I was quiet about this film...

"The Gates of Hell" A.K.A "City of the Living Dead" (Lucio Fulci,1980)


I saw this film about two weeks ago and I haven't really said anything about it to the people i talk films with. I have two reasons for why i did that, the first one is that i didn't want to say what i thought and let people check it out for themselves and the other is that this film scared the living shit out of me. I have never been so scared of a flick in my entire life. City of the Living Dead literally made me feel like i was watching this with some friends when i was 9 years old. The kind of film that your parents would put on the top shelf just so you can't reach it. It's that terrifying.

A zombie film where the gates of hell are open due to a priest that committed suicide. The small group of people that are affected by this happen to be a woman that is into dark rituals, a journalist and a man that is caught up in the middle of it. This group of people have to find the grave site of the priest before midnight on "All Saint's Day" or else the gates of hell will remain open and the world will be run by the living dead. Please tell me that's not the best plot idea you've ever heard.

The film holds up so well, hence why i was so horrified by it. The gore is amazing and so is the suspense. While you feel someone is about to meet there doom, you can't help but put your hands in front of your face. This is also the best directed film I've seen in the horror genre. First Lizard in a Woman's skin, now this? I can't wait to see what else Fulci has. I also have seen two of his other films, Zombie and The Beyond. Zombie is good and The Beyond is amazing but this film surpasses both of them. I won't compare this film to Lizard because it's not the same genre. City just left me speechless.

Most people claim that The Exorcist or Halloween are the scariest films ever made. They are amazing horror films but both of them lack at least one of the three things that make a horror film truly great, Terrifying Horror, Fun Horror and Gross Horror. Those are the three ingredients to make a perfect horror film. The Exorcist doesn't have the Fun but yet it really doesn't need it. As for Halloween, it doesn't really have any big Gross out scenes but also both of those films happen to get laughed at by today's audiences. As much as i love both of those films they are a bit out dated especially The Exorcist. Now for City of the Living Dead, all those ingredients are there in clear sight and Fulci just makes you gobble it down to the bare bone.

One other thing that i simply loved about this film is the ending. It has a very ambiguous closing that leaves you thinking that maybe everything isn't alright. The film itself starts and ends with a scream while we are screaming throughout the whole thing. This is by all means a masterpiece and the best horror film i have ever seen.

Grade A+