GORE IN THE STORE
REVIEWS BY FANS FOR FANS
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

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Train
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Messengers 2

 

Directed by Lucio Fuici, Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Giovanni Lambardo Radice, and Michele Soavi. Horror, 93 min.

(Rated 18) Release date 24th May, 2 Disc DVD 2010 RRP £17.99 Blu-Ray RRP £22.99.

Are you one of these film fans, that when asked if you’ve seen a classic movie becomes slightly embarrassed if you haven’t. A good friend of mine (might as well give him a plug – Dan Auty at Mondo Movie) once said to me wouldn’t it be a shame if you’d seen all the great movies and had nothing to discover?

And here I am admitting to the wonderful FrightFesters, until today, I’d never seen Lucio’s Fulci’s ‘City of the living Dead’.

I’ll be honest, at first I thought I was watching an episode of Columbo as the film has a slightly 70’s/early 80’s American daytime drama feel to it. But then the gore starts and then bloody hell – you certainly find out why the man is known as the king of Splatter.

T he story starts with the discovery that a local Priest has committed suicide. Unbeknown to the locals of the small New England town of Dunwich - this insignificant event has caused the opening of a gateway to hell causing the rise of the living dead.

Word of the suicide and various strange goings on reach New York where a reporter Peter Bell (Christopher George – Mortuary, The Exterminator, Grizzly),recruits the help of a young Psychic called Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl – The House by the Cemetery, The Beyond). Her job is to uncover the truth about the developments within Dunwich.

When a séance goes wrong and a young woman dies Bell and Woodhouse start to question the family. Their reluctance to help hinders the investigation as the town become wary of their new guests.

At the funeral Bell discovers the woman has been buried alive as the corpse resurrects from its deathbed. The woman, although incarcerated in a coffin and 6ft of soil, is pulled to safety by Bell. This rebuilds the trust with the Towns folk enabling him to pursue his quest for answers.

Meanwhile, local Psychiatrist Gerry (Carlo De Mejo – The House by the cemetery, Alien Contamination) and his patient follow their own line of enquiries investigating the weird apparition’s and violence murders occurring in the town. The murder victims begin to rise from the dead reaping havoc within the community.

The eerie atmosphere that started the film is soon fast tracked to a classic splatter house movie. Bloody gloop with worms, vomit, drills through the head, storms of maggots and (my personal favourite) somebody spewing up their internal organs in a car. And there’s not any travel sickness tablet on the market to deal with that ailment.

People said this movie was classic and they were right. This really is a good horror and a pleasure to discover for the first time. I’m sure I’ll be watching it many times in the future.

Film aside, making this disc a must own is the ridiculously generous collection of additional content available. Anyone feeling disappointed by their Blu-ray for AVATAR can rejoice in the extra care and attention that has been created in bringing this Disc to the market.

The distributors ‘Arrow’ should be very proud of their classic approach to bringing the ultimate disc to Fuci’s fan base. As a non educated Fuci consumer, it was a joy to flick through the various documentaries and enlighten myself. Any diehard fans will be like ‘Kids in a Candy store’ with this little delight. Additionally, anyone who has not bought into wonders of Blu-ray can also enjoy the same experience as all the same content is on the DVD version too. The film alone deserves 3 stars, but with all the special features this is a 4 star disc.

If you want to see a great supernatural Zombie flick and consume yourself in a little piece of film making heaven you should by ‘City of the Living Dead’ today.

Special Features include:

Newly recorded audio commentary by actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice; audio commentary by actress Catriona MacColl and author Jay Slater; introduction to the film by star Carlo De Mejo; ‘Carlo Of The Living Dead featurette; ‘The Many Lives And Deaths Of Giovanni Lombardo Radice’ featurette; ‘Dame Of The Dead’ featurette; ‘Fulci’s Daughter: Memories Of The Italian Gore Maestro’ featurette; ‘Penning Some Paura’ featurette; ‘Profondo Luigi: A Colleague’s Memories Of Lucio Fulci’ featurette; Catriona MacCall and Giovanni Lombardo Radice Q&A session at the Glasgow Film Theatre; ‘Fulci In The House – The Italian Master Of Splatter’ featurette.

UK exclusive features directed by Calum Waddell and edited and produced by Naomi Holwill with associate producer Nick Frame.

Nick Gibbs-McNeil.

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