This Dawn Of The Dead was released as Zombie in Italy, and before you could say Homage, Motherfucker!, there were sundry films trading on its gore-strewn delights.
This was when Lucio Fulci, a protege of the aforementioned Leone, came up with Zombie 2, ironically enough released as Zombie in the US, by way of a nice bit of give-and-take. We in the UK were treated to it under the name of Zombie Flesh Eaters, at least until the government decided no-one really wanted to see it at all, and gallantly banned it for a few years.
Zombie Flesh Eaters marks the emergence of Fulci as one of the greatest horror filmmakers in the history of cinema. Not to put him under any pressure or anything.
What Zombie Flesh Eaters is about, is how an island in the Caribbean is being used for Voodoo rituals by some crazy old professor of some type. We get zombies fighting sharks, pieces of wood going into folk's eyes, zombies ripping folks necks open and so on. Pretty much any type of bodily harm you can imagine, in fact, is thrust upon either the zombies or their victims.
However influential Romero's undead types may have been, Fulci's are the ones most recognisable today. These corpses aren't just folks with a spot of blue paint on them, but are in fact rotting, half-headed, decomposing monstrosities. Honestly, you ain't never witnessed such artistic gut-chewing in your damn life.
Fulci's film was so good, in fact, that next thing you know there's a million other films called Zombie 3 or Zombie Flesh Eaters Part 2, and only half of one had anything to do with Lucio himself.
He suffered a bout of the old illness midway through making his own official sequel, y'see, and had to hand the reins over to the ever-reliable Bruno Mattei.
What Fulci got up to next, though, almost eclipses his Caribbean zombie antics altogether.
Deciding that stuff like plot and so on were just inconveniences, Fulci crafted his cycle of three flicks based roughly on Lovecraft and others of his ilk, all of which screwed with narrative with remarkable aplomb, and all of which featured truly mind-shagging imagery.
First up was City Of The Living Dead (Paura nella citta dei morti viventi), released in 1980. I tend to wrestle with the notion quite a lot, but at the time of typing, this right here stands as The Duke's Favourite Ever Fulci Flick.
Article comments
1 - Trioptre
Great post except that _Hurt_ was by Nine Inch Nails, not Manson.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Damn, man, The Duke always screws up. Sorry Nine Inch Nails. Sorry Marilyn Manson.
I hope i don't push Marilyn Manson over the edge with such bad research, i wouldnt want him to get that damn family of his on the road again.
Stay in jail, Marilyn Manson, you big old maniacal motherfucker.
Thanks Trioptre. You got a favourite Fulci you wanna throw into the old arena de critique?
I'm off to listen to Stacy's Mom by Ben Folds Five. What a great tune. Good for you, Ben Folds x5.
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Sorry, really the Hurt thing was a wee joke. I know it was old Trent and co. And ben folds five dont do stacys mom either, at least thats what they tell Stacy, but i dunno man, what the hell are they doing in her house through the day? stacys at school, man, what the hell you up to?
4 - Nick Jones
While I've only seen two of Fulci's films (the other being "New York Ripper"), I have fond memories of the first time I saw The Gates of Hell, AKA The City of the Living Dead. I caught it on HBO, '80 or '81 (on Christmas Eve, no less! Why are there no such genius programmers anymore?), and while I considered myself unfazeable up til then, I have to admit that I was horrified and revolted (in a delighted way, of course) by the Gut Puke Scene (see link below):
http://www.retrocrush.com/scary/73.html
To this day, I can either WATCH the scene, or LISTEN to the scene, but have difficulty doing BOTH without my gag reflex kicking in. I think it's the sound of the woman CHOKING on her own guts as she spews them into her lap that does it for me. Yum.
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Nick! Ha! I can't believe you put a link to the gut-puking. Good for you.
Ah, the old gut puking motif. How it would have improved The Phantom Menace. I haven't saw The New York Ripper myself. I think it was one the fulci flicks best described as Take The Money And Run, from what i've read on it. Is it really as offensively misogynist as some say? Incidentally, thats one of the things that distinguishes these flicks mentioned here from most other of their ilk. They are indiscriminate in their slaughter.
6 - Nick Jones
It's probably been nearly twenty years since I've seen NYR, and I didn't find it all that memorable. But one scene I did find unforgettable: while The Ripper holds down one of his victims, hand over her face, he brings a straight razor to her eye and cuts it. Now of course it was a mechanical effect, but Fulci upped the squeamishness quotient by having the eye dart back and forth in terrified panic as the razor comes toward it instead of just staring at it, as a less imaginative director might have done. Classic.
By the way, have you ever figured out a meaning for the end of "Paura nella citta..."? I mean, I'm guessing it's a "Whoops! Not in time!" moment, but I've never figured out WHY it is.
The rest of the list where I got the link from is worth checking out, too.
My personal favorite horror film? "Black Christmas."
7 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Nick, that sounds like an unpleasant slab of filmic mayhem right there. Also, it wouldn't be Fulci if he didn't get all hyperactive with the eye slashing. Like Un Chien Andalou, except with more innards. I havent saw Black Christmas as of yet, but must do shortly, and really, i have no excuse now that it's out on the old DVD. John Carpenter says its a tres big influence on Halloween. As to the end of City..., who the hell knows. It adds to its wonder by its very unfathomability.
8 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Nick, just had a look at the list. Who woulda thunk it! Theres Un Chien Andalou at no.6 just seconds after i mentioned it. Coincidences, man. Gotta love em.
9 - Nick Jones
"Black Christmas" is a bit slow (as some have said) for today's post-MTV audience, even for me now, though I still think it's one of the more intelligent slasher films, and one of the first. And you can't go wrong with Margot Kidder, in her prime, as a sorority slut (who gets to do a great oral sex joke).
There is, of course, a website.
http://www.itsmebilly.com/
Although I'm not a connoisseur of giallo, the unfathomable endings of Italian horror films (as well as others) is something I appreciate; eg. "Cemetary Man."
10 - Antonella Fulci
You're definitely a genius. Thank you.