Review of City of the Living Dead (1980) by Rob C — 05 Mar 2011

The Gates Of Hell are opened after a priest in the small town of Dunwich hangs himself, subsequently setting off a series of events that cause the dead to rise. Director Lucio Fulci is a master genious when it comes to gore. City of the Living Dead was extreme in that department, showing off class scenes of brains, blood and goo. Bleeding eyes were also prevalent, stapling itself into the film; almost like it's calling card. Fulci is very skilled at what he does and this film proves his talent.

But like all great films, there are some flaws and those come in the form of the storyline. It's basic and not very original. It's also daft in some places and needed to be worked on some more. The zombies weren't at all creepy and felt more like phantoms the way they appeared and disappeared randomly throughout the film. It became kind of frustrating because of this. But those are only minor idiosyncrasies because my sole reason for going into this film was for the make-up effects, which were pulled off nicely. Much like Dario Argento, Fulci uses some dynamic soundtracks for his films and here we have a tinge of atmospheric vibes with some medievil tones. It really was a tension builder and proved that Lucio Fulci is in a realm of his own when it comes to directing horror cinema.