City of the Living Dead (1980)

And the dead shall rise and walk the earth!

A seance brings forth a traumatic vision of a priest hanging himself, and sends one of the participants into convulsions and presumed death. The victim, Mary, is buried the following day only to awaken and be saved from her entombed coffin in the nick of time by local journalist Peter Bell. But this is just where the strangeness begins. A series of gruesome apparitions and happenings, followed by vicious zombie attacks, lead to the demise of the towns residents one by one. The priests suicide has opened the gates of hell, and it seems that everyone is doomed.

City of the Living Dead is a great, although quite abstract, movie. It is very difficult to give a detailed summary of the films plot because it both starts and ends quite abruptly, with little explanation. It is largely composed of a series of horrifying events all seemingly unrelated, but all connected to the apocalyptic situation caused somehow by this priests death.

If you can get past the fact that the film comes off as quite abstract and artsy, it is really a cool movie. It mixes zombies with hauntings in a sort of zombie/ghost movie. It contains some extremely graphic scenes, most famously the scene in which a young woman's eyes begin to bleed, followed by her vomiting up her internal organs. Rumour has it that the organs were actually animal organs purchased from a butcher and that they had to film the scene over the course of numerous takes as she vomited up one after another. Can't help but feel a bit sorry for the actor (Daniela Doria) who had to do this, but it sure makes for a grotesque and memorable scene. The director, Lucio Fulci, is known for his strange and grisly horror films, of which City of the Living Dead is a typical example.

A film well worth checking out. May also be found under the titles "The Gates of Hell", "Twilight of the Dead", "City of the Dead", and various other names in other countries.

3.5 lathes through the brain out of 5
Rated 18A for severe violence and gore, frightening scenes.


Watch the City of the Living Dead trailer.