called Peter. They set off to Dunwich to attempt to save the world from the ensuing madness....
Sooo what did I think? Well there was a 'feeling' to the movie that I liked, which Fulci always manages to create. I liked the special effects (although you have to allow for its time). We have vomitting entrails, bleeding eyeballs (I particularly like this one), crusty zombies and a horrific drill death. The zombies in this one are very different to the normal shuffling, moronic ones. These ones are smart and can even teleport! You think they're far away and KABOOM, there they are, right in front of you. Jumpy!!! They also look different, more like burns victims I thought. It's nice to sometimes see different interpretations of the living dead.
Thursday, 28 March 2013
WEEK 97: City Of The Living Dead
Alternate Titles : Gates Of Hell, Paura nella città dei morti viventi [English translation: Fear in the City of the Living Dead]
Year: 1980
Reviews / Author Comments due: 30/3/2013
Reason for Inclusion: Formed an unofficial "trilogy" with DPP nasties The Beyond, and The House by the Cemetery.
BBFC Status: Passed uncut in 2010
DVD: LINK
Feel free to use the comments section of this post to add your own reviews and thoughts about this movie.
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