City of the Living Dead (Good 5 Stars)

Well, I felt sort of feel guilty for mentioning Fulci's one and only flop before mentioning any of his masterpieces. So here it is! My favorite Fulci movie I have seen to date. City of the Living Dead is (in my humble opinion) the best Italian zombie flick to come out of the 80's. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the pace in these Italian horror movies can be sort of slow and are definitely not made for people who have problems with short attention spans. However, the gore pay off in this movie is so great you may not even notice the speed at which the plot moves. The premise is that a priest has hung himself and in doing so opened the gates of hell. If you are seasoned in this genre you'll know that opening the gates to hell means only one thing . . . zombies! Fulci really outdoes himself as far as the realism and nastiness of the gore in this film. The script is interesting enough. It sort of flops back and forth between a reporter and a woman looking for the town in which the gates of hell have been opened so they can attempt to seal them shut and a psychiatrist and his patient in the town where the gates have been opened. There are of course other characters we meet in this town who experience the supernatural phenomena, but the plot is mostly driven by these four who eventually meet a little boy. In the end, the four converge and have a final stand off with the evil. Who wins? I honestly could not tell you. It's difficult to interpret the ending, but not in an obnoxious way. In conclusion, I give this movie 5 stars. It has good rewatch value. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it and possesses an attention span greater than that of a goldfish. So watch it; your life just may depend on it . . .

If you enjoy this film, keep your eyes peeled for more Fulci recommendations. Dr. Death says enjoy the maggot baby!