SYNOPSICS
Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980) is a Italian movie. Lucio Fulci has directed this movie. Christopher George,Catriona MacColl,Carlo De Mejo,Antonella Interlenghi are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1980. Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980) is considered one of the best Horror movie in India and around the world.
In the small New England town of Dunwich, a priest commits suicide by hanging himself in the church cemetery which somehow opens the gates of hell allowing the dead to rise. Peter, a New York City reporter, teams up with a young psychic, named Mary, to travel to the town where they team up with another couple, psychiatrist Jerry and patient Sandra, to find a way to close the gates before All Saints Day or the dead all over the world will rise up and kill the living.
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Paura nella città dei morti viventi (1980) Reviews
First class gorefest from the notorious Lucio Fulci.
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!
Nightmarish Vision
Paura Nella Citta Dei Morti Viventi/City of the Living Dead(1980) was Lucio Fulci's followup to his international breakthrough and ultra violent zombie classic Zombie Flesh Eaters(1979). Fulci ups the ante in violent imagery compared to Zombie(1979). Unlike Zombie(1979), The Gates of Hell(1980) focuses more on atmosphere and dreamy landscapes then on story. The film begins and ends with the scream of the main actress. The opening scene is done with some skill. The scene where the hanged priest is superimposed between the iris of Mary Woodhouse is brilliant. There is a medical element that is prominent in all of the director's horror films. After all, Lucio Fulci at one point studied to be a doctor and spent some time in Medical school. Lucio Fulci has a small cameo as a hospital examiner. The zombies look cool and creepy. The Gates of Hell(1980) has some flaws in it. one flaw is the sometimes erratic editing. Another flaw is that there are a few dull moments that offset the film's brilliance. Also, it has the look of a film that went through a rushed production. Finally, the ending seems as if it was put together in the last second. Sergio Salvati did an excellent job as the director of photography. Although some scenes are too dark, most of the film is still well photographed. The scenes with the camera moving around town are eerie with its light blue white fog and empty streets. The shots of the underground cemetery is one of the film's eeriest parts. The camera in The Gate of Hell(1980) as in Fulci's other horror films forces the audience to take a hard long look at the carnage occuring on the big screen. The make up effects are done with flamboyance by Gino De Rossi as Gianetto De Rossi was not available to do the effects. The Gates of Hell(1980) would be the first in a three film series of gothic horror that included L'Aldila/The Beyond(1981), and Quella Villa Accanto al Cimitero/The House by the Cemetery(1981). Anchor Bay Entertainment did the best job they could possibly do with what seemed to be an average print. The Gates of Hell(1980) like many gothic novels were thought of as barbarous and crude. Lucio Fulci's next feature, The Beyond(1981) would focus more completely and fully on atmosphere and pure imagery then The City of the Living Dead(1980). Paura Nella Citta Dei Morti Viventi(1980)'s refusal to have a linear plot and its violence are some of the things that divide audiences and critics like with many of Lucio Fulci's work. After the success of Inferno(1980) in Italy, there were many people who would use the film's non linear structure as a guide line for their films. Fear is the main theme of The Gates of Hell. It is fear that brings about the demise of different characters from the film. The movie was a way for the audience to attempt to overcome their own perosnal fears. There are four outstanding set pieces in this flick. First, the semi realistic sequence where a woman pukes out her guts. Second, the drill through the head scene. Third, the buried alive sequence which pumps the tension like a ballion until its pops. Finally, the rising of the dead in the underground cemetery. Catriona MacColl does a good job in what was the first of three films that she would do for Lucio Fulci. This is the third film along with The Exterminator(1980) and Enter the Ninja(1981) that Christopher George suffers a violent death. Christopher George adds a sense of humor to the film's gloomy landscape. Daniela Doria really was puking out something out of her mouth as you watch that infamous sequence(this makes her a brave actress for doing this scene). The drill scene is one of the most cruel and realistic death scenes that the director has ever filmed. City of the Living Dead(1980) has many things in common with Don't Torture A Duckling(1972). One, the murderers in the two films are priest. Two, the non conformist are blamed and brutally murdered by the victim's family or friends. Three, the film takes place in a desolated and isolated town. Four, in both films a reporter and a blonde woman are the main protagonist. The Gates of Hell(1980) also has some similar qualities with Phantasm(1979). First, the cemetery is the main source of evil. Second, a member of the local church is the cause of the evil doings around town. Third, the two films focus more on set pieces then on character and plot. Finally, The Gates of Hell(1980) and Phantasm(1979) are played out like a nightmare where a person has entered and is unable to exit.
chilling and surreal...
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!
Fulci's splatter film inspired on H.P. Lovecraft about the dead coming back to life at Dunwich
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.
Gore galore!
"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.