An argument for Fulci's godhood (hell, I'm bored)...

[Dr.Kelvinstein]

Okay, I used to be a huge Argento fan (still am, actually), and while I considered Fulci gory and fun, I still mainly thought of him as a hack. Probably the most talented hack in Italian exploitaion (a sub-genre full of hacks, and I love them all), but still a hack. He was better than Lenzi (who isn't?) and Mattei, but that was about as far as it went. He was no Soavi or even Lamberto Bava (who, sad to say, is now a hack).

But all Italian directors, with the notable exception of Argento, are hacks. All Italian exploitation to some extent rips off American product, whether it be Mad Max (okay, it's actually Australian, but you get the picture) or The Exorcist. Even Zombi, my second favorite Fulci movie, pretends to be a sequel (though it more closely resembles a prequel) to Dawn of The Dead. But this isn't really a bad thing---by presenting us with familiar plots and characters (dedicated reporter, bumbling cop, etc) Italian exploitation can do away with long, boring set-ups and get right to the meat of the matter (and blood, of course). By doing this Italians can also do away with most of the exposition, which is a good thing when considering the "talent" of most of their actors and the peculiar habit Italians have of filming without sound---which means even American actors speaking English have to be dubbed (even Leone did this in the Dollars Trilogy).

Still...Fulci, at his best, is simply amazing. I can think of no other director who has so well captured Lovecraft's idea of cosmic horror. In The Beyond and The Gates of Hell, we feel that the players are truly damned. There is something going on that is not only past their comprehending, but even attempting to understand the nature of the universe would drive them stark raving mad. There is simply no escape from this strange otherworldly evil. Even in Gates of Hell, when the evil is "destroyed" and the portal to hell closed, do we really think this is a happy ending? There's also the great scene in GoH where Chirstopher George is looking at the zombie at the same moment the very same zombie appears behind him and crushes his head. Evil, in this universe, is inescapable.

Fulci has also been accused of merely being a senstionalistic splatter director, but he is one of the few directors (maybe the ONLY director other than Romero) who can be said to use gore to add to the unsettling nature of his films. His gore doesn't gross out as much as it disturbs. And when considering the nature of Fulci's universe, the gore also punctuates the fragility of human existence.

And to all those who say I'm looking too far into Italian exploitation when I mention Lovecraftian influences (after all, aren't Italian hacks supposed to illiterate, probably not even film-literate?), I would point out the use of the Book of Eibon in The Beyond. I know of no genre critic who has pointed this out, but the Book of Eibon is a fictional tome along the lines of the Necronomicon created by fantasy author Arthur Machen and used by H.P. Lovecraft himself in the story The Thing on the Doorstep. A wise choice, when the Necromicon has been so overused in horror fiction.

And while Dawn and Night are easily better horror films and movies in general than Zombi, I find Zomb the better zombie experience. It does everything a zombie movie is supposed to do with nothing getting in the way of the walking dead mayhem. The zombie-stagger down Golden Gate Bridge at the end of the movie is much more apocalyptic than society's slow tumble in Romero's trilogy. It's even Lovecraftian, dammit!!!!

Fulci's Zombi also includes nudity, something exploitaion movies need. The scene in which the zom attacks the shark is maybe the most insane thing I have ever seen caught on film, and the rotting, worm-infested zombies actually made the return of the dead extremely frightening, adding a layer of horror Romero's blue-faced freshly dead lacked. It also featured the dead clawing from their graves (obviously borrowed from Plague of the Zombies, but still damn effective), another touch of supernatural horror and primordial fear missing from Romero's movies.

Another minor tidbit--ever notice that the hero in Fulci's sword-and-sorcery movie Conquest is wearing the mark of Eibon on his forehead? He explains the mark by saying it means that he has no friends and is pretty much at war with the world, a touch that nicely connects Fulci's universe. And definitely not the work of a hack.

So...does anyone agree? Is Fulci god?

[zwoti]

HELL YEAH

[KRUGERKID13]

wouldnt say hes god but then again havnt seen much of his stuff i consider romero god myself

[Ritualistic]

Anyone on the board that knows me will definately know I am a fulci fan.. HUGE fan of him.. anyways getting back to Lenzi, I have a problem with him.. the one thing about him is he isnt a fan of horror whatsoever at all and to be honest makes me not even want to purchase his movies, I have a couple but wont buy any others...

[IDrinkYourBlood]

i really like fulci and my fav. from him is ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS
I think he is one of the best in the whole biz if you ask me.

[Sam The Egg]

Wasn't The Beyond released in the States as Seven Doors of Death? Cause Seven Doors of Death sucked hard.

Zombi 2 (A.K.A Zombie Flesh Eaters) is excellent in my opinion, despite it efforts to act like the sequel to the greatest horror film ever made. The music is absolutely amazing, I love the music in that film.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
Wasn't The Beyond released in the States as Seven Doors of Death? Cause Seven Doors of Death sucked hard.

Yes sam the cut up version of "The Beyond" was released in the states titled "the seven doors of death"... Like I mentioned in other threads you eighter like this type of horror film or you hate it... :D

[Sam The Egg]

I like the type. Demons was really good. But that particular one was terrible.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
I like the type. Demons was really good. But that particular one was terrible.

Sorry to hear you dont like it, try to rent or borrow a copy of "The Beyond" .. I have both copies, I cant really remember what they cut out of the seven doors of death.. but the beyond is the full version... the gates of hell and the beyond are a lot a like.. but that is just my opinion