Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell Trilogy


Hello Fulci fans!

I've just posted my first horror blog looking at Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy- City of The Living Dead, The Beyond & The House By The Cemetery. It's not a review, as plenty of people have beaten me to it- it's more of my thoughts & musings on the films and how they interconnect with each other.

Anyway, if you're interested at all please take a look!

http://chloessilhouette.blogspot.com/

Thank you.

Twitter @SkiesChloe
The secret to a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits.

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I had a read of this yesterday and really enjoyed it (although I had to skirt round the parts about 'House' because I somehow haven't seen that yet!).

I've read so much about 'City' and 'The Beyond' over the years, but I think you managed to identify quite a few interesting new aspects, while your affection for these films is infectious.

Just one thing I noticed, however; David Warbeck's character in 'The Beyond' is called 'McCabe' rather than 'McKay'.

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Thanks for the feedback- much appreciated!

Aha, yes you're right! I've amended it now. Thanks for the heads up.

All three films link together in so many ways, I guess because they were produced in such close proximity to one another. You should definitely seek out and watch House By The Cemetery. It veers away from the structure of the other two, but still maintains the same look & atmosphere. Let me know what you think once you get round to seeing it.

Twitter @SkiesChloe
The secret to a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits.

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You're very welcome! 'House' is definitely on my list of films to see (and has been for a looong time). Having revisited 'The Beyond' recently and with plans to do the same with 'City' and 'Zombie Flesh-Eaters', I'll have to bump it up the list.

Just curious...how did you get into these films? 'City' has the dubious honour of being the first zombie film I ever encountered. A couple of my older cousins had no compunction about watching the full uncut home video version (pre-BBFC classification!) with me in the room when I was infant school age and it both terrified and fascinated me. I would see the 'Sandra zombie' with her (apparently) glowing eyes waiting for me everywhere I went!

After this I was always drawn to the horror sections of the many video rental stores that existed around this time although I was well over a decade too young to see any of them.

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I inherited my brother's VHS collection when he started upgrading to DVD, and there was a boatload of ex-rental horror cassettes- including the Fulci films. They were cut though, which was a shame. When I saw the box for City of The Living Dead I thought it was something to do with George A. Romero so when I watched it I hated it at first. Took me a while to come around to the Italian horror style, but there's something so unique about them they really grew on me.

I don't think I knew House By The Cemetery was Italian either when I first saw it...

Haha, Sandra does make a good zombie. Those brain-squeeze kills though...pretty grim stuff!

Twitter @SkiesChloe
The secret to a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits.

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Haha, you're not wrong, ouch.

Yes, Italian horror flicks are most certainly an acquired taste and they really need to be seen in their full uncut glory to be appreciated properly.

One of the things that always drew me back to them are the strangely beautiful soundtrack scores.

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Just watched The Beyond and it was terrible. I just really wish Fulci films just had a more cohesive plot. Most of the time neither you or the protagonist knows WTF is going on and it takes away from horror because you are wasting energy and concentration by asking yourself "Now WTF just happened?" . This is my third Fulci film and all of them have been bad experiences. The dialogue and the plot is always very weak. Some decent gore scenes but that's it.





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While I certainly don't feel as strongly about the Plot here, I can say one thing for certain, Fulci films are full of expressionism. Strict Narratives aren't his thing. Budgets were incredibly low and usually what he did have for finances went straight to Special Effects and such. I still dont think his Uncut films are all that hard to follow though. It's just not polished like other popular directors. He went straight to the barf bags and many Horror fans are sentimental towards that style because so much of it was hard to find. Between certain countries rating systems calling for cuts and others just outright BANNING them. It became a genre in itself. Fulci embraced this. Obviously not for everyone but his fans are die hard.

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I find that most of Fulci's films I have to watch more than once to really appreciate them. The first time I view them, I turn it off thinking "Well, that was a waste of time." But then later on I find myself compelled to give them a second chance and begin to understand why people say they're so great. With each viewing I like them a little bit more. This has happened with every Fulci film I've watched with the exception of The Black Cat and Zombie (those two I liked from the first time I saw them). But yes, I urge people who hate the movies to watch them more than once in case they end up changing their mind like I did.

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