‘City Of The Living Dead’ by Lucio Fulci

Scare and gore maestro Lucio Fulci, director of The House By The Cemetery, delivers another spaghetti horror ‘classic’ with this zombie nasty fresh from a pre-CG era, where glorious latex and dubbed dialogue reigned. Taking place in New York City, the story follows a young girl who, after experiencing a premonition at a séance, is determined to uncover the origins of the vision only to discover that following the suicide of a priest, the dead are returning from their graves,  running amuck, and generally being a bloody nuisance to all and sundry. With a puckered old journalist at her side, our heroine embarks on a blood-soaked battle for survival in an attempt to return the hobbling zombies back to their watery graves.

Unintentionally hilarious, yet genuinely scary, City of the Living Dead delivers some genuine shocks, inventive gore scenes, and decent special effects that should make it stand out in the zombie film canon. Unfortunately, it is let down by an unoriginal script and a patchy narrative, bad acting, and shoddy production values. But for all its imperfections, as is the case for many low budget 1970s and 80s horror flicks, the film is strangely charming. The hammy acting and wooden dialogue, combined with the gruelling terror scenes, make this patchwork zombie experience a hugely entertaining and varied romp, which blends the best of the genre elements to satisfying effect, whether intentionally or not.

More disturbing than any of the Saw sequels or recent gorno attempts, which pay homage to the frowned-upon flicks of the nasty era, City of the Living Dead excels effortlessly in areas where other modern horrors try too hard. It generates shock value from gore sequences (entrails out the mouth, foaming zombies) and often impressive, but sometimes appalling special effects that are more enjoyable than any comparable modern horror CG effort. Despite all the Halloween hack elements notorious of the genre, and even with every flaw in the film – all the bad acting, dialogue, and moments where you can even make out the rubber props – comes a degree of charm that has become part of the appeal of watching these big video classics. At the hand of Fulci, a master of the genre, the bad bits rarely soften the scare factor but instead add to the experience without detracting from the shocks.