After trying to obtain the movie for a long time I finally was able to sit down and watch Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead or as some may know it as The Gates of Hell. Both of these titles are accurate as to what the movie is about but… I still found myself scratching my head at the end of the film. Yes, it’s rather sad that it took me such a long time to find this and throughout the entire movie I was trying to figure out what was going on. The plot, in it’s watered down form is this: a priest dies, the gates of hell are opened, a bunch of people need to close them before All Saint’s Day before the world ends. That’s really all that I could gather. In between there are maggot storms, priests making people’s intestines come out through their mouths, people getting drilled in the cheek, dead porno addicted men and whole mess of other stuff. Visually this film is arresting and it’s pretty gory but since I need to turn my brain on 110% to watch this, I think the movie warrants another watch. I believe that Fulci deals largely with experimental and that’s why I don’t seem to understand it. Either way… you win Fulci… this round, that is.
Side note: I find it really funny that the soundtrack to this sounds exactly the same as Zombi 2.
This movie is certifiably insane. That priest kept popping up and I'd expect to hear a sitcom audience say, "oooooh!"
ReplyDeleteIt sticks with you, though, that's for sure.
Ahahahaha!!! I would love to see a 'sitcom' edit of this movie. It would raise the bizarre meter at least 200%. ;)
ReplyDeleteWe have a saying around the Castle of Wonder about Fulci -- "Don't look for logic. It is not there." I think we coined that after the SMH's first viewing of GATES OF HELL.
ReplyDeleteVisually, it's beautiful. But it does not make a damned bit of sense. There's a dichotomy here to be either embraced or shunned.