City Of The Living Dead Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

City of the Living Dead

Lucio Fulci's strong point as a director is not subtlety. City Of The Living Dead fills a large percentage of its running time with graphic, and mostly convincing, gore effects and gore is something that Fulci does better than any other director I've come across. Fulci made four films in his 'living dead series' City Of The Living Dead is the second and is the weakest of the three I have seen. That's not to say it isn't good though, despite a poor script City Of The Living Dead posesses some of the most memorable moments I've seen in any horror film. One of the real highlights of the film comes quite early, in one terrifying sequence involving Christopher George free Catriona MacColl from a coffin in which she has been buried alive. The moment when the pick first breaks through the coffin is difficult to watch, more so than some of the more extreme moments yet to come. When these films are criticised or censored my response is usually to say that the effects are just that, effects, it's not like any of this is real. True, but Fulci pushes the boundaries. The intestines that Daniela Doria vomits up do not belong to her (well...obviously), rather Fulci made her eat vast quantities of tripe and expel that, along with fake blood, for the scene. It's the most disgusting, and the most arresting image in the film and will stay with you long after the end credits, you have to feel for Doria. The true puzzle of City Of The Living Dead is its ending when the image freezes and then breaks apart, giving us no real closure. This is a frustrating moment and one that even Catriona MacColl (in her excellent dvd commentary) cannot explain. The cast are all passable but, predictably, the best show comes from George and MacColl simply because as the only English speakers in the cast they are they only people who are not dubbed (usually rather badly dubbed at that). MacColl isn't the worlds most gifted actress but she is done few favours by the thin script, plays her part well, and is rather pleasant to look at. MacColl also worked with Fulci on the final two living dead films The Beyond and House By The Cemetery In the end few will come to a film called City Of The Living Dead looking for oscar calibre writing or acting, its all about the gore and in this respect Fulci delivers in spades.

Beware your dentist

This film is a very poor attempt at a zombie film. Dawn of the dead it aint!!

Firstly there are only about four zombies, secondly they disappear and reappear, and finally its boring!!!

Bob gets a bit of a headache and dead bodies appear in kitchens apart from that not a lot else happens.

The wife found it scary, I was scared it might get worse.

I've given it two stars, one for the drill and one for the brain squishing.

Watch only to re-appreciate 'Dawn of the dead'