Lucio Fulci

[The F Bomb]

Any good?

I've seen Zombi (awesome Blue Underground 4K release) and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Great soundtrack, quite stupid but seemingly sincere (which I like, I can't bear overt irony in films). Quite unusual zombie designs. Excellent excellent soundtrack. Pretty stinking atmosphere which isn't usually my thing but it's not depressing or nihilistic, at least not to me. I'm not really into gore but this kind of theatrical cartoon violence is fine, quite enjoyable.

I'm tempted by the recent Arrow 4K of House by the Cemetery, sounds spooky and dreamy, but potentially a bit boring? City of the Living Dead is coming soon from the same label, heard that's good.

Heard The Beyond is good, dreamy, gauzey, psychologically oppressive. Slightly scared of being actually scared by it, like, I wouldn't really watch something genuinely frightening on my own by choice but might enjoy it with company. I don't want something that will depress or frighten me for days or freak me out forever when I remember it.

Is he just about stabbing eyeballs? Doesn't bother me that much but nor does it particularly thrill me.

Any recommendations, politely challenging responses and general tales would be great.

[thenoise]

Fulci is quite a lot more versatile than his Zombie epics (fun as they are) might suggest. He's done westerns, crime, erotic, etc. All pretty available these days esp if you don't mind dvds. Work backwards from the gore epics rather than forwards, unless you like watching dog plops.

Don't Torture a Duckling is cracking film, genuinely good giallo thriller. Murder Rock is an insane giallo version of Flash dance, absolutely bonkers.

[AliasTheCat]

One of the few film makers who can make me feel grubby for watching their stuff- his horror films make me want to wash after watching them, so well do they provoke disgust.

The "Gates of Hell" trilogy are all worth a watch and, as @thenoise said, he made a few of the more intense Giallos - The New York Ripper is pretty reprehensible too, if you're into that sort of thing.   

[dontpaintyourteeth]

class. probably my favourite director tbh alongside cronenberg and carpenter of course

[thenoise]

Re: the films you mention, the Beyond is the best. A terrific mix of gothic zombie gut-munching and action, all wrapped up in that classic Fulci nonsense. Set in a bizarre European version of America, as these things usually are.

City of the Living Dead is bonkers, but makes zero sense. Some great deaths though and atmospheric set pieces.

House by the Cemetary has an annoying badly-dubbed kid in it. Other than that it's a cracker.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

A lot of his Westerns are bangers as well as the gory stuff

[The F Bomb]

Cheers, big dogs. I'll check out the zombie muck and then look into his Westerns. I do enjoy the incoherence of 70s & 80s Italian film.

[Egyptian Feast]

I love his disgusting zombie movies and whatnot from later on, but my two favourites are the previously mentioned Don't Torture A Duckling and A Lizard In A Woman's Skin. The latter, a psychedelic giallo starring Florinda Balkan (who is great in both movies), is his most visually striking (and I don't mean eyeballs being popped out of sockets by a railway spike) movie. The story isn't nearly as interesting or satrical as ...Duckling, but I do love me some style over content and this delivers. It's crying out for a fancy 4K remaster as my DVD looks a bit washed-out and seems to be concealing some of it's splendour.

House by the Cemetary has an annoying badly-dubbed kid in it.

Bobris Johnson, as he was known in my house.

[madhair60]

good thread cheers

[another Mr. Lizard]

Once you've experienced the (essential) zombie fare, try CONTRABAND, THE NEW YORK RIPPER, and eventually CAT IN THE BRAIN (the latter is Lucio's demented '8 1/2' and not to be approached until you've seen a decent portion of his work)

If you like the formative era of the giallo, that late 60s period where the initial wave of those films were all about scheming millionaires and soap-opera high gloss, you might enjoy PERVERSION STORY. His wacky vampire comedy DRACULA IN THE PROVINCES hasn't been seen by many, and isn't particularly good, but sits nicely alongside other similar mid-70s productions (if you've seen films like DRACULA PERE ET FILS, TENDRE DRACULA, VAMPIRA, Ringo's SON OF DRACULA etc you'll get the tone)

I met Lucio very briefly when he attended one of the mid-90s Eurofest events in London - he signed a copy of the fanzine 'Giallo Pages' (in which I'd reviewed one of his movies); some time later the mag's editor told me that Fulci had become bored with dishing out autographs to the crowd and had started to sign the name of his dog instead. Don't ask what I got, it's illegible.

[ASFTSN]

Love this mad eye stabbin cunt.

The Beyond is my absolute favourite and probably in my top three horrors, if you liked Zombie Flesh Eaters you'll enjoy it, the sweltering putrid ghostly New Orleans atmosphere is top notch, but yeah just go along for the ride and don't try to understand what the fuck is going on at first watch. I wouldn't worry about it getting inside your head or being too intense for you.

New York Ripper is a fantastically morbid and nihilistic slasher but fuck me is it strong stuff. Easily the nastiest of his I think. Viewer beware.

[ASFTSN]

A Lizard In A Woman's Skin.

Massive stonking content warning for dog lovers!

[greenman]

The "Gates of Hell" trilogy do tend to be grimer and less "fun" than Zombi, I found City of the Living Dead a bit too bonkers and outright nasty for me personally although the very end is a well done set peice, The Beyond is a bit more atmospheric, very grim but not quite as overly nasty/gory(feels strange to say that about a film were a mans eyes get eaten by spiders to the sound of smooth funk). House by the Cemetery I actually liked the best out of the three,  his attempt as The Shining but more of a typical King like setting, plays up the atmosphere to the max, very good use of UHD with the dusty grimy interiors.

[Goldentony]

I dont hearmuch about it but I really liked Warriors Of The Year 2072, cheap and weird lift of the Running Man with as you might expect a ton of motorbikes and a lot of strobe lights and junkyards, Fred Williamson titheads about in a jumpsuit. Got it on blu ray with a load of other apocalyptic tosh like the one with the guy with the iron hand working at a diner in the desert and it was the best of the bunch. Can see the titles from here but they're all French except ENDGAME.

Contraband is, if I remember, a fun but extremely grim and gore filled crime film that i'm going to have to watch again soon. Seem to recall a lot of people getting mashed up quite awfully.

Not seen CONQUEST yet but that's one that looks excellent. Always up for low fi medieval fantasy, Lancelot Du Lac presentation but also with fighting bears, always good

[Egyptian Feast]

Massive stonking content warning for dog lovers!

Yes, such a shocking effect for the time Carlo Rambaldi, future designer of E.T., had to replicate it in court to prove he hadn't eviscerated real dogs.

The Beyond is a bit more atmospheric, very grim but not quite as overly nasty/gory(feels strange to say that about a film were a mans eyes get eaten by spiders to the sound of smooth funk).

This description made me laugh and has tempted me to watch it again RIGHT NOW.

The last time I watched it with a few people, David Warwick's refusal to learn that it's only worth shooting zombies in the head was a great source of amusement.

Contraband is, if I remember, a fun but extremely grim and gore filled crime film that i'm going to have to watch again soon. Seem to recall a lot of people getting mashed up quite awfully.

I always forget about that one. It's nasty as fuck. There's a couple of bits I found harder to watch than his typical fare, but I loved the massive blood squibs they use in the gunfights. Realism is all very well, but when I'm watching Fabio Testi gun down rival cig smugglers, I want the entry wounds to be at least the size of a saucer and don't short change me on the blood.

[Egyptian Feast]

CAT IN THE BRAIN (the latter is Lucio's demented '8 1/2' and not to be approached until you've seen a decent portion of his work)

Love it. Absolutely crackers and a much more entertaining watch than the films he 'samples' throughout. My favourite scene is when he gets grossed out by steak tartare in the restaurant because he's made too many gory films.

[Egyptian Feast]

I was never that fond of City of the Living Dead until my last watch and now it's one of my favourites. It's dripping with fetid atmosphere.

City Of The Living Dead (1980) I never rated this as much as the next in the 'Gates of Hell' trilogy The Beyond, but this revisit has changed my mind. The ending is still poor by comparison, but the preceding 90 minutes of pure nightmare imagery is possibly Fulci's finest work in the horror genre. The atmosphere is thick with dread and doom, the sequence of events moving more like a bad dream than a traditional horror story. Many images will linger in my head like the smell I imagine those puddles of black goo & maggots leave behind, my favourite being the telephone writhing with maggots after a localised plague is blasted into the hero's living room. He just brushes them off the receiver and makes a call, eeurrghh.

[ASFTSN]

Sort of filmically adjacent, I just realised your username is probably a Herschell Gordon Lewis reference innit

[Egyptian Feast]

It is indeed, inspired by a viewing of Blood Feast a day or two before registering a new account. It is quite a handy icebreaker at meets.

[ASFTSN]

So - question I may as well ask here, hope it's not a hijack -  who is 'the modern' Fulci, is there one? I've watched Brian Paulin's Fetus and in terms of his obsessive dedication to practical FX he's clearly a fan of Fulci type stuff but outside of the excellent effects it felt pretty cheap (as in, student film cheap). I know he's done an overt zombie film called Bone Sickness but haven't managed to track that one down. I know Olaf Ittenbach is still making stuff too.

As mentioned in the OP, the sincerity is what I want along with these sorts of out-there splatter atmosphere type things and I don't know if there's anything like it, ironic horror sucks. I know there's all sorts of bottom-of-the-barrel ultra extreme stuff that's cropped up in the last decade or so, but I don't really want to be actually upset/revolted and I get the impression none of that stuff is played for atmosphere really, which is the key. Anything that's easily overlooked out there for Fulci fans? Bonus points if zombie related. The Void had a go but it isn't something I've wanted to revisit particularly.

[AliasTheCat]

So - question I may as well ask here, hope it's not a hijack -  who is 'the modern' Fulci, is there one? I've watched Brian Paulin's Fetus and in terms of his obsessive dedication to practical FX he's clearly a fan of Fulci type stuff but outside of the excellent effects it felt pretty cheap (as in, student film cheap). I know he's done an overt zombie film called Bone Sickness but haven't managed to track that one down. I know Olaf Ittenbach is still making stuff too.

As mentioned in the OP, the sincerity is what I want along with these sorts of out-there splatter atmosphere type things and I don't know if there's anything like it, ironic horror sucks. I know there's all sorts of bottom-of-the-barrel ultra extreme stuff that's cropped up in the last decade or so, but I don't really want to be actually upset/revolted and I get the impression none of that stuff is played for atmosphere really, which is the key. Anything that's easily overlooked out there for Fulci fans? Bonus points if zombie related. The Void had a go but it isn't something I've wanted to revisit particularly.

That's a really interesting thing to think about, and I'm not sure I can answer properly - there have been a couple of films recently that kind of put me in mind of the tone and nightmare logic of Fulci Berberian Sound Studio and Censor (Interestingly both are based around some aspect of low-budget horror film making in the 70s and 80s), but you could well argue that that's just as much if not more-so inspired by others like Dario Argento. 

[Herbert Ashe]

Not seen CONQUEST yet but that's one that looks excellent. Always up for low fi medieval fantasy, Lancelot Du Lac presentation but also with fighting bears, always good

Was going to post about this, the only Fulci I've seen as mostly I'm not arsed about horror. Absolute god-tier stuff, no real rhyme or reason to it, about the most mist & fog in any film I've ever seen, seen a few of these cheap Conan cash-ins but this is the only one that really went in off the deep end in terms of fantasy.


People who've seen this, is there much other Fulci stuff that's comparable? Generally I don't get on much with giallo or horror, but I figure there was to be something there for me.

[bushwick]

Conquest is a total one-off, a uniquely trippy, weird and gory AF fantasy film. Nothing else like that by Fulci really. Though if you want another excellent nuts sword and sorcery flick by an Italian gore legend I can recommend The Barbarians by the recently deceased Ruggero Deodato. I also remember enjoying Ironmaster by Umberto Lenzi of Cannibal Ferox fame. Neither of these are nearly as strange as Conquest though.

Fulci is one of my favourite directors, not much to add alongside what everyone else has said. King of nonsensical dream logic, close ups of eyes, long lingering gore shots. Big shout to Fabio Frizzi for scoring a lot of his work, as important to Fulci as Goblin is to Argento.

[George White]

Massive stonking content warning for dog lovers!

The thing is, I'm surprised people thought the dogs were real. To me, they look like puppets from a Harry Hill sketch. There's something almost Mongrels-esque about them.
But then again, Rambaldi was one of the pioneers of animatronics, so what looks Henson-like to us now was startling in 1971.

[AliasTheCat]

Found Conquest on Youtube and will give it a whirl over the next week as Mrs TheCat is away visiting her parents. I've not seen any of his non-horror/ giallo films.

[The Mollusk]

I sorely need to watch more of this dude's films. Zombi is one of the greatest horrors I've ever seen and the final scene of The Beyond will stick hang like fetid cobwebs in the back of my brain for eternity.

If anyone London based ever wants to get together and watch one or two films let me know. I will graciously accept guests into my home for the occasion if required.

[Herbert Ashe]

Conquest is a total one-off, a uniquely trippy, weird and gory AF fantasy film. Nothing else like that by Fulci really. Though if you want another excellent nuts sword and sorcery flick by an Italian gore legend I can recommend The Barbarians by the recently deceased Ruggero Deodato. I also remember enjoying Ironmaster by Umberto Lenzi of Cannibal Ferox fame. Neither of these are nearly as strange as Conquest though.

Nice, cheers. I think I've got The Barbarians somewhere waiting to watch, but Ironmaster is new to me, like the sound of that as well.

[madhair60]

If anyone London based ever wants to get together and watch one or two films let me know. I will graciously accept guests into my home for the occasion if required.

i am not London based* but I really want to do this

*i am simply based

[dontpaintyourteeth]

it tends to be quite pricey but can very highly recommend Stephen Thrower's book on Fulci if anyone is in the market for... you know. A book that's about Fulci.

[madhair60]

https://www.fabpress.com/beyond-terror-revised-expanded-standard-edition.html

might get this