City of the Living Dead (1980)

A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Lucio Fulci (story and screenplay), Dardano Sacchetti (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Christopher George	...	Peter Bell
Catriona MacColl	...	Mary Woodhouse (as Katriona MacColl)
Carlo De Mejo	...	Gerry
Antonella Interlenghi	...	Emily Robbins
Giovanni Lombardo Radice	...	Bob
Daniela Doria	...	Rosie Kelvin
Fabrizio Jovine	...	Father William Thomas
Luca Venantini	...	John-John Robbins (as Luca Paisner)
Michele Soavi	...	Tommy Fisher
Venantino Venantini	...	Mr. Ross
Enzo D'Ausilio	...	Sheriff Russell's deputy
Adelaide Aste	...	Theresa
Luciano Rossi	...	Policeman in apartment
Robert Sampson	...	Sheriff Russell
Janet Agren	...	Sandra

Storyline

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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Plot Keywords:

bleeding from the eyes | zombie | suicide | drill through head | grindhouse | 

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Taglines:

The Dead Shall Rise And Walk The Earth

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

6 May 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

City of the Living Dead

Filming Locations:

Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dania Film, Medusa Distribuzione, National Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 90 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First part of Lucio Fulci's Death Trilogy also including ...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981).

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Goofs

It is claimed that Dunwich was built on the ruins of Salem, Massachusetts. However, Salem still exists to this day.

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Quotes

[examining the dead body of Emily Robbins]
Dr. Joe Thompson: Well, she certainly wasn't strangled. There doesn't seem to be any kind of physical abuse.
Sheriff Russell: Well, what was the cause of her death then?
Dr. Joe Thompson: Some kind of cardiac arrest. Only that expression on her face is like pure fear, like something scared her to death.
Sheriff Russell: Scared her?
Dr. Joe Thompson: [to Emily's father] Excuse me, Mr. Robbins, do you know if your daughter had a heart condition?
Mr. Robbins: No... no...
Sheriff Russell: Well, what's our procedure?
Dr. Joe Thompson: Sit tight. Everything depends on the autopsy.
Sheriff Russell: All right, ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Hide and Creep (2004)

User Reviews

Some inventive splatter horror from Lucio Fulci

A priest commits suicide in order to open a gateway to hell. This leads to a series of grim events, including several supernatural zombies.

City of the Living Dead is the second of Italian director Lucio Fulci's four celebrated zombie films from 1979-81. Each and every one of them was primarily famed for its graphic violence. In the case of City of the Living Dead it is most probably two gruesome set-pieces in particular that have established its infamous reputation - a nasty scene where a man is killed by a power drill through his head and a sequence where a woman vomits up all of her innards. Both are memorably grotesque. Add to this a maggot storm and several moments where zombies pull the brains out of their victim's craniums. Like other Fulci pictures of this period, this is an inventively grotesque film. But also like those other movies there is also a sustained creepy atmosphere. The fog encased town of Dunwich is quite an effective setting, while the Goblin inspired score from Fabio Frizzi adds a gloomy ambiance of dread to proceedings. There is also a notable macabre scene that doesn't involve any blood and guts, where a woman who has been buried alive is freed by a man hacking her coffin open with a pick axe, which just misses her head several times.

Lead actor Christopher George will be familiar to a few fans of early 80's splatter flicks from his lead role in the bonkers Spanish slasher Pieces. He's pretty decent here again. But, ultimately City of the Living Dead is a film most notable for its no-holds-barred gory violence and horror atmosphere. Although it is not among Fulci's best films, it's certainly a key entry in the Italian zombie film cycle of that time.