Lucio Fulci

Born 17 June 1927 in Rome, Italy

Died 13 March 1996

Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci, began his film career already in 1959 in directing mediocre comedies and westerns. It elapsed ten years and twenty movies before he started to approach what later on came to be his trademark. With "One on Top of the Other" (1969) which was his first major success, he changed to the giallo genre. The same year he also made the cruel historical drama "Beatrice Cenci" about witchcraft and torture. Though it was Fulci´s own favorite did it flopped at the box office.

Fulci´s two next following giallos "A Lizard in a Woman´s Skin" and especially "Don´t Torture the Duckling", are both belong to his strongest efforts. Already now made his films commotion. He almost got a two years´sentence because of he in "A Lizard in a Womans Skin"had a scene with ripped up dogs. Over the next five years made Fulci western and adventure movies that no one would see. In 1977 tried he make a comeback with the giallo "Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes" aka "The Psychic", but when that flopped as well he considered to stop directing.

In the meantime had George A. Romero conquered the world with his ultraviolent zombie film "Dawn of the Dead". The little film company Variety realized that this could make big money, and decided to make an Italian follow-up. Enzo G. Castellari was first offered to direct, but when he refused had Fulci the opportunity. "Zombie" aka "Zombie Flesh Eaters" was Fulci´s great breakthrough. In contrast to Romero´s sometimes comic "Dawn", was "Zombie" dead serious and gruesome and was about voodoo on a Caribbean island. Fulci had a different idea of how zombies should look like - extremely slow-moving rotten corpses with worms crawling all over them. Romero used grand guignol Tom Savini to shock the public, but Fulci had another ace up his sleeve, Gianetto De Rossi, that practically without any budget at all achieved effects that struck the world with amazement. "Zombie" was almost just as successful as "Dawn of the Dead", and is ranked among the best zombie movies ever.

Fulci managed to make one more film - the somewhat unknown but fairly decent gangster flick "The Smuggler" - before he signed a gilt-edged contract on five USA movies. The whole filmteam from the horrifying "Zombie" was included here, and this was his golden years. Many had been inspired by "Dawn of the Dead" and "Zombie" (especially the Italians), and now followed a time that can be described as the most gruesome period in horror history. One film was worse than the other and nothing, absolutely nothing was left to imagination. But Lucio Fulci was worst of them all.

With "City of the Living Dead" aka "The Gates of Hell" (1980) tried Fulci to surpass himself in disgustingness. And he made it. The story about a priest who hangs himself and by that ritual opens a gate to hell are full to the bursting point with stomach-churning effects. It pervades a tight spooky atmosphere throughout the film that given rise to many cold shivers for those who seen it. It´s without a doubt one of Fulci´s scariest movies. Unfortunately wasn´t it in the same class as "Zombie", because the plot was far too thin.

1981 was a productive year for Fulci. First he made "The Black Cat", a beautiful version of an Edgar Allan Poe story. Then he released "The Beyond", which by many regards as Fulci´s definitive masterpiece. Fulci said about his film, "It was my idea to made an absolute movie. Actually, this is a movie without plot, without logic, only a sequence of pictures". "The Beyond" dealt with an old hotel in Louisiana which is built under one of seven gateways to hell, and can be seen as an extension of his last zombie film "City of the Living Dead". But everything here was better than its precursor. "The Beyond" is in unedited shape one of the most uncanny horror films which ever been made.

Before the 1981 ending made Fulci the last film in his zombie quartet, "The House by the Cemetery". This was Fulci´s haunted-house experience about a family who move into an old Victorian New England mansion, there a weird secret lives in the cellar. A very confused plot are compensated by a stunning setting and the most gothic atmosphere I´ve seen in a film. "The House by the Cemetery" was Fulci´s last masterpiece. In 1982 made he the perverted "The New York Ripper", which been called "the most sickening splatter movie in the eighties". It is a crime/giallo version of Jack the Ripper who murder prostitutes in New York. Fulci received severe criticism for the extreme violence against women, and was also stamped as a misogynist. That special atmosphere that was found in his zombie movies was lost. "The New York Ripper" failed both among critics and public and was the end of the successful collaboration with producer Fabrizio De Angelis. It has later on been a cult favorite among gore hounds.

Fulci continued making own versions of popular Hollywood films, but no one were interested in watching them. Concurrently with his health got worse, became his movies worse too. In 1988 tried he to save his situation by making a decent follow-up "Zombi 3", to one of his zombie flicks. Unfortunately got Fulci problem with his heart, and was forced to leave the direction to Bruno Mattei who turned it into a total mess. The only little bright spot from his later production was actually "Nightmare Concert" (1991), if one disregard that he included scenes from his more unknown flicks. Lucio Fulci died very tragical 1996 in a diabetic attack. But his name and his zombie movies will always live on in grateful memory.

Written by Kent Palmgren.

Selected Filmography:

One on Top of the Other (1969)
Beatrice Cenci (1969)
A Lizard in a Woman´s Skin (1971)
Don´t Torture the Duckling (1972)
Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes aka The Psychic (1977)
Zombie aka Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)
The Smuggler (1980)
City of the Living Dead aka The Gates of Hell (1980)
The Black Cat (1981)
The Beyond (1981)
The House by the Cemetery (1981)
The New York Ripper (1982)
Manhattan Baby (1982)
The New Gladiators (1983)
Conquest (1983)
Murder Rock (1984)
Devil´s Honey (1986)
Aenigma (1987)
Zombi 3 (1988)
Touch of Death (1988)
The Ghosts of Sodom (1988)
Demonia (1990)
Voices from Beyond (1990)
Nightmare Concert aka A Cat in the Brain (1990)
Door to Silence (1991)

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