New York City medium Theresa (Adelaide Aste) is up to her usual shit… namely conducting a séance when something goes dreadfully wrong… one of the participants, Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl, 1981’s The Beyond and The House By the Cemetery… all parts of Lucio Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy, of which City of the Living Dead is the first part… though none of the films are connected except by general themes) up and dies of fright after she has a vision of a priest, Father Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine) hanging himself in a New England cemetery (or the closest Savannah. Georgia can come to faking it) as the dead rise.
Enter: Journalist Peter Bell (Christopher George, star of stage, screen, and Juan Piquer Simón’s 1982 batshit slasher flick Pieces) who snoops into Mary’s case, only to find she is still alive just as she’s being buried! Before you can say “H.P. Lovecraft”, our heroes consult with Theresa and are soon off to Dunwich to investigate just what in the unholy fuck is going on in the aftermath of Father Thomas’ death.
Speaking of ol’ D-town, shit has really hit the fan, as not only is the town now surrounded by everlasting wind and fog, but Father Thomas appears to be back from the dead and has decided to take-up murdering the townsfolk in unreasonably gory ways. Before long our heroes are joined by Gerry (Carlo De Mejo), the town’s psychiatrist, and his patient, Sandra (Janet Agren), and together they find themselves up to their tits in walking corpses, evil books, showers of maggots, and an impending grand opening celebration of a gate to hell! The demonic deck is decidedly stacked against our protagonists, my cats n’ creeps…
Let’s kick things off by talking about the most notorious (and fucking awesome) thing that Fulci’s City of the Dead is known for; it’s spectacularly over-the-top gore sequences! Look, if you buy this release just for these shocking scenes you will more than get your money’s worth, as over a 92 minute period you are treated to a woman vomiting her own intestines, a man get a drill rammed through his skull, and multiple heads being gouged (and brains being squished)… not to mention the copious amounts of gooey, flesh eating zombies, bleeding walls, bite wounds… and as mentioned previous, gallon upon gallon of maggots!
All of that is fine and dandy, but the flick has so much more to offer, such as an unbelievable amount of that good ol’ spooky atmosphere, fever-dream logic, worldbuilding by way of H.P. Lovecraft (with a dash of Clark Ashton Smith), deft editing and an absolutely killer electronic score courtesy of composer Fabio Frizzi.
Adding to the experience is an affable performance from George that while standing in complete contrast to the ultra-serious, mega-grim tone at hand but somehow just works so damn much, a solid turn from the ethereal MacColl, and a memorable turn from House on the Edge of the Park and Cannibal Ferox‘s Giovanni Lombardo Radice as Bob, a simple man with a seriously shitty rep.
Seeing as how this is a 4K release (Cauldron Film’s first I believe) and I know next to nothing about technical specs (I know, but I was hired to talk about films, not tech) I will say one thing… I could see the individual fucking paint brush strokes on the teeth in the fake head utilized in the gut puke scene…
Since were gabbing about the release proper, I am happy to report that Cauldron have gone rather ape-shit on the bonuses present here!
First up, on the 4K disc (there are three discs present in this release) we get four audio commentaries which feature a new track from author/critic Samm Deighan (in which see delves into the film’s themes in detail, while examining the story as a kind of folk horror piece), and archival tracks from author Troy Howarth and Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson (who provide a ton of information on the film’s production in an engaging and lively manner), and actors MacColl (moderated by journalist Jay Slater) and Radice (moderated by journalist Calum Waddell) who offer first hand accounts of working on the film.
Disc 2 contains a Blu-ray version of the film (containing all of the previously mentioned commentary tracks), while Disc 3 contains the real meat n’ potatoes of the special features!
Starting things off, we have interviews with production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng (featuring incredible production artwork), Radice, special effects artist Gino De Rossi (who offers a fascinating journey through how he created his many cinematic illusions), and De Mejo.
Following that we get various Q&A panels featuring actor Venantino Venantini (along with Cannibal Holocaust director Ruggero Deodato… who also helmed the aforementioned House on the Edge of the Park), MacColl, and Frizzi.
Also included are an archival intro to the film from MacColl, a new visit to the cemetery location used in the film, an archival collection of interviews with cast and crew reminiscing about Fulci, a series of trailers for the film, and an image gallery.
City of the Living Dead lays the groundwork of what would become Fulci’s most well-known sequence of films, and it does a damn solid job of it too… and this edition from Cauldron is absolutely essential for Fulci fanatics!
