What makes City of the Living Dead so effective is the way the story is told, all soft focus and misty grounds and the threat of violence at any given moment. The story here is simple: a priest commits suicide in the opening moments, thereby opening a doorway to Hell. City of the Living Dead (1980) – A very close second for me, 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. This isn’t just my favorite Fulci movie it’s one of my favorite horror movies period.Ģ. ![]() Animals attack, heads explode, faces are melted off, eyeballs pop out, the gateway to Hell is opened. Though some Fulci fans might bristle at my naming The Beyond as his best movie, it’s the one that combines everything that’s great about him and his work: the mounting sense of dread, the shocking explosions of gore, the nightmare logic, the unforgettable visuals, and Fabio Frizzi’s best score. The Beyond (1981) – Winner and still champion. No matter what, it was a blast to revisit all of these movies and to be reminded of just what a special, singular director Lucio Fulci was. The choices for slots 1-10 came quickly the rest is kind of a crapshoot. Obviously there’s a huge amount of subjectivity – my favorites may not be anyone else’s favorites – but there’s also a pretty wide gulf between the Fulci films I like and those about which I’m less passionate. Ranking his horror films was no easy task. Even a mediocre effort – and he certainly has his share of movies that don’t work – has a personality that’s distinctly Fulci. In a genre so often characterized by sameness, his films are like no one else’s. ![]() One day, though, everything finally clicked, and Fulci has gone on to become one of my favorite filmmakers. I would watch his movies again and again, confounded by their refusal to conform to traditional narratives and unable to see past certain limitations to appreciate the technical mastery on display. Often referred to as “The Maestro,” Fulci is one of the godfathers of gore, who helped popularize the splatter film with his memorably violent supernatural, zombie, and slasher movies.įull disclosure: it took me several years to “get” Fulci. ![]() Next to Dario Argento, there may be no bigger name in all of Italian horror cinema. Though he worked across a number of genres – westerns, comedies, police thrillers, even family films – Lucio Fulci is best remembered for his horror movies.
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