LUCIO FULCI: what do you think?

[Dehydrator]

He seems to divide Horrorfans : They rather love and admire his work or they hate and despise him.

Fulci's movies ( at least the two I've seen : Zombie and Gates of Hell ) don't rely much on a plot. Instead we get chicks vomiting their innards, chicks getting their eyes stabbed by... if you've seen Zombie you know what I mean, people getting drill-bits through the head... you figure it out, he puts the g in gore.

As he said, his major aim were movies that "center around the anti-logic of nightmares", he even didn't call his works horror movies. As for that "anti-logic" thing, I think that some of it worked. Definitely in "the gates of hell" which is really scary at times ( and ridicolous on others, just think of the casket-axe scene - like it wouldn't be less dangerous when he just hacked the fuckin' lock ), I think that "exessive gore meets creepy images" worked.

What's your opinion about the man and his works? By the way, throw in some recommodations, as I said, I've only seen two of his films. ( well, actually three but the third one was from 1964 and didn't have any gore, let alone any horror ).

[Brock Landers]

Fulci's "Gates Of Hell" was great, great , great…and "Zombie" was a close second in the sweet zombie flicks race…

I also dug his '84 flick "Slashdance" it was fun, but not great…

"The New York Ripper" wasn't bad…and had some fun scares…very dated by the way…

These are also worth checking out…

- "The Beyond"
- "The Black Cat"
- "Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us"
- "The Psychic" (which is part of Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Pictures releases…think "Detroit 9000", "Switchblade Sisters", "Chungking Express", etc…)
- "Four Horseman of the Apocalypse"
- did I forget "Cat in the Brain"…I'm a bad Brock Landers…shame on me…

[the night watchman]

I don't see what the big deal about Fulci is. Take away the gore, and you're left with bad acting, bad dubbing, occasionally interesting photography, sometimes cool score, juvenile misogyny, genuinely weird atmosphere ... and loads of unintentional hilarity. I guess that last two make his movies somewhat worthwhile.

To be honest, Fulci frustrates me. If he had put in just a smidgen more effort he might have turned out something really fascinating. I'm thinking along the lines of Argento's "Inferno," or to a lesser degree "Susperia."

In my opinion, Fulci was a lazy storyteller. He reminds me of a kid who dispenses with everything else in order to hurry up and get to the "good parts."

[pennywise46]

I have Zombie and The Beyond and I think both are pretty good. I have to buy the movies just to see them because theres no place to rent them around here.

[Danzig Misfit]

Oh poor Lucio Fulci, I happen to be one of the nuts that hates and loves him. The help with the special effects stuff that he did on Phantasm was absolutely wonderful, and even though it was a rip off of early Romero stuff, Zombie was pretty enjoyable . . . if you have not seen one million and one zombie flix like I have. See, the one true fault that I have with Fulci is that he relies on grizzly special effects too much, and not enough on story.
God rest his soul, as I feel bad saying stuff like this about a true horror pioneer that died in 1997, by the way. Unfortunately, it is true. Where would Gates Of Hell be without the wildly over gory special effects? No where, that's where. I do have respect for movie magic and great special effects, but he needed to learn what all directors need to learn sooner or later . . . great special effects a great movie do not make.


With love and respect:
Lucio Daniel Fulci
1952 - 1997

[PanicTicks]

I agree with those who like him and those who dislike him. No gore: no movie (on most occasions). Needless to say, some of the gore scenes are incredible. Think about ZOMBIE without the eye-wound, GATES OF HELL without the gut-puking (as Danzig mentioned), NEW YORK RIPPER without the nipple slash... Another negative aspect was that his came from a country with no copyright infringement laws, so most of his ideas weren't his.

I met Lucio Fulci four months before he died, at the New York Weekend of Horrors. He was a gruff fella, but I would be too if I were sick and had a thousand horror geeks surrounding me. Nevertheless, this horror geek has a Lucio Fulci autograph on Fangoria #8, so I should deem him "master," but instead call him "decent director with a flare for the disgusting."

[Hans, wihout Franz]

I never really "got" his movies. I like horror movie and adore Italian horror movies by Bava and Argento. I saw Gates of Hell and House by the Cemetary and didn't like either, but I tries to. What's the best one he did?

[Danzig Misfit]

Hans, That is a good question, which was Lucio Fulci's best film? It depends on what you are looking for . . . mine was always Zombie. /ubb/wink.gif It always had a flair that most of his films, or Italian films of that time, didn't have. Deacent film with some overly gruesome special effects! If you do want to see a great film that he helped work on though, see PHANTASM, and also the sequel. The other two, The Lord Of The Dead, and Oblivion were great films, but still missed out on the awesome story and special effects of the first two!