HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCIO FULCI!

MZNJ_new_views

lucio-fulci

LUCIO FULCI

JUNE 17, 1927 – MARCH 13, 1996

The late, great Italian horror maestro was born on this day in 1927 and left a legacy of classic Italian horror/ gore films to remember him by. He may be long gone, but his legacy of Italian gore films will live forever! Check out my favorites here

-MonsterZero NJ

bars

TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: THE BIRTHDAY BEST OF LUCIO FULCI!

MZNJ_New_TON

lucio-fulci

LUCIO FULCI

JUNE 17, 1927 – MARCH 13, 1996

The late, great Italian horror maestro was born on this day in 1927 and left a legacy of classic Italian horror/ gore films to remember him by. Check out my favorites right here…

now playing zombie

ZOMBIE (1979)

George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was called Zombi in Italy and was a hit, so when Italian Horror master Lucio Fulci created his own zombie gore classic, it was released in Italian theaters as Zombi 2 to cash in on Dawn’s popularity, but Zombie, as it’s known in the USA, is it’s own movie. The action and eating take place, after a bloody opening sequence of a zombie occupied boat entering a New York City harbor, on the remote Caribbean island of Matool and is the product of voodoo being used to raise the flesh eating dead from their graves. The boat entering NYC waters belonged to a doctor, and the story centers on a reporter (Ian McCulloch) and the missing doctor’s daughter (Tisa Farrow), traveling to the fictional island to find the doctor’s whereabouts. Once there, they and a couple whose boat they rented, soon discover a living nightmare and that a horrible fate may be in store for all of them.

The gore is shocking and the zombies are far grosser looking than even Romero’s and while it is smaller in scope, it is very creepy and atmospheric when not splattering blood and guts all over the screen. Much like all of Fulci’s horror films, Zombie has a surreal nightmarish quality to it to go along with all the gore. The film’s nightmarish visuals are courtesy of cinematographer Sergio Salvati and has a haunting score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi. The film has many shocking moments, but is most famous for the ‘eyeball’ scene and the underwater shark v.s. zombie scene witnessed by a shapely topless diver (Auretta Gay). I personally prefer the work of Fulci over the more popular, but in my opinion overrated, Dario Argento. One of my all time favorite horrors. Recently remastered on a beautiful blu-ray from Blue Underground!

4 Fulci zombies!

fulci_Rating

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC!

city-of-the-Living-dead-1980-movie-2

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (also known as THE GATES OF HELL) (1980)

A priest hangs himself, a seance goes tragically wrong and the dead rise…all in the first 5 minutes of another gory and disturbing horror from Italian maestro of terror, Luci Fulci. Fulci’s trademark spooky visuals, as photographed by frequent cinematographer Sergio Salvati, and trademark gore fills this story of a small town priest’s suicide that opens the gates of Hell. Now a reporter (Christopher George) and a psychic (Catriona MacColl) must travel to a remote New England town to close Hell’s gates before the evil ripping the town apart spreads to the rest of the world.

As usual this Fulci flick is loaded with atmosphere, gruesome gore, (such as a drill through the head and a woman vomiting up her own entrails) and zombies. Fabio Frizzi once again provides the haunting score. Not quite up to the standards of his Zombie or his next film, The Beyond, but a gory, creepy Italian horror none the less! Also, the only film I know of that contains a blizzard of maggots! Originally released in the US as The Gates Of Hell.

3 and 1/2 Fulci zombies

fulci_Rating2

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC!

thebeyond

THE BEYOND (1981)

A young woman (Catriona MacColl) inherits an old Louisiana hotel not knowing that 54 years earlier, a group of frightened townspeople tortured and murdered a man staying in room 36, who was suspected of being a warlock. Before his death, the warlock warned that the hotel sat on one of the 7 gates of Hell and he had found the key. Needless to say, efforts to reopen the hotel meet with tragic and gruesome results and there is definitely something unnatural going on in room 36.

Italian horror master Lucio Fulci creates one his most nightmarish and surreal films in this story of a house haunted by a very powerful and ancient evil. As the young woman and a doctor friend (David Warbeck) try to unravel the mystery of the hotel’s sinister past, the evil force continues to provide gruesome fates to those that come into contact with it, or try to warn our heroine. Fulci’s film is a disturbing supernatural tale with some very atmospheric and spooky visuals combined with some very shocking and inventive gore. Once more the cinematography is by Sergio Salvati and music by Fabio Frizzi. From carnivorous swarms of spiders, to acid in faces, to reanimated corpses, this film is a chilling and very unsettling horror from the first frames till the nightmarish last. Surreal at times, but always haunting. A first rate Italian horror from one of it’s masters and one of Fulci’s best. The spider scene still freaks me out!

-MonsterZero NJ

4 Fulci zombies

fulci_Rating

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC

Source: MonsterZero NJ

bars

MONSTERZERO NJ’S SATURDAY NIGHT DOUBLE FEATURE: ZOMBIE and ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST

MZNJ_SNDF

now playing

double feature_Z_ZH

bars

zombi2poster

ZOMBIE (1979)

George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was called Zombi in Italy and was a hit, so when Italian Horror master Lucio Fulci created his own zombie gore classic, it was released in Italian theaters as Zombi 2 to cash in on Dawn’s popularity, but Zombie, as it’s known in the USA, is it’s own movie. The action and eating take place, after a bloody opening sequence of a zombie occupied boat entering a New York City harbor, on the remote Caribbean island of Matul and is the product of voodoo being used to raise the flesh eating dead from their graves. The boat entering NYC waters belonged to a doctor and the story centers on reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) and the missing doctor’s daughter, Anne (Tisa Farrow), traveling to the fictional island to find the doctor’s whereabouts. Once there, they and a couple, Bryan and Susan (Al Cliver and Auretta Gay) whose boat they rented, soon discover a living nightmare and that a horrible fate may be in store for all of them as their boat is damaged and they are trapped on the island with the ravenous dead.

The gore is shocking and the zombies are far grosser looking then even Romero’s and while it is smaller in scope, it is very creepy and atmospheric when not splattering blood and guts all over the screen. Much like all of Fulci’s horror films, Zombie has a surreal nightmarish quality to it to go along with all the gore such as the climactic battle against the army of walking dead set in a burning church turned hospital ward. The film’s haunting visuals are courtesy of cinematographer Sergio Salvati and has a haunting score by frequent Fulci collaborator, Fabio Frizzi. The film has many shocking moments, but is most famous for the ‘eyeball’ scene and the underwater shark v.s. zombie scene witnessed by shapely topless diver Susan. I personally prefer the work of Fulci over the more popular, but in my opinion somewhat overrated, Dario Argento.

One of my all time favorite horrors and a must watch during the Halloween season. Recently remastered on a beautiful blu-ray from Blue Underground. Still one of the greatest zombie movies ever made.

4 Fulci zombies!

fulci_Rating

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC!

 

plus

zombie-holocaust-poster

ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST (1979) 

Zombie Holocaust is a gore-soaked Italian cult classic also known under it’s more infamous title (and edit) of Dr. Butcher M.D. It’s the story of an outbreak of cannibalism in NYC and across the U.S. and the investigation into these horrible events which leads Health Dept. Dr. Peter Chandler (Zombi’s Ian McCulloch) and his team to a small island in the South East Pacific. Not only does Chandler and company find a tribe of cannibals waiting there, but a mad scientist, Dr. Obrero (Donald O’Brien) and his horde of zombies as well. Can any of them escape alive?

Not only was this film inspired by the success of Lucio Fulci’s Zombi, it also borrows stars McCulloch and Dakar, as well as, films on some of the same sets and locations. Director Marino Girolami is no Fulci, but he delightfully takes us through this goofy story filled with cannibal feasts, hideous surgical procedures and zombie attacks. And when he’s not spilling blood and entrails, he’s finding ways to get sexy anthropologist, Lori (Alexandra Colli) out of her clothes…and that happens almost as often as the spilling of body parts. The gore isn’t quite up to Zombi’s standards either, but there is plenty and it spatters in the appropriate…or inappropriate, depending on your point of view…amounts. And who can pass on a flick that has both cannibals AND zombies!

This is a fun midnight movie and a welcome addition to any Italian gore film festival so, crack open a brew…or three…and have a bloody good time. Due to the films’ similarities, this is also know as Zombie 3 in some parts of the world thought there actually would be a Zombie 3 with Fulci attached later in 1988.

3 not quite up to Fulci standards zombies!

zombie holocaust rating

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC!

bars

TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: THE BEST OF LUCIO FULCI

MZNJ_New_TON

now playingzombie

bars

ZOMBIE (1979)

George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was called Zombi in Italy and was a hit, so when Italian Horror meister Lucio Fulci created his own zombie gore classic, it was released in Italian theaters as Zombi 2 to cash in on Dawn’s popularity, but Zombie, as it’s known in the USA, is it’s own movie. The action and eating take place after a bloody opening sequence of a zombie occupied boat entering a New York City harbor, on the remote Caribbean island of Matool and is the product of voodoo being used to raise the flesh eating dead from their graves. The boat entering NYC waters belonged to a doctor, and the story centers on reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) and the missing doctor’s daughter, Anne (Tisa Farrow), traveling to the fictional island to find the doctor’s whereabouts. Once there, they and a couple, Bryan and Susan (Al Cliver and Auretta Gay) whose boat they rented, soon discover a living nightmare and that a horrible fate may be in store for all of them as their boat is damaged and they are trapped on the island with the ravenous dead.

The gore is shocking and the zombies are far grosser looking then even Romero’s and while it is smaller in scope, it is very creepy and atmospheric when not splattering blood and guts all over the screen. Much like all of Fulci’s horror films, Zombie has a surreal nightmarish quality to it to go along with all the gore such as the climactic battle against the army of walking dead set in a burning church turned hospital ward. The film’s haunting visuals are courtesy of cinematographer Sergio Salvati and has a haunting score by frequent Fulci collaborator, Fabio Frizzi. The film has many shocking moments, but is most famous for the ‘eyeball’ scene and the underwater shark v.s. zombie scene witnessed by shapely topless diver Susan. I personally prefer the work of Fulci over the more popular, but in my opinion overrated, Dario Argento. One of my all time favorite horrors and a must watch during the Halloween season. Recently remastered on a beautiful blu-ray from Blue Underground. Still one of the greatest zombie movies ever made.

4 Fulci zombies!

fulci_Rating

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC!

**************************************************

city-of-the-Living-dead-1980-movie-2

bars

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (also known as THE GATES OF HELL) (1980)

A priest hangs himself, a seance goes tragically wrong and the dead rise…all in the first five minutes of another gory and disturbing horror from Italian maestro of terror, Luci Fulci. Fulci’s trademark spooky visuals, as photographed by frequent cinematographer Sergio Salvati, and trademark gore fills this story of a small town priest’s suicide that opens the gates of Hell. Now a reporter (Christopher George) and a psychic (Catriona MacColl) must travel to a remote New England town to close Hell’s gates before the evil ripping the town apart spreads to the rest of the world.

As usual this Fulci flick is loaded with atmosphere, gruesome gore, (such as a drill through the head and a woman vomiting up her own entrails) and zombies. Fabio Frizzi once again provides the haunting score. Not quite up to the standards of his Zombie or his next film, The Beyond, but a gory, creepy Italian horror none the less! Also, the only film I know of that contains a blizzard of maggots! Originally released in the US as The Gates Of Hell.

3 and 1/2 Fulci zombies

fulci_Rating2

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC!

 

 **************************************************
thebeyond
 bars

THE BEYOND (1981)

A young woman (Catriona MacColl) inherits an old Louisiana hotel not knowing that 54 years earlier, a group of frightened townspeople tortured and murdered a man staying in room 36, who was suspected of being a warlock. Before his death, the warlock warned that the hotel sat on one of the seven gates of Hell and he had found the key. Needless to say, efforts to reopen the hotel meet with tragic and gruesome results and there is definitely something unnatural going on in room 36.

Italian horror master Lucio Fulci creates one his most nightmarish and surreal films in this story of a house haunted by a very powerful and ancient evil. As the young woman and a doctor friend (David Warbeck) try to unravel the mystery of the hotel’s sinister past, the evil force continues to provide gruesome fates to those that come into contact with it, or try to warn our heroine. Fulci’s film is a disturbing supernatural tale with some very atmospheric and spooky visuals combined with some very shocking and inventive gore. Once more the cinematography is by Sergio Salvati and music by Fabio Frizzi. From carnivorous swarms of spiders, to acid in faces, to reanimated corpses, this film is a chilling and very unsettling horror from the first frames till the nightmarish last. Surreal at times, but always haunting. A first rate Italian horror from one of it’s masters and one of Fulci’s best. The spider scene still freaks me out!

4 Fulci zombies

fulci_Rating

WARNING: TRAILER IS VERY GRAPHIC

bars