Building Fulci’s City – a video appreciation by Stephen Thrower, author of Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci Extensive image gallery featuring over 150 stills, poster and other ephemera from the FAB press and Mike Siegel archives While Zombie before it and the latter two Gates of Hell installments that followed were presented in scope, Fulci and frequent cinematographer Sergio Salvati opted to shoot City of the Living Dead in flat 1.85:1. Although ostensibly less “cinematic,” the conventional aspect ratio lends itself to a classic horror atmosphere, emphasized by increasingly lingering plumes of fog and a melodious yet eerie score by Fabio Frizzi ( Zombie, The Beyond).

During a séance in New York City, Mary Woodhouse ( Catriona MacColl, The Beyond) experiences a vision of Father Thomas ( Fabrizio Jovine, The Psychic) hanging himself before a corpse claws its way out of its grave. Whether it was the priest’s intention to unleash the evil is left ambiguous, but the quaint Massachusetts town of Dunwich is cursed regardless. Borrowing its name from Lovecraft’s writings, Dunwich is built on the ruins of the original Salem, where the ancestors of its current residents are said to have burned witches at the stake. The Meat Munching Movies of Gino De Rossi (27 minutes) catches up with the make-up artist, who shares behind-the-scenes stories of his work on various Fulci movies. He displays the drill rig used in this picture and talks about his time on Cannibal Ferox.

City of the Living Dead: Other Editions

City of the Living Dead was developed after the financial success of Fulci's previous film, Zombi 2, leading him to work with screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti to write a new horror film inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The film was greenlit during production of Contraband, which Fulci left to begin working on City of the Living Dead. Principal photography was shot predominantly on location in the United States, with interiors shot in Rome. Since its Sundance premiere, the energy surrounding the film has steadily grown with RogerEbert.com calling Onyx the Fortuitous “a handmade horror gem.” Scorpion Releasing has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Lucio Fulci’s The Gates of Hell a.k.a. City of the Living Dead (1989), starring Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo de Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, and Giovanni Lombardo Radice. The release will arrive on the market this summer. One of the most charming facets of Onyx the Fortuitous is its commitment to practical effects, specifically its use of puppets to bring demons, ghouls, and creatures to life. In New York City, during a séance held in the apartment of medium Theresa, Mary Woodhouse experiences a traumatic vision of a priest, Father Thomas, hanging himself in a cemetery of a village called Dunwich. Mary breaks the circle and collapses to the floor when the images overwhelm her. The group presumes Mary is dead and calls the police, who suspect foul play. Theresa warns the police chief of an imminent evil. Journalist Peter Bell begins to investigate Mary's mysterious death and visits her grave as she is about to be buried. However, she is still alive, and Peter saves her after hearing her cries. Peter and Mary visit Theresa, who warns them that according to the ancient book of Enoch, the events Mary witnessed in her visions presage the eruption of the living dead into our world. The death of Father Thomas has opened the gates of Hell through which the invasion will commence on All Saints Day, just a few days away.

A medium has a mysterious vision of a priest hanging himself… A seemingly dead woman awakes screaming in her coffin… And in the sleepy New England town of Dunwich, a local girl vomits up her intestines and a town misfit has a drill-bit ploughed into his cranium… These hallucinogenic, often grotesque visions punctuate a skeletal story telling of a reporter (Christopher George) and a psychic (Catriona MacColl) who must race against time to prevent hordes of rotting corpses spewing forth from the gates of hell.” NEW Requiem for Bob: An Interview with Giovanni Lombardo Radice (28:00, 1080p) - another featurette produced by Eugenio Ercolani. In this 2017 interview in Rome, Radice appears relaxed at home with his dogs. He immediately got my attention when he brought up how Deep Red (1975) and Alien (1979) made a big impression on him. Radice discusses his familial roots and details his career in the theatre. He also goes into his positive relationship with Lucio Fulci and friendship with Michele Soavi. Radice recounts an unforgettable episode Fulci had with the girl who portrayed Venantino Venantini's daugther in City of the Living Dead. Radice also spends time explaining how the crew pulled off his famous scene. In addition, Radice discusses collaborating with Ruggero Deodato, other filmmakers, and several Italian actors. In Italian, with optional English subtitles.A Trip Through Bonaventure Cemetery (2022, 5 minutes) features a drone tour of the location in Savannah, GA. In addition to the exotic MacColl and boisterous George, several genre regulars populate the cast: Giovanni Lombardo Radice ( Cannibal Ferox) as Dunwich’s ill-fated scapegoat, Carlo De Mejo ( The House by the Cemetery) as a therapist, Janet Ågren ( Red Sonja) as his neurotic patient, Daniela Doria ( The New York Ripper) as the aforementioned gut-puking girl, Michele Soavi ( Demons) as her lover, Robert Sampson ( Re-Animator) as the local sheriff, Venantino Venantini ( Cannibal Ferox) as a father with anger management issues, Perry Pirkanen ( Cannibal Holocaust) as a gravedigger, and Fulci himself as a doctor.