City of the Living Dead is about a reporter and a psychic trying to close the gates of hell after the suicide of a priest or vicker or something caused them to open. Now we have zombies running crazy and killing people, in typical Fulci goodness. Christopher George is here playing a….JOURNALIST! I bet you thought I was gonna say cop right? Well he’s basically a cop again, the dude excelled at that so why not? This also takes place on All Saints Day so hell yeah, because thats November 1st and that, ladies and gentlemen…is my birthday! Anyways, George tries to help this psychic close the gates and we get some gory fun.
The effects are pretty solid. My favorite kill has to be the drill press through the head, that is gnarly Fulci fun right there! I’m surprised it didn’t go through a dude’s eye because Fulci hates eyes, they have to be punctured, gouged, sliced and destroyed dammit! A woman is buried alive and it is truly unnerving. She tries to scratch her way out, with no avail. Christopher George (I think his name is Peter? idk he’s Christopher George) hears her and unearths the woman. It really is effective and creepy.
Acting wise, this movie is on point with any other Italian horror movie, hard to gauge truly because everything is dubbed. Christopher George does a commendable job as always. Catriona MacColl as Mary was decent as well. The music is top notch, it always is in Fulci movies right? Fabio Frizzi provides the score. Fulci himself even has an uncredited role as Dr. Joe Thompson which is always fun.
If you like Italian horror, and you understand it. Then you and I have one thing in common. I’ve said numerous times that I’m too dumb to understand Italian horror without reading about it afterwards or having Joe Bob hold my hand. Again I was lost, but hey it was gory fun so it’s cool. I give this a C. I much prefer Zombi 2.
