Is it really possibly to 'spoil' a film that almost completely abandons conventional cinematic logic to tell a 'story' that owes more to a devilish grasp of nightmarism than scripted words on a page?
(Seriously, now--if it be plot ye seek in "City of the Living Dead," ye best abandon ship damn quick...)
This Italian splatterama from the prolific Lucio Fulci was my initiation into the world of Euro-horror--go figure that, after roughly 18 years of watching American-made horror on TV and video, the transition was not the greatest. I viewed "City" on an inferior VHS copy under its U.S. title, "The Gates of Hell," and was struck dumb by how lacking in logic the film was (much of it seems patched together out of disparate elements, even now), how blind the screenwriters were to the incoherence of their narrative, and how pointless a lot of the elements seemed (the drill scene is a great setpiece, sure, but what does it MEAN?). Of course, I had much to learn about the Italian school, and while "City" left a bad taste in my mouth, I couldn't deny my fascination with it all the same--something about the 1980 film felt very new and fresh, despite its age. Over the years I kept revisiting it, building more and more fanfare as time went on; today, I consider this one of Fulci's best films, and a standout among the Italian Horror School.
While I do not doubt that Fulci's films were saddled with good plots attached to scripts that were often subpar (don't) see "Demonia"), I have a feeling he may have realized this while filming (even "The Beyond" is riddled with the same sort of narrative inconsistency found here), and decided to 'redeem' the writing by making each film drift along with the free-form logic found in nightmares. I have spoken to people who have dreams that flow with a logical progression that borders on the mundane; for me, dreams and nightmares alike have always been scattered, disjointed montages of swishpans, POV shots, and abrupt cuts from one event to the next. Such is the case with "City of the Living Dead"--there are plot details that are flat-out nonsensical, but Fulci swings us from scene to scene with such unsettling purpose that it's hard to bothered by them. Like a 'good nightmare,' "City" is all about imagery and feelings of unease and terror; in that regard, Fulci is immensely successful.
The plot really doesn't matter, but here it is: in the small town of Dunwich, a Priest (Luciano Rossi) hangs himself, throwing open the gates of hell, and it is up to young psychic Mary Woodhouse (Fulci regular Katriona MacColl) and NYC newspaper reporter Peter Bell (veteran tough-guy Christopher George) to re-close them before 'All Saints Day,' chronicled in the book of Enoch as the dead returning from the grave for world domination.
Don't think too much about it, and you'll be fine.
(Seriously, now--if it be plot ye seek in "City of the Living Dead," ye best abandon ship damn quick...)
This Italian splatterama from the prolific Lucio Fulci was my initiation into the world of Euro-horror--go figure that, after roughly 18 years of watching American-made horror on TV and video, the transition was not the greatest. I viewed "City" on an inferior VHS copy under its U.S. title, "The Gates of Hell," and was struck dumb by how lacking in logic the film was (much of it seems patched together out of disparate elements, even now), how blind the screenwriters were to the incoherence of their narrative, and how pointless a lot of the elements seemed (the drill scene is a great setpiece, sure, but what does it MEAN?). Of course, I had much to learn about the Italian school, and while "City" left a bad taste in my mouth, I couldn't deny my fascination with it all the same--something about the 1980 film felt very new and fresh, despite its age. Over the years I kept revisiting it, building more and more fanfare as time went on; today, I consider this one of Fulci's best films, and a standout among the Italian Horror School.
While I do not doubt that Fulci's films were saddled with good plots attached to scripts that were often subpar (don't) see "Demonia"), I have a feeling he may have realized this while filming (even "The Beyond" is riddled with the same sort of narrative inconsistency found here), and decided to 'redeem' the writing by making each film drift along with the free-form logic found in nightmares. I have spoken to people who have dreams that flow with a logical progression that borders on the mundane; for me, dreams and nightmares alike have always been scattered, disjointed montages of swishpans, POV shots, and abrupt cuts from one event to the next. Such is the case with "City of the Living Dead"--there are plot details that are flat-out nonsensical, but Fulci swings us from scene to scene with such unsettling purpose that it's hard to bothered by them. Like a 'good nightmare,' "City" is all about imagery and feelings of unease and terror; in that regard, Fulci is immensely successful.
The plot really doesn't matter, but here it is: in the small town of Dunwich, a Priest (Luciano Rossi) hangs himself, throwing open the gates of hell, and it is up to young psychic Mary Woodhouse (Fulci regular Katriona MacColl) and NYC newspaper reporter Peter Bell (veteran tough-guy Christopher George) to re-close them before 'All Saints Day,' chronicled in the book of Enoch as the dead returning from the grave for world domination.
Don't think too much about it, and you'll be fine.