Review of City of the Living Dead (1980) by Camden N — 26 Jun 2008

Like the director's similar The Beyond (and Don Coscarelli's Phantasm), this is enjoyable because it's very bizarre and has some great gory set-pieces. In fact, this film would make a great double feature with Phantasm.

The only reason this doesn't quite reach The Beyond's greatness is that it's VERY slow paced, and the ending is completely idiotic. I read this was due to the fact that the original ending was wrecked so they had to compile this ending out of outtakes. The reason it's so stupid is that Fulci and the editor thought it would be funny. Maybe they were drunk?

I actually think this is much crueler than a lot of Fulci pictures are. For instance, a young boy witnesses (of-screen) his family getting killed by his zombified sister. And an innocent kid is killed by an angry father because he's sort of weird and everyone thinks he's a rapist or something. He's creepy, but he sure didn't deserve a drill to his head.

The main attraction here is the creepy, gothic atmosphere (full of foggy streets and dingy tombs and cemeteries). That combined with the surreal, nightmarish Fulci style gives the film its unique milieu that, as I said, is really only comparable to Phantasm.

I'd rate it higher were it not for the slow pacing and the moronic ending. The make-up effects are also not quite up to the usual Fulci standard. Most of the zombies look like someone vomited on their face, which is a far cry from the brilliant make-up from Zombi 2.

Oh, special mention must go the zombie-filled climax. One of the most wonderful scenes in horror, with all the requisite gothic elements transposed to the gory sensibilities of the 80s. The pounding music by Fabio Frizzi is great, with the climax's theme recalling the theme from Zombi 2.

Oh, and as often is with these movies, Christopher George is in this film basically playing himself. Awesome.