City of the Living Dead (1980)
Posted on August 28, 2005
Filed Under Italian, Nasties, Zombies
Another day, another Lucio Fulci zombie movie. I watch them because I enjoy them, but watching a lot of a director’s output over a relatively short space of time really shows up their strengths and weaknesses with startling clarity. City of the Living Dead is the second in Fulci’s popular quartet of zombie movies, following Zombie Flesh Eaters and preceding The Beyond. Seen in this context, City seems like almost a dry-run for The Beyond, setting up a lot of the latter film’s concerns and featuring Catriona McColl in a very similar role to the one she subsequently played. McColl is probably Fulci’s greatest asset in these films; although not an A-list performer, she’s incredibly well suited to this kind of movie, bringing a zippy lightness of touch without ever camping it up or being too knowing. She’s an engaging, naturalistic presence who carries much of the audience interest with her.
That McColl is so enjoyable to watch is pretty essential, as the main problem with City of the Living Dead is how seriously it takes itself. I criticised the mystical angle of The Beyond as being a bit ropey, and unfortunately the same is true here. McColl plays Mary, a spiritual medium who sees a vision of a priest hanging himself in the town of Dunwich, set on the gates of Hell. Mary and her journalist friend Peter have until All Saints Day to close the gates or else… erm, yes. If you’ve got the faintest idea what any of this means, please reply below, as frankly the whole thing was a complete mystery to me. One of the best aspects of George Romero’s zombie movies is that the whole zombie thing just happens, no explanation, and everyone has to deal with it. Fulci, on the other hand, is clearly fascinated by what might cause the dead to return to life and attack the living, and unfortunately his explanation is all to do with Lovecraft and the Book of Enoch (or something). That the central premise is so impenetrable ultimately cripples the movie, as it’s fundamentally unclear what the threat is or what the characters need to achieve. Zombie Flesh Eaters was far more economical, simply using the term “voodoo” to account for any supernatural goings-on and concentrating on a highly enjoyable escape narrative. But because City’s mysticism is so intrinsically tied in with the zombie threat, the zombies themselves just appear and disappear throughout the story, with little menace.
City makes it clear that narrative and plot aren’t really Fulci’s strong point, but I’d still rate him as a director for his knack with an arresting image. Most of these are pretty gory, but he knows how to make something compellingly disgusting; there’s no eye mutilation here, but plenty of intestine-vomiting, head-drilling and, bizarrely a maggot storm, in which the cast have buckets of live maggot thrown at them through a giant fan. Oddly enough, this scene seems to bear no relation to the plot, but the film’s a richer one for the shot where Carlo de Mejo brushes a pile of maggots of a phone so that he can take a call. The scene’s in the priest’s tomb are good, too, but again were hampered by the fact that I was more confused than suspenseful at this point.
Ultimately, City of the Living Dead is a mixed bag. It’s got some great gore, some great music by Fabio Frizzi and a great performance from McColl, but the story is an unfocused, confusing mess. The Beyond, although flawed, is a much more rounded attempt at telling the same sort of story, as the mythology is significantly less brain-bending and the shocks and suspense take centre stage. Neither film surpasses Zombie Flesh Eaters, but all credit to Fulci for trying something a bit different, even if he doesn’t really pull it off.
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