User reviews

Okay, someone has to say it : Fulci's movie are chock-full of mistakes, unlogical things that goes bump in the scenario and scenes you might laugh at (even worse than my beloved Dario Argento on this ground) But… for the true afficionadoes, this holds riches beyond belief. As most Italian oddities, it's hard to tell were the genius starts and the hack sets in - or is it the other way round ? There IS something in those movie, that makes me - and others - watch them over and over again though I should be too old for this, though I know their defects which suddenly turns into qualities. This movie is the most Lovecraftian of all Fulci's movies, and it's true there is in Lovecraft purple prose and stuff that might be laughed at. But isn't it what grotesque is all about, this no man's land between the pits and the nirvana ?

This is a genuinely frightening story with correct utilization of images-shock , skill edition and eerie images . Lucio Fulci's main great success along with ¨Zombie 2¨ , is compelling directed with startling gory visual content . It's a creepy horror film plenty of brutal frames and gory events. Fulci's horror film about the dead coming back to life on a small location of Dunwich with inspiration on famous novelist H.P. Lovecraft . A journalist named Peter Bell (Christopher George), a psychiatrist (Carlo De Mejo) and a psychic named Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl , Fulci's fetish actress) race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide by hanging of a priest caused them to open , allowing the zombies to rise from the tombs . Gory, gruesome , pretty repellent , and ghastly gory-feast in which the stumbling flesh-eating stiffs are relived by an ancient curse .

Chilling Italian terror flick full of screams, shocks, chills, thrills and lots of blood and guts . Astonishing , mesmerizing , very repellent , and scary mess in which the living dead are reanimated and committing horrible murders . This is a classic excruciatingly terror film in which the intrigue,tension, suspense, horror appears threatening and lurking in every room, corridors , cellar , morgue, streets, cemetery and many other places . Watch for the great highlights as the alive burying and the pick-axe coming dangerously close to her head ; as when a drill punctures the face an unfortunate young -a Fulci's mark who repeats ad nauseam - and clergyman's mesmerizing stares making eyeballs bleed . And as always brief appearance of Lucio Fulci, in Alfred Hitchcock cameo style , as Police Inspector and a young future director of terror movies , Michele Soavi as hapless victim . Good make-up and special effects by makeup artist named Rufini replacing the usual maestro Gianetto De Rossi. Produced on a tight budget by Giovanni Masini and the same Fulci . Moody photography Sergio Salvati on location in Fort Lee, New Jersey, New York City, Savannah, Georgia, USA . Eerie musical score composed and conducted by Fabio Frizzi in Goblin style. The motion picture is realized by one of the most controversial filmmakers of terror movies ,Lucio Fulci , in his ordinary style with flaws and gaps but is professionally made because being a skilled craftsman . Reviewers are divided over booth the morals and talents of Fulci (1927-1996) who sometimes directed under the alias ¨Louis Fuller¨. For some critics many of his movies are cruel and shockingly violent , yet their gory surface often conceals religious, social commentaries or intelligent issues. Whether he should be viewed as a cheap sensationalist or just a genius Fulci has a loyal fan base and undeniably has an important and unique influence on the terror genre , creating great works on a low budget such as proved in ¨The Beyond¨, ¨Manhattan baby¨, ¨Gates of Hell¨, ¨Island of the living dead¨, ¨New York ripper¨ , among them . This is one more imaginative , though imperfect horror/splatter picture in which the camera stalks in sinister style . It's just one long unrelenting guts-feast and passable budget horror movie that still packs a punch for those who appeal to be terrorized out their wits . This gore-feast that tried to disguised itself under many other titles as ¨City of living dead¨ will enjoy to Lucio Fulci aficionados.

Like most of Fulci's horror movies and Italian horror in general, plot and logic take a back seat to gore and stunning visual set pieces. I don't think that 'City Of The Living Dead' quite reaches the heights of Fulci's best ('The Beyond') but apart from a few dull patches it comes closer than you would expect. The simplistic story, which tips it's hat to H.P. Lovecraft, is really just an excuse for another zombie move, and regardless of his shortcomings, Fulci certainly came up with some of the most repulsive and horrible zombies ever, so this is essential viewing to fans of the genre. The movie includes two unforgettable gore sequences ( the drill and vomit scenes), a chilling scene in a graveyard, and an odd, unexpected ending. Recommended to fans of Italian horror. Others might be puzzled if they haven't experienced the style/period before, it's quite a trip!

A zombie flick, but with a twist, City of the Living Dead (aka Gates of Hell) is maybe the best example of Fulci's talent for creating sustained nightmares; movies that make little to no logical sense but which bombard the viewer with atmosphere and gruesome imagery from which there is little relief . One of the movie's most famous sequences, in which a woman vomits up all of her innards in real time !It is absolutely brilliantly demented ! I am really thinking this kind of gore is what makes Fulci so great . He is not the Godfather of Gore for nothing.

A priest commits suicide in the opening moments, thereby opening a doorway to Hell. This one is more focused on the religious and mythical aspects of the zombie mythos. Taking place between New York City and the town of Dunwich. Fulci has a fantastic way with practical special effects and his cinematography is very well executed. City of the Living Dead is a dark, visceral, bloody, maggot filled head trip. As I just discovered his films this year , it is clear what a special, Italian horror director Lucio Fulci was. There will never be another like him. The practical effects still outshine much done today with CGI . 7/10.

I've seen a lot of bad movies, particularly in the horror genre, but City Of The Living Dead just may be the worst horror movie ever made. How anyone can consider this the apex of Lucio Fulci's career is beyond me, but it just shows that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

For starters, this movie is sloppily edited (which seems to be a problem with most of Fulci's movies). Bad music cutoffs, random shots of scenery, and of course the ever-present horrible voice dubbing. I haven't checked if the same editor has worked on most of Fulci's films, but I'll bet it was the same guy making the same bad cuts over and over again. This is easily the sloppiest in Fulci's canon.

The special effects, while passable through most of the movie, are glaringly bad in some scenes, another Fulci trademark. Several closeup shots involve people's brains getting torn out of the back of their heads, which is pretty cool until you notice that the hand doing the brain grabbing is obviously the hand of some black dude. The only person of color in the movie appears at the beginning, and I'm pretty sure Fulci wasn't trying to imply that the guy was secretly the killer for the rest of the film. How Fulci could slip something like this up shows how amateur a director the guy was.

The plot is nonexistent. It has something to do with teleporting zombies rising from their graves and a priest (who hung himself early on in the movie) using telepathy to make people's eyes bleed and spew their guts out of their mouths. The editing is to blame for most of the nonsensical plot, but once again this is something that Fulci did for pretty much every movie he ever made in the horror genre. At least his earlier films made some attempt at a clean plot.

The ending makes no sense whatsoever. The good guys win for no apparent reason, or at least you think they win. But then the last scene throws your presumptions out the window and leaves you wondering what the hell just happened. I'm still trying to figure out what the point was.

Having seen most of his attempts at horror films, City Of The Living Dead is without a doubt Fulci's worst movie. Yes, it's even worse than The Beyond (another so-called classic) and Murder Rock. It's gore for gore's sake, but it can't even get that right.

If you really need to watch a Lucio Fulci movie, please try House By The Cemetery or Zombi. At least then you'll see the potential Fulci showed as a director. It's really too bad he had no visible talent in the profession. And by the way, if you're one of those people who insists that Fulci be classed with real Italian horror directors like Dario Argento, then you need to have your eyes poked out with a very sharp splinter.

"The Gates of Hell" is another masterpiece directed by one of the best horror directors Lucio Fulci.Fulci,who sadly died in 1996,was a real artist.Anyway this film concerns a priest committing suicide and opening the gateway to Hell,allowing the dead to rise from their graves and feed on the living.Christopher George("Pieces")tries to stop them.The gore effects made by Gino de Rossi are excellent(maggots,rotting flesh,lots of squished brains etc.)Giovanni Lombardo Radice gets an electric drill through his head,and there's also a notorious scene of woman(Daniela Doria)vomiting up all of her internal organs in a really nauseating torrent of blood and guts.The plot is weak,but the film is highly atmospheric and imaginative.Again brilliant director Lucio Fulci created a masterpiece of pure horror!10 out of 10-not to be missed.

In New York, the medium Mary Woodhouse (Katriona MacColl) sees Father William Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine) committing suicide by hanging himself in a cemetery in Dunwich. His death opens the gates of Hell permitting the rise of the dead. Mary is so frightened with what she sees that she dies in a séance.

The snoopy reporter Peter Bell (Christopher George) covers the death of Mary and goes to the cemetery. Out of the blue, Mary awakes locked in the coffin and Peter hears her screams and saves her. She tells what happened and Peter invites her to go to Dunwich with him. Meanwhile in Dunwich there are weird deaths and Peter and Mary meet the psychiatrist Gerry (Carlo De Mejo) and his friend Sandra (Janet Agren) to find out the grave of Father Thomas to close the gates of Hell before All Saints Day; otherwise the dead will raise and destroy the living. Will they succeed in their intent?

"Paura nella città dei morti viventi" is one of the best horror movies by Lucio Fulci. The story is simple and does not have explanations why the death of the priest will open the gates of Hell, but the special effects are gore and gruesome. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Pavor na Cidade dos Zumbis" ("Horror in the Zombie City")

Note: On 14 May 2013, I saw this movie again on Blu-Ray. The quality is excellent, but unfortunately the original audio in Italian is not available.

On 26 January 2017, I saw this movie again on a Brazilian DVD (Versátil), but unfortunately the original audio in Italian is not available.

Lucio Fulci is a horror icon. He may not be as well known to many film goers in North America as his iconic status was cemented some twenty years ago, but if you like films by Wes Craven and M. Night Shyamalan and even David Fincher, then you can look at Fulci and say that his work has inspired some of theirs. This is the firs film that I saw of Fulci's and it was when I was a teenager and didn't appreciate a film like this. All I saw in it was a blood and gore soaked film with some really violent deaths. How can one forget the drill to the head? To this day, I still think that actor was actually killed on the set? They really did put the drill bit through his brain and captured it on film for artistic integrity.

I am obviously kidding of course, but is the effect the film will have on you. Films like this are brutal and disgusting and if you like horror films that are high on gore, then Fulci and his counterpart, Argento, are the best in the business. I have always found Italian splatter films to be awe inspiring. They are so much more creative than your typical American horror films. That has changed into the new millennium, but there is still nothing like this on the market. Fulci's films, like Craven's 70's films, would be edited and chopped to bits before anything like this would ever be released. And that is a travesty as the vision and the creativity involved in making a film like this not only takes gusto, it takes talent. Fulci is about as good as they come for this genre.

This is what I wrote in my original review of the film. This is when I was in my mid 20's. I have seen the film recently and obviously my appreciation of the film has increased.

"Gates To Hell ( English translation ) is very amateurishly made. It is lacking in the acting and the directing is choppy. But what this film is and what it does is it epitomizes horror and terror. There are really disgusting scenes of brains being eaten, guts being puked up, a drill to the head ( one of favourites ) and lots of blood, guts and tissue. This film uses the fear of religious unknowns and uses that fear brilliantly. It shows us and truly makes us feel what it must be like to feel pain. Real pain. Not the comic violence that you get from Jason and Freddy. But real disgusting terror as you watch people die in heinous ways."

Times change and now I love the film even more. Fulci is a visionary genius and his Gates to Hell is one of the most innovative horror films to come out of any country. This is a must see for every horror fan.

I am just learning about Italian horror. But if this is what the horror genre is all about, then I want to see more of it. Fulci is one of a kind and I don't think there will be another like him. This is his best work. Check it out.

9/10

We the audience are thrown right into Lucio Fulci's horror tale directly from the start as we witness Father Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine) hang himself at a cemetery and the death of Mary Woodhouse (Katerine MacColl) at a deliciously artsy (thanks to Fulci) seance. Before Mary dies she is screaming about the city of the living dead. Mary is not dead and is revived once she is laying within her tomb in the ground. A pretty good scene where journalist Peter Bell (Christopher George) must get her out of her coffin...with a pick axe. Fulci wouldn't have it done any other way. Because of the suicide of Father Thomas though a gate to hell has been opened allowing the dead to walk the earth again. So, Mary and Peter are off to find it and close it.

To me why I rated it higher is because of Fulci. Yes, it is a gory horror film. I mean that is a must when talking about a Fulci horror film. But, it is in his ability to create the atmosphere in the film. He uses shadows wonderfully in this film and while mixed with some swallowing fog and a nice score from Fabio Frizzi you have a nice dark setting for the horror to take place. He also with the assistance of course with co-screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti weaves the story at times without much dialogue. Which when you know what is going on I love in films.

Also starring Michele Soavi (who went on to direct CEMETERY MAN) and Lucio Fulci himself as the coroner Dr. Joe Thompson. Any gore hounds out there give it a try you might like what you see.

By some margin the best of Fulci's four zombie movies, Paura nella città dei morti viventi succeeds because it has a denser text than the others.

Okay, the dubbing is still chronic and detracts from the piece, but there's more of an arty feel to this one, rather than just a crass sub-Romero exploitation.

It's a relatively complex narrative, made up of psychics, religious texts and an overriding fear of mortality. These undead are not tenpins to be knocked down, as in Zombi 3, but are a mirror image of our own inevitable demise. One particularly unsettling sequence sees a girl buried alive, fighting to get out of her coffin.

The pacing works, too, because even though this suffers from the usual clunky dialogue, there's a slow build-up, adding tension to proceedings. Mind you, a Priest whose party trick is being seen as a hanged apparition is bound to put the willies up anyone. Figuratively speaking, obviously. In fact, it's a touch of genius that sees phantoms mixed with the zombie set-up. Zombies that appear and disappear in your bedroom are far scarier than ones that just amble around like Albert Tatlock on Mogadons.

There are concessions to Fulci's juvenile gore, of course - one girl bleeds tears and then regurgitates her own internal organs before snatching out her boyfriend's brains. And, of course, we get the obligatory impaling scene, this time with an electric drill. It's amazing what Fulci puts his actors through, actually - whether it's showering them with maggots, pushing worms into their face or making an actress swallow and regurgitate freshly slaughtered lamb tripe, he always makes them suffer for their art.

However, there is a slight tendency to imply, not show, here, such as the corpse biting the man's wrist. Okay, we see the blood after the event, but the actual action is played out as a close-up in the man's anguished face. We never even get to see what the three zombies do to the bar owner. Fabio Frizzi's music also adds much to the film in its dated synth-drum machine type way, though its inability to continue from scene to scene does jar somewhat.

The new skills Fulci brought to this project – pace, characterisation, an actual plot, of sorts – were themes he continued with in his third zombie flick, E tu vivrai nel terrore – L'aldilà. Sadly, however, this learning curve was all forgotten when he got behind atrocious sequel Zombi 3 in 1988. Yes, Paura nella città dei morti viventi is more Hammer's Plague of Zombies than Night of the Living Dead, with characterisation and gothic sets taking the place of modern context and visceral thrills. Perhaps the only way it disappoints is in lacking a big pay-off. Instead it opts for a nonsensical conclusion that defies logic.

This film is probably an accidental masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless. Fulci is one of my idols, but I don't think he was a really good filmaker. It was his lack of coherency and almost childlike need to gross you out that made his best films so beloved. Gates of hell is the best of the lot. The film is basically one long wierd, surreal treatise one death and the horror of violent death in particular. Listen to the layered, terrifying soundtrack - wind howls, babies scream, stones grind, skulls break... The much talked about gore is not just gore but completely outlandish, brilliantly excecuted (no pun intended) operatic set pieces that come out of nowhwere and are truly, deeply repulsive. The prog rock score is just as yummy. The non linnear plot creates one of the best pieces of horror/surrealism I've ever seen. The ending is blood chilling because it doesn't make sense. See this movie more than once and realize it's so called faults are part of the reason it's so goddamned great!

This is beyond convoluted. Feels like a new character is introduced every 5-10min. Eye bleeding scene is boss. Glass bleeding scene... not so much. Lots of closeups on peoples eyes (to avoid bad mouth movements with the inevitable Italian horror overdubs). The zombies are pretty damn creepy. And the Fabio Frizzi soundtrack is as good as expected. I basically had no clue what was going on with the plot at any given time but I can recommend it on tone, visuals, fun early 80s gore FX, etc. The very end of this literally makes NO sense, but it is highly comical, also: maybe it's explained later in the trilogy? Not holding my breath but I am looking forward to finishing the trilogy.

City Of The Living Dead didn't impress me on my first viewing, except for the gore, which is some of the best I've ever seen on film. With subsequent viewings I've gradually warmed to this movie and will even recommend it to others.

It's basically the old tale of a priest who hangs himself and opens the gates to hell in the process which gives rise to fecal-faced zombies with the power to teleport, who just appear and squeeze your brains out or make you spew your guts up, then they vanish again. Is it too late for mankind ... ?

Not much of this movie makes a great deal of sense and there are some laugh out loud moments which dull the horrific nature of the nasty gore set pieces. The lip-sync is, as expected, all over the place and the acting pretty wooden but it has great cinematography, a memorable music score and very decent practical effects - when it actually tries to.

Personally this is my favourite of the early 80s Fulci movies. The Beyond is a better film but I enjoy this one the most.

So, I was excited about some good reviews I read. The opening scenes had me thinking : Nice , a city of the dead, this is gonna be good! Well, I was out of luck completely. Instead the plot focuses on something totally different, and people trying to PREVENT the city of the dead.

So don't expect to see lots of zombies, expect a very slow moving plot which doesn't make sense and like 3 kills in the first hour (of course they were very gory, no doubt why some fanboys drool).

It literally put me to sleep. I was going to force myself to watch the last 30 minutes, but I won't bother to put myself through it, and no one else should either.

A priest kills himself, opening up the gates of hell and unleashing zombies and mayhem upon the world. In classic Fulci fashion, nothing is ever crystal clear or explained so it feels like a promo reel of special effects artists mixed in between scenes of inane dialogue that's used as filler.

While nonsensical and silly, City of the Living Dead does have a nice smoky mood that keeps things interesting even when the script grinds to a halt whenever we aren't seeing woman vomit out intestines or drills go through a man's skull.

With this movie, the Italian horror master Lucio Fulci gives us a pretty decent trip in the zombie genre.

The plot is simple. An unfortunate priest hangs himself and unleashes the evil into our world, somewhere in a small town in New England, presumably on an ancient Salem-like witchcraft cradle. The malevolent aether starts resurrecting the dead from graves and coffins, which unleash a festival of gore around them. A journalist, a psychiatrist and a psychic who was nearly buried alive team up to bring the supernatural mayhem to an end. Will they succeed?

This movie introduces the concept (at least to me) of ghost zombies, so literally you have zombies that appear out of nowhere, kill the unlucky ones, and then disappear into thin air as if they were never there.

The special effects are cool and, as a big fan of practical effects which I find far more realistic than even the most advanced CGI, they made a good impression on me. So, if you are a big fan of gore and decomposed bodies and stuff like that, you are really going to like it. The zombies way of killing is particularly interesting, they basically crush the skull and squeeze out the victim's brain with their hands. And you have a lot of intestines also. And again, if you are a maggot-loving freak, you're going to digest this one pretty easy.

The soundtracks produce some eerie '80 atmosphere here, so well recognized and beloved by the hardcore fans of this horror subgenre.

Of course, this film suffers, like almost all of its kind, from some well-known drawbacks, such as sloppy, underdeveloped characters who seem to lack the basic fight-or-flight survival reactions that would normally be triggered during a surreal situation such as those depicted in the movie, and cheesy dialogues, but nevertheless, this entry remains a highly enjoyable one especially for the dedicated fans who are willing to spend 90 minutes plunging themselves into 80's nostalgia.

Well, it certainly has all the classic Fulci hallmarks: comedy acting, an abysmal musical score, a half-baked plot and some genuinely twisted gore.

I've seen this described elsewhere as a masterpiece. It isn't. Fair enough it creates a bit of atmosphere from time to time but other bits are just too dire to take seriously. Every scene in the diner, for example, is just terrible, really terrible.

Always thought Fulci was a real mixture - some great ideas and general concepts but totally unable to translate them into equally great movies. City Of The Living Dead encapsulates this problem nicely.