Review: Lucio Fulci’s ‘City of the Living Dead’ Gets 4K UHD Blu-ray Cauldon Films Edition

How do Lucio Fulci fans catalogue their favorites? By number of atrocious set pieces? Or by simply weighing the entrails and moving from there? Fulci’s career is by no means limited to his gruesome peak in the late ’70s and early ’80s, but it’s sure difficult to find many who hold his ’60s spy knockoffs and westerns in as high regard as violent stoners do the likes of Zombie, The New York Ripper, and City of the Living Dead (also known as The Gates of Hell). While there’s no denying the effectiveness of the cheapjack surrealism underpinning The Beyond, most of his other gore touchstones are notable only for the extreme lengths they’re willing to go, not how far they’re capable of burrowing beyond viewers’ gag reflexes.

Take City of the Living Dead, the first of what would be a string of flicks about hell encroaching on the margins of otherwise idyllic hamlets. In the film, a priest’s (Fabrizio Jovine) unexplained, seemingly unpremeditated suicide becomes the clarion call to zombies and demons to rise from the incredibly shallow depths of a community whose residents are constantly denying their town used to be called Salem—presumably the same Salem that witches were slaughtered in, the same Salem that’s still standing in Massachusetts, relatively unsullied by the presence of Satan’s bitch squad. The malfeasance is presaged by a psychic (Adelaide Aste) who vacillates peskily between life and death and, at one point, ends up buried sort of alive until rescued by a big-city reporter (Christopher George) who’s as overzealous with his pickaxe as he is with his steno pad.

Working in heteronormative diads (This should be “dyads”), the psychic, the reporter, and a series of other young and stupid adults try to figure out exactly what’s going on and how to stop it, though it has to be noted that glass bleeds more in this film than actual human victims do. The psychic somewhat self-defeatingly notes that the strange events are all part of a prophecy written in one of those hidden books of something resembling the Bible, and that the only way to prevent zombies from bilocating and tearing brains from citizens’ skulls to, um, kill the priest again? With characters neither quite alive nor dead, audiences might waver in and out of REM.

That is, of course, excepting the two uncommonly brutal sidebars into the cinematic abattoir. The first, in which the priest’s reanimated shell stares down a man and woman making out in their car until the woman bleeds from the eyes and pukes out her own GI tract, is just ill-defined enough to achieve nightmarish force. The second, in which the skull of the town outcast, Bob (Giovanni Lombardo Radice), is drilled clean through by a jealous father, Mr. Ross (Venantino Venantini), is utterly gratuitous, though it’s worth noting that the most violent act in the entirety of the film isn’t at the hands of maggot-faced, dead-eyed zombies, but of someone taking the law into his own hands and eliminating what he views as an infectious human presence in his community. Much like those witches in Salem—the one in Massachusetts.

Image/Sound

Cauldron’s new 4K UHD of City of the Living Dead is a definite uptick over earlier editions of the film. Fine details are delineated with almost sculptural precision. The gradation of black levels in the myriad nighttime and low-light scenes is far more nuanced than before. And colors really pop in key scenes, especially in Lucio Fulci’s sparing use of Bava-esque gel lighting, and the almost molten reds and yellows of the stained glass in the underground crypt. When it comes to audio options, you have a choice between English or Italian two-channel mono mixes, with the English track being preferable for having the lead actors’ actual voices. Both give plenty of presence to composer Fabio Frizzi’s chillingly effective synth-heavy score.

Extras

Cauldron provides a cornucopia of new and archival bonus materials spread across three discs. The UHD and HD Blu-rays with the film each boast no fewer than four commentary tracks, including a brand new one from critic Samm Deighan. The third Blu-ray contains over four hours of interviews, Q&As, and other goodies. The commentary tracks are nicely complementary: The two from actors Catriona MacColl and Giovanni Lombardo Radice provide plenty of production anecdotes. The other two feature critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson as a tag team and Deighan flying solo. These tracks delve into themes, techniques, cast and crew bios, and the full range of Fulci’s career. Deighan, in particular, offers a fascinating foray into the film’s gothic, surrealist, and Lovecraftian elements.

Among other highlights scattered across this set is an in-depth interview with production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng, who discusses working with Federico Fellini, his multiple collaborations with Fulci, and the career of protégé Michele Soavi, who acted and served as assistant director on City of the Living Dead. Also of note is a lively roundtable Q&A with actor Venantino Venantini and director Ruggero Deodato, as well as a lovely drone-driven tour of the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, where the film was partially filmed.

Overall

Hauntingly atmospheric and unabashedly gory, Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead gets a fantastic 4K UHD upgrade and a treasure trove of extras from Cauldron Films.