City of the Living Dead (AKA Paura nella città dei morti viventi) (1980) Review
In March, ARROW presents the maestro of horror Lucio Fulci’s masterclass in apocalyptic zombie film-making CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD in gloriously gruesome 4K via ARROW. Starring Christopher George and Catriona MacColl, Fulci’s visually stunning classic is drenched in atmosphere (as well as bucket-loads of brains, blood and guts!).
Lucio Fulci throws open the gates of Hell, unleashing a plague of zombies, in this notorious ‘Shock and Gore’ masterpiece. A psychic buried alive, a mysterious vision, a hanged priest and a prediction of zombie fuelled apocalypse. Can anything be done to save man from gut-munching oblivion? In the sleepy village of Dunwich, the dead are rising, local girls are vomiting entrails, and the town misfit is about to get his brains drilled out. Will they find a way to stop the rotting hordes before everyone in town gets devoured? CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD… dare you watch this eye-scorching trip into flesh-splattered zombie insanity from the King of Euro-Terror?
Co-written and directed by the late legendary Italian director Lucio Fulci, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD is the first in the director’s GATES OF HELL trilogy. Fulci’s gore-flick is influenced by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and as such the town in which the film is set is Dunwich, named after the infamous author’s THE DUNWICH HORROR.
CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD has earned a cult following over the years; however, I have never been a fan of it. I did not rate it when I first saw it back in the early Eighties and I still do not rate it now. Online reviews all agree that there is next to no coherent plot but rave about the gore, and I concur that the film’s story does indeed make no sense, but terrific gore is not enough to appease me without a meaningful narrative framework to hang it off.
It is as if Fulci and his co-writer came up with inventive ways of killing off their characters but ran out of time, or indeed didn’t care, that there was next to no sense or coherent plotting to back it up. It becomes gore for gore’s sake and consequently, along with the shrill overacting and nonsensical dialogue, it becomes tiresome quickly. CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD is purely about shock value and nothing else, so if that floats your boat then you are in for a treat.
Fulci’s next film THE BEYOND works better, as did his previous flick, the Romero cash-in ZOMBI – the latter named is a movie that I rate highly – and yes, THE BEYOND makes little sense too but it still makes MORE sense than CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and it’s more surrealistic vibe lends it an atmosphere that this flick desperately needed and very sadly lacks.
Catriona MacColl, who plays Mary Woodhouse in the film, felt that the script was badly written, so it is not just me then, but opted to take the role on the advice of her agent when he said that nobody would see the film anyway. How wrong! They did, and still do, not that it damaged MacColl’s career any, she went on to star in Fulci’s other two movies in his GATES OF HELL trilogy – THE BEYOND (1981) and THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981) which is the best in the trilogy.
City of the Living Dead debuts exclusively on ARROW in 4K and Arrow Video Limited Edition 4K UHD on 25th March.