City of the Living Dead
City of the Living Dead | |
---|---|
Italian | Paura nella città dei morti viventi |
Directed by | Lucio Fulci |
Written by |
|
Produced by | Mino Loy[2] |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Sergio Salvati[1] |
Edited by | Vincenzo Tomassi[1] |
Music by | Fabio Frizzi[1] |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Medusa Distribuzione |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes[1] |
Country | Italy[1][3] |
Box office | ₤985 million (547,773.91 US Dollars) $1,897,350[4] |
City of the Living Dead (
City of the Living Dead was developed after the financial success of Fulci's previous film,
The film was theatrically released in Italy in August 1980, which grossed ₤985 million. It was followed by a release throughout Europe, including a screening at the Paris International Festival of Fantastic and Science-Fiction Film, where Fulci won the Audience Award,[5] and in the United States in April 1983. Upon release, the film received criticism for its performances, plot, and graphic violence, but like many of Fulci's films, has developed a cult following. It is the first film in Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy.[6]
Plot
In
In Dunwich, Bob, a young vagrant, visits an abandoned house but flees after seeing a carcass. Across town, Gerry, a psychiatrist, is in consultation with Sandra, a neurotic patient. Emily Robbins, his 19-year-old girlfriend and personal assistant, later tell him that she will meet with Bob, whom she has been trying to help. That evening, Emily finds Bob at a derelict garage exhibiting unusual behavior. Father Thomas then appears as Bob runs away, smothering Emily to death with a maggot-covered hand. The next morning, Emily's body is found. Emily's father tells the sheriff and Gerry of his suspicions about Bob due to the latter's history of crime. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary leave New York and embark upon their search for Dunwich.
That evening, Bob returns to the deserted house and has a vision of Father Thomas. After Emily's funeral, her younger brother John-John sees her ghostly image outside his bedroom window. At Sandra's house, the corpse of an elderly woman, Mrs. Holden, appears on her kitchen floor. Sandra calls Gerry for help, but the body disappears as soon as Gerry arrives. The two search the house but are disturbed by many occurrences, such as a window breaking, with the glass then dripping human blood.
Meanwhile, Bob has taken refuge in the garage of a local man, Mr. Ross. Ross's teenage daughter Ann finds Bob and offers him marijuana. Ross bursts in and attacks Bob, fearful he is trying to seduce his daughter. Ross kills Bob by impaling his head through a drilling lathe.
The following morning, Peter and Mary arrive at the graveyard that Mary saw in her vision. They begin searching for Father Thomas' tomb and meet Gerry and Sandra. They go back to Gerry's office to discuss Father Thomas' death when the four are showered with maggots. Gerry then receives a call from John-John explaining Emily has returned and killed his parents. They rush over the Robbins' house and try to find the sheriff. While Sandra tries to get John-John to safety, Emily rips her scalp off. John-John runs through the town's streets and is saved by Gerry, who hands the boy over to the police.
While drinking at a bar, Mr. Ross is attacked by the re-animated dead people of the town, led by Bob. Ross and two other men are killed, as a state-of-emergency is declared over the radio. Mary, Peter, and Gerry arrive back at the graveyard as the clock strikes midnight and All Saints Day begins. They descend into Father Thomas' family tomb, discovering a cave of skeletal remains and cobwebbed putrescences. Appearing as a zombie, Sandra kills Peter before Gerry impales her with a metal spike. Mary and Gerry continue until they face Father Thomas, commanding an army of the undead. Before he can kill Mary, Gerry grabs a wooden cross and disembowels Father Thomas. The priest and the other revived corpses burst into flames and disappear. Mary and Gerry exit into the graveyard in the morning to see John-John and the police. Mary is relieved to see John-John alive but becomes frightened and screams as everything fades to black.
Cast
|
|
|
Production
After
Sacchetti recalled that, after completing the script, it was shelved for some time, due to their commitments to other projects.
MacColl had recently made her film debut in the title role of the manga adaptation Lady Oscar, and would be cast as the lead in Fulci's later films The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery.[8] When she was approached for the film, she felt that the script was "badly written" and almost declined taking part. "It seemed to me like a series of special effects without a story", she said in an interview in 2011. She called her agent from her hotel room to seek his advice; he told her to take the role, because "nobody was going to see the film anyway"—a prediction that MacColl later noted would prove to be incorrect.[10]
Film historian and critic Roberto Curti stated that, according to the Public Cinematographic Register, filming was published as beginning on March 24, but it was more likely that filming had not begun until April 1980.[8][11] The shooting schedule allowed for shooting on location in New York City and six weeks in Savannah, Georgia, as well as two weeks in Rome at De Paolis Studios for the special effects scenes.[1][8] The decision to shoot in Savannah was dictated by the film's low budget, particularly to avoid conflict with unions regarding the importation of most of the film's cast and crew.[8] The special effects scenes included a scene where the cast is attacked by maggots via two wind machines and 10 kg of maggots.[8] To surprise Fulci, one crew member took some of the maggots and placed them in his pipe tobacco, which Fulci only learned about after a few puffs of what he was smoking, angering him immensely.[8] Fulci would later theorize that this incident led to his future illness, as he underwent heart surgery in 1985, suffered a ventricular aneurysm, contracted viral hepatitis and developed Cirrhosis of the liver.[8] Many of the film's gory and graphic scenes were not included in the original scripts or story, such as the scene where a character vomits their own intestines.[12] This scene was performed by having Daniela Doria spit up baby veal intestines and then having her head replaced with a replica for further vomiting.[12]
The scene where Peter smashes open Mary's coffin with a pickaxe was shot in New York, but the interior of the coffin was shot in Rome. MacColl recalled that she would blink every time the pickaxe hit the coffin: "It was just a nervous reaction. And Lucio was getting crosser and crosser. He pulled me out of the coffin and shouted: 'I'll show you how easy it is!' So he climbed into the coffin and did the same shot without blinking. 'If I can do it, you can do it', he said."[10]
Release
City of the Living Dead was distributed theatrically in Italy by Medusa Distribuzione on 11 August 1980.
The film was released in the United Kingdom on May 7, 1982,
Home video
In West Germany, the film became part of a press campaign against the home video distribution of violent films.[5] This was part of a June 1984 news report on channel ZDF titled Mama, Papa, Zombie - Horror für den Hausgebrauch, about the availability of violent films to minors.[5] Prior to this screening, horror films such as Maniac and The Beyond were released uncensored in Germany. However, following this report, City of the Living Dead was banned in West Germany, while VHS tapes of the film released in 1983 (under the title Ein Zombie hing am Glockenseil) were confiscated after a 1986 hearing by the District Court of Munich.[5] Continuous re-releases of the film in West Germany with content removed led to truncated releases of the film as late as 2001 in Germany.[5]
The film was released on DVD in the United States by Anchor Bay in 2000, and on DVD and Blu-ray by Blue Underground in 2010.[17] In 2018, Arrow Video released a limited edition 4K remaster of both the City and the Gates versions in the United Kingdom.[18] In 2020, the Gates version was given a Blu-ray release in the United States as an online exclusive item.[19]
Reception
Contemporary
A reviewer in the Italian newspaper
Geoff Andrews of
In the United States, some critics derided the acting in the film, including J.A. Conner of the
Retrospective
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, City of the Living Dead currently has an approval rating of 40% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 5.80/10.[25] Robert Firsching of AllMovie wrote that while the film "suffers from the same shortcomings present in much of Fulci's other horror films", it also "benefits from Fulci's ability to create and sustain an intensely creepy atmosphere", though he ultimately called the film "a dry run for the blend of graphic shocks and surrealism atmosphere that Lucio Fulci would perfect with The Beyond."[26]
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Curti 2019, p. 42.
- Arrow Video. 2018. p. 5. FCD1816.
- ^ "PAURA NELLA CITTÀ DEI MORTI VIVENTI (1980)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on July 27, 2016.
- ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Curti 2019, p. 50.
- ^ DiVincenzo, Alex (28 August 2023). "'City of the Living Dead' 4K Review – Lucio Fulci's Gore Shines in New Release from Cauldron Films". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Curti 2019, p. 43.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Curti 2019, p. 44.
- ^ a b Curti 2019, p. 45.
- ^ a b "Catriona MacColl interview". THE FLASHBACK FILES. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
- ^ Curti 2019, p. 51.
- ^ a b Curti 2019, p. 47.
- ^ a b Curti 2019, p. 49.
- ^ "City of the Living Dead (1980) - Alternate versions - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ "City of the Living Dead".
- ^ Whitman & Dow 2014, p. 249.
- ^ "City of the Living Dead". AllMovie. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ^ "CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD 4K Blu-ray Coming this October - Dread Central". www.dreadcentral.com. 28 July 2018.
- ^ "THE GATES OF HELL (Blu Ray Disc)". www.roninflix.com.
- ^ a b c "Italy". City of the Living Dead (Booklet). Arrow Video. 2018. p. 49. FCD1816.
- ^ a b "France". City of the Living Dead (Booklet). Arrow Video. 2018. p. 49. FCD1816.
- ^ a b c d "UK". City of the Living Dead (Booklet). Arrow Video. 2018. p. 44. FCD1816.
- ^ a b "US". City of the Living Dead (Booklet). Arrow Video. 2018. p. 44. FCD1816.
- ^ a b "US". City of the Living Dead (Booklet). Arrow Video. 2018. p. 48. FCD1816.
- ^ "Paura nella città dei morti viventi (City Of The Living Dead) (The Gates of Hell) (1980)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- Allmovie. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
Sources
- Curti, Roberto (2019). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1980-1989. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476672434.
- Whitman, Glen; Dow, James (2014). Economics of the Undead: Zombies, Vampires, and the Dismal Science. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442235038.