Thursday, June 17, 2021

Junesploitation 2021 Day 17: Fulci!

47 comments:

  1. 'MAESTRO FULCI OSCILLA PER LE RECINZIONI. MA ANCHE QUANDO GLI MANCA, VINCIAMO!' Why yes, indeed. :-P

    THE PSYCHIC (1977, YouTube) for the first time.

    Working alongside co-writer Dardano Sacchetti (every Italian Junesploitation! movie you can think of), Fulci directed this work-for-hire book adaptation right before pivoting into hardcore horror with "Zombie." But except for a brief glimpse of "Don't Torture A Duckling"-style mannequin abuse early on, "The Psychic" is an elegant and slow-paced psychological thriller and honest-to-goodness murder mystery. After establishing that she could see and feel her mother committing suicide in 1958 as a young child despite being continents apart, now-married-in-the-1970's Virginia Ducci (Jennifer O'Neill) discovers the skeleton remains of a person inside a wall while renovating her husband's Palazzo. With clairvoyant visions of a young twenty-something woman contradicting the forensic report putting an older age on the found body, Virgina and a paranormal investigator (Marc Porel's Luca) set out to find out who was buried in that wall. Hubby Francesco (Gianni Garko) ain't too pleased with any of this, especially since the police suspect him of being the murderer since the body was found in his property.

    This is a rare Italian movie in which all the Italian actors opposite O'Neill speak in their natural voices delivering hit-or-miss English dialogue. This helps her character stick out even more as a loner in a country and culture foreign (hostile?) to a woman, one whose clairvoyant powers are more of a curse than a gift. Quentin Tarantino's clearly a fan since some of "The Psychic's" music (from three different composers) made it to the "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" soundtrack. But I'd bet good money Christopher Nolan ("Tenet") and Denis Villeneuve ("Prisoners") have also seen it, based on stylistic/plot similarities to their work... 'nuff said. If you can hang with the long game Fulci's playing here and not grow restless at the absence of crimson viscera, "The Psychic" is eons better than anything Hitchcock directed in the 1970's. No, I couldn't believe it either until I actually saw Lucio pull it off here. :-) 4 MAGAZINE HORSE ADVERTISEMENTS (out of 5).

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    1. My first watch of The Psychic was also something of a revelation. I was very quickly sucked into the mystery and appreciated the subtlety of the storytelling. I wish Fulci had done more films in this manner. Although I have nothing against his gore period and like certain films from it, there is something about his earlier films that appeals more to me.

      The Psychic was shown last year at the Mahoning Drive-In. The people I talk to there were not that impressed with it. Perhaps it is not the ideal drive-in movie, though. Films that are more on the trashy or gory side tend to play better in that atmosphere.

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    2. The one night I regret not going to the Mahoning (work, of course) last year was an evening of some sleazy Italian films: The House on the Edge of the Park, The New York Ripper, and Beyond the Darkness. I am sure that night went over well with the crowd.

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  2. THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981, 4K UHD Blu-ray).

    I've seen this one a few times, most recently when the 4K Blu-ray was released last year. I've liked but never considered it in the same league as "Zombie" or "The Beyond" (my all-time favorite Fulcis). Bob had a lot to do with that, but I've warmed up to Bob and his whiny, bitchy English voice doesn't bother me anymore. As I was watching this I wrote a list of what made a 'Peak Fulci' movie, one that had as much of the good stuff we like about his work with the bad parts absent or kept to a minimum.

    --EYES: Not necessarily for eyeball-stabbing (but that's appreciated), Fulci always zoomed into the eyes of his characters wanting the audience to see something within their souls. In "HBTC" the constant glances and exchanges between Bob, his ghostly friend Mae (Silvia Collatina) and his parents (Catriona MacColl and Paolo Malco) annoy at first, but not if you know the destination and what those direct-contact avoiding gazes actually meant.

    --QUALITY OVER-THE-TOP GORE: When Fulci could command his biggest budgets during the late 70's up to the mid-80's the prosthetics and the fake blood looked terrific. "HBTC" has some seriously nasty set-pieces that, besides making you feel the hurt of the victim (poor Mrs. Gittelson), make you care for the poor bastards unlucky enough to go down that cellar. How uncomfortable did Lucio make you feel that he didn't cut away sooner from that damn bat biting Norman's hand?

    --DREAM-LIKE STATE OF PERPETUAL FORGETFULNESS: The more I like a Fulci movie, the more I tend to forget the small details. The bad ones I remember well ("Conquest," "Zombie 3") and never return to them, but the good ones still surprise me with every rewatch. This was the first time that I noticed the corpses laying at the end of the up-going stairs (can't spoil any more), and the implications of that hit me hard. Before I was sure the ending of "The Beyond" was the most devastating gut punch ending to a Fulci movie. Not anymore.

    --CAMERA MOVEMENTS WITH PURPOSE: Most contemporary film lovers can't get past old movies zooming and panning during shots. Here every slow zoom-in (Bob scared in bed), rack-focus (metal where Norman's colleague hung himself), pan (shadow approaching the kitchen) or constant zooms in/out (the jaw hitting the stars) isn't for shits and giggles. Hate on movies that needlessly move or zoom the camera, but not when it's done with directorial intent (as Lucio does in "HBTC").

    --QUALITY MUSIC AND TOLERABLE DUBS: Walter Rizzati's score (despite the typical repetition of certain segments too many times) delivers a classy, sad and mournful series of tunes that only go crazy when the violence on-screen dictates it. It's suitably tragic and goes hand-in-hand with the themes of isolation. And hey, it's okay when characters like Bob have whiny, shitty English voices. It's when all or the most important character have distracting/annoying voices (see review below) that the dubbing becomes a problem.

    --FULCI CAMEO: Fulci started pulling Hitchcock-like cameos in his work, and my experience is the shorter his appearance the better the movie is. Here Lucio shares a few lines with Prof. Boyle in Manhattan and hops on a cab. Perfect!

    Guess what I'm trying to say is that "House By the Cemetery" is a stone-cold great Lucio Fulci picture and I wasn't able to see it until last night. It was the most engaged, the most entertained, the most devastated (that ending... even Bob deserved better! :'( ) I've ever felt watching it, and I so want to see it again and again in 4K. Sometimes you realize you don't need to look for great experiences in new-to-you movies. I had the power all along, and all I needed was to click 'PLAY' on my 4K LG player. 5 FIDDLE FADDLE EMPTY BOXES IN THE KITCHEN TABLE (out of 5).

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    2. Spelling...

      I just wanted to say to you, that I enjoy reading your entries a lot every day.

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    3. Aw, thanks! 😎🤓

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  4. THE NEW YORK RIPPER (1982, 4K UHD Blu-ray).

    I watched this back-to-back with "House by the Cemetery," which only magnified its glaring flaws compared with "HBTC's" near-perfect package. The good stuff first: decent 4K video/sound transfer. Not "Zombie" or "HBTC"-caliber good, but a slight visual bump over the BD I used to own. Dolby Atmos sound is just okay. Between the shot-in-Italy interiors (the live sex club lit with bright red/green hues from "Suspiria," the Puerto Rican cafeteria from hell populated by Italians-as-Puerto Ricans sexual predators, seedy hotel rooms), the on-location visits to 42nd Street Times Square and the go-for-broke bloody violence against female genitalia (no exposed breast goes uncut or unpierced by a sharp object), "The New York Ripper" is one of the sleaziest-feeling exploitation movies from its era. Like TV's "Law & Order" or movies that know what they're doing ("Ghostbusters," "The Warriors"), New York City is a character with personality that Fulci & Co. take full advantage of to stage memorable kills (the Staten Island Ferry one got to me) or simply let the camera linger on the urban decay (human and man-made). Think of "TNYR" as your typical Italian 'poliziotteschi' movie, but on a road trip to an even bigger hellhole than Naples or Milan. And hey, another short Fulci-as-a-cop cameo appearance that works. :-)

    The rest violate the aforementioned 'Peak Fulci' rules, and thus compromise the final product. Music is appropriate for '82 but has aged badly and can generously be described as generic cop flick background filler. Can we all agree that the slasher taunting his victims and the police with a duck voice is a stupid idea? It's memorable and Fulci even tries to make it a dramatic highpoint at the very end (with a character we've never met until the movie's almost over), but it crosses the line into dumb distraction. Jack Hedley sucks as an uninteresting burned-out NY detective who frequents prostitutes. It's like the narrative focuses so much on the many unlikable supporting cast (a lot more than your typical hero-obsessed 'poliziotteschi') because Lieutenant Williams is dead weight whenever we cut to him or his academia sidekick (Paolo Malco, Bob's father in "HBTC") pondering the killer's next move. The final girl is pretty but vacant until near the (explosive-but-restrained) violent end... yawn.

    I don't mind that "The New York Ripper" feels like what it is: an early 80's Italian filmmaking crew's perception of New Yorkers as cartoony angry animals screwing ourselves straight to hell. Just wish we'd gotten a better Italian grindhouse movie from our film permits. Yeah, like Fulci had an NYC filming permit. ;-) 3 PORTABLE COMPUTER CHESS MACHINES (out of 5).

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  5. DEMONIA (1990, TUBI) for the first time.

    Like a dying person having a last burst of life before their demise, Fulci's handful of final pictures (late 80's and early 90's) have a manic, messy energy that brings back the gory fun of his better, earlier horror pics. Like a cross between a non-Egypt "Manhattan Baby" and "The Psychic" (starring Lucio's newfound "Devil's Honey"/"Touch of Death" DeNiro, Brett Halsey), we follow a group of Canadian archeologists exploring the catacombs near the Sicilian small town of Santa Rosalita where (as seen in the bloody flashback prologue) five nuns were crucified alive in 1486. One of Professor Evans' students (Meg Register's Liza, aka the pretty-but-vacant blonde white girl with blue eyes) dabbles in seances, becoming a conduit for the vengeful spirit of the nuns. Turns out the locals have every right to be as paranoid of after-life retaliation since these happened to be Satan-worshipping, fornication-loving, baby-killing (on camera!) bad nuns.

    "Demonia" is oozing with potential, but again, the 'Peak Fulci' playbook is super hit-and-miss. Giovanni Cristiani's score might have been something with an orchestra, but his Casio-sounding, wannabe-epic music is just 'blah.' A sickly and fragile-looking Fulci is practically a co-star here as his Inspector Carter character gets lots of screen time; again, the shorter the Lucio cameo the better that movie is. Brett Halsey just screams at everybody, and in the end his character doesn't even matter. But man, we get some gnarly kills (tongue nail, eye gouging, ghostly harpoon) and decent sexy nun fornication, plus a ton of atmosphere from Italian locales. Alas, Fulci's budgets had been so drastically reduced by this time "Demonia's" low production values (quality of gore, not-so-great actors, cheap sets, keyboard music, etc.) keep bringing it down. Worth seeing for some good set-pieces (Robbie dismembers poppa!) separated by a whole lot of boring padding. 3 TOPLESS KILLER GHOSTLY APPARITIONS (out of 5).

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  6. FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE (1975, dir. You-know-who)

    As the closing credits came, I was feeling very somber. Maybe there is a little optimism present in the concluding shots, but it comes after a dark series of events. Fulci definitely did not intend to make a feel-good movie with Four of the Apocalypse.

    Fulci brings on the brutality very quickly with a massacre in a town. Though the four protagonists escape death there, the journey through the desert to another town will be full of its own perils. That is all that I feel I should reveal about the plot, which unfolds in a very idiosyncratic manner. The cast brought a tremendous level of earnestness to their roles, and the quality of the dubbing is higher than the average spaghetti western. I would not say it is a perfect film, but it does display a thoughtfulness not generally associated with Lucio Fulci.

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  7. The Long, The Short, The Cat. Dir Lucio Fulci, 1967

    This was an early comedy from The Maestro I found on Prime and I couldn't resist. It's really sweet. Two servants (one that makes the Jerry Lewis face constantly) try to take care of their employers mischievous cat. Who may or may not be the reincarnation of the mistress' dead husband. It's overly convoluted and simple at the same time. It was fun.

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    1. I didn't know any of his comedies were available! Thanks for the heads up on this. :D

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  8. Don't Torture a Duckling (Non si sevizia un paperino) (1972, dir. Lucio Fulci)

    From my (admittedly very limited) experience with his movies, I associate Fulci with dream logic and gore, and this one is pretty light on both. It's more of a murder mystery giallo with a mostly logical plot, although there are still touches of weirdness, chief among them Barbara Bouchet's femme fatale who tries to seduce a 12-year-old boy.

    Never in a million years would I have guessed that the title refers to Donald Duck being a major plot point. Any time Florinda Bolkan was on screen, I kept wondering where I knew her from. Turns out she's the lead of Footprints on the Moon, a weird little movie I watched on Giallo! day two years ago.

    The Finnish title translates as Village of Horrors.

    The Beyond (...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà) (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci)

    Revisiting the first Fulci I ever saw *checks notes* six years ago.

    Now this is the Fulci I know and love: a plot built on surreal dream logic and plenty of gruesome gore effects, prominently including eye trauma naturally. Would love to see this on a big screen with a crowd one day.

    (The Arrow Blus include both Italian and English dubs for both. I elected to watch Duckling in Italian and The Beyond in English because that made sense with where the respective stories are set.)

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  9. White Fang (1973 - GUESS WHO)
    A well-told western with the always charismatic Franco Nero and a Raimund Harmstorf I had scheduled in another film for this month (here it was just a coincidence). I could have done without the animal fights, although it wasn't entirely clear to me whether they really did have the animals fight each other (fortunately). However, I wouldn't be surprised if they had been. Nero and Harmstorf had a fight scene reminiscent of Spencer/Hill. I wonder if this was done on purpose for the European (German) audience or if it was more the style of the time.

    3 out of 4 nuggets found in Nome, Alaska.

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  10. The Silver Saddle (aka They Died with Their Boots On)

    A pretty darn good Western from Fulci. Not as dark like Four of the Apocalypse. Geoffrey Lewis (from Banjo and Sullivan in The Devils Rejects) plays a dude named Snake. It looks good, its fairly well acted, and its action packed with cool shoot outs. Also has one of those catchy as heck songs where the lyrics are just the plot and telling you what the film is about that's played no less than one-thousand times. It rules.


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    1. "Silver saddle shining in the sun. No place to go..."

      This was my pick last year, and it was better than I expected. It undoubtedly is more fun than Four of the Apocalypse.

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    2. Yeah! I was honestly hesitant about and put it on on a whim. Only after a few minutes I was like, okay cool, this will work.

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  11. A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN (1971, dir. Lucio Fulci)

    A gorgeous Giallo to look at with an incredible first act. After that, the movie turns out to be way too long (an unforgivable 104 minutes) with far too little story to fill it. And I need to be honest with myself that I prefer the Giallos riddled with murder sequences over the ones that hinge everything on one.

    Not at all bad, but not even close to one of my favorites in the genre.

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  12. THE NEW YORK RIPPER (1982)
    Oh, so THIS is that movie with serial killer who talks in the duck voice. That connects those dots. Fulci pulls no punches with the constant gore and sleaze, and yet Wikipedia says this is the censored version? (Allegedly, an unedited director’s cut remains perpetually unreleased.) I guess I enjoyed the movie in that you-don’t-know-what-will-happen-next way, but it’s all so trashy and grody that I need a shower now.

    30 days of Chinese fantasy movies, day 17
    THE ENCHANTING PHANTOM (2020)
    A young wandering scholar falls in love with a vampiric demon girl, and they run afoul of both demon hunters and her evil masters. This is real fun PG horror, mixing romantic comedy silliness with Army of Darkness-style comic action. No one on the internet can agree whether this is or isn’t part of the ongoing Chinese Ghost Story franchise, but it certainly has that same over-the-top spooky-but-not-too-spooky vibe.

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  13. Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972)

    The Maestro himself has called this one of his favorites of his own movies and I can easily see why, it’s terrific despite some crazy dark subject matter. The subject at hand is child murder so it’s definitely not for everyone but it’s engrossing, unnerving, and has more on its mind than just scaring you and sending you on your merry way.

    It’s actually pretty restrained as Fulci films go, there’s some gore but nothing quite as goopy as The Beyond or Zombi. That being said there’s one particular special effect in the climax (I imagine you’ll know it when you see it) that’s so distractingly bad that it manages to wrap all the way back around to becoming nightmarish. I think this one will be sticking with me for a while.

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  14. La Pretora (1976)

    While Fulci may be known for his eye-popping horrors - and rightfully so - I wanted to celebrate his birthday by checking out another genre he covered, the commedia sexy all'italiana.

    If you're making one of those movies, you need an attractive female lead. And this movie boats perhaps the finest example of an actress in the genre, the French-born Edwige Fenech, who like Fulci also had a Sicilian mother. While she's known for her work in giallo such as The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, All the Colors of the Dark, The Case of the Bloody Iris and Strip Nude for Your Killer, Fenech also found her greatest box office success in this very Italian sex comedy genre, making appearances in movies like Ubalda, All Naked and Warm; Giovannona Long-Thigh; Poker In Bed; Confessions of a Lady Cop; The Schoolteacher and many more.

    La Pretora, which translates as My Sister In Law, stars Fenech in two roles. She's Judge Viola Orlando, a tough arbiter of the law who is feared in the Veneto regions (which includes Venice, in case you wonder where this takes place). She's made plenty of enemies, who soon learn that her sister Rosa is a woman of loose morals who appears in adult magazines. They hope to confuse her images and reputation with that of our protagonist.

    Beyond dealing with an outraged populace who can't believe that a judge could appear nude in a magazine, Viola is also dealing with her love life - or lack thereof - with her fiancee, who wishes that she was as open as her bad seed sister.

    Working from a script by husband and wife Franco Marotta and Laura Toscano(, who also wrote the original Inglorious Bastards, this movie finds Fulci not working with an unfamiliar crew, such as cinematographer Luciano Trasatti, who was the director of photography on And God Said to Cain.

    However, Fulci had plenty of experience with editor Ornella Micheli (Dracula in the Provinces, Operation St. Peter's, Don't Torture a Duckling) and would work with assistant director Roberto Giandalia on The Psychic, Zombi, Contraband, City of the Living Dead, The Black Cat, The Beyond, House by the Cemetery, The New York Ripper, Manhattan Baby and Murder Rock.

    I understand that these movies were made so that guys could ogle Edwige Fenech - seriously, there's a moment in this movie where men literally become Tex Avery wolves with their eyes bugging out so much that Fulci had to just be dying inside with the need to smash or pierce them - many don't take the time to notice just how good she is in these films, able to master comedy that transcends the time and language barrier.

    As for Fulci's work here, the movie looks great, but if only knew him from his 1979 and beyond - pun unintended - films, you may never guess that this was him. He also made another sex comedy, The Eroticist, that I want to check out. And it's pretty amazing when you think about the fact that more than a quarter of his films were comedies.

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    1. his was a watch from a few years ago. The title actually translates as the "The Magistrate", but that would probably not sound like a comedy in English. Edwige Fenech is more associated with these La Commedia Sexy films in Italy than her work in gialli. Years ago I tracked down many of Fenech's sex comedies on Youtube. They were all watched in Italian without subtitles, which I did not mind. The humor shines through the language barrier. The Inconsolable Widow Thanks All Those That Consoled Her was my favorite one.

      Yes, the men in the la commedia sexy films are not presented in flattering ways. I am sure there was at least a small level of satirical exaggeration of Italian masculinity in the sex fiends and peeping toms that populate the movies.

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    2. Yes, I've been working my way through Fenech's sex comedies and really enjoying tyhem, in spite of the language barrier!

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  15. The Black Cat (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci)

    Not quite as bonkers as I like my Fulci movies (though still pretty bonkers by other standards). Based on the Edward Allen Poe story, it's about a black cat (or cats) who are being mind-controlled and committing murders (or are the cats performing the mind-control...?). My favorite scene is when David Warbeck is standing in the middle of a street and continually attacked by one cat after another leaping onto his face and scratching him. He basically just stands there and keeps taking it! This is lower-tier Fulci for me, but still fairly enjoyable.

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  17. The New York Ripper (1983, dir. Fulci)

    Perhaps this is the late period Fulci that Patrick was discussing, and if so, I agree on how cold I was left by it. It doesn’t quite reach “Irreversible” levels of discomfort, but the graphic violence, combined with the psychosexual themes, and its aggressive misogyny put it near the top of my list of “films-I-only-need-to-see-once.” If this movie has any saving grace it is the veneer of a cheap exploitation film that serves to distance the film from being taken too seriously.

    It certainly isn’t just mindless grindhouse fodder. Fulci’s juxtaposition of eroticism with grotesque mutilation, all while showing scenes of titillated patrons gazing from theater seats is him pointing the mirror back the audience. I don’t consider myself that kind of sicko, but I did watch the whole thing and feel a little nauseous.

    I suppose my biggest beef with the movie is that every facet of it is ugly. One of the characters, Peter, is trying to console a woman being stalked by the killer and says:

    “In this country if you’re not good at something… if you’re not the best, the toughest, the smartest, that’s it. You’re screwed. You won’t get anywhere.”

    The whole film projects a vicious, nihilistic perspective. Without any sense of camp, I can’t locate enough enjoyment in the subject matter to be able even to defend it. And I don’t have any entry point into this film other than as passively dumbstruck observer.

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    1. The New York Ripper seems to be one of Fulci's most polarizing films. The film does force the viewer to have a reaction. The nihilism you bring up is one of the reasons for my appreciation of it. I can easily understand why someone would have the opposite reaction. It is an undeniably ugly film.

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  18. There is a subtitled 80-minute interview with Lucio Fulci on Youtube if anyone is interested in learning more about him. He talks about every aspect of his career in it.

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  19. Contraband- It's time for me to just admit it, after 4 years of trying Fulci just isn't for me. This is the one that I thought for sure would help me finally come around since so many people told me I would love it, but alas. Make no mistake, I'm not saying he's a bad filmmaker, I love that everybody else loves him. I'm just on the outside looking in.

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    1. I like Fucli, but, I remember not digging this one much either.

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    2. It's okay, hibachi. You sampled the man's work and gave it a shot, can't ask for more than that. 🙂😎

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  20. Murder Rock, dir Lucio Fulci, 1984

    Is Murder Rock better than Devil's Honey, nope. The New York Ripper, absoutley not, I mean there is no Sax or Toe Fucking what so ever. But there is dancing, so much dancing.

    I actually kind of liked Murder Rock.

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  21. Aenigma(1987) Dir: Lucio Fulci

    After a girl ends up in a coma following a prank she possesses a new students body to get revenge and a boyfriend. This was pretty good and while not some hidden gem I definitely enjoyed it. It played like a psychically fueled slasher with some romantic thriller elements thrown in towards the end. I need to admit I can't really compare it to Fulci's other work as I am just not familiar enough with his filmography. I will say of the films I have seen this seemed the most tame, gore wise anyways. Its on tubi.



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  22. Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984)

    Me: Wait a minute, "Battle of the Damned" is just a knock off of "Kill-Bike" with weapons and side-cars!


    Massacre Time (1966), released in the US as The Brute and the Beast in 1968

    The same year that Franco Nero starred in Django, he also starred in this Fulci directed Western, which is solid if not especially noteworthy. George Hilton maybe gives the more entertaining performance here as Nero's brother who is a bit of a drunk but still a good shot and possibly even better at hand to hand (a fun saloon fight sees him punch one guy hard enough to knock him over at least two tables). Reasonably entertaining overall.

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  23. The Beyond (1981)

    I didn't want to overthink it this year and decided to simply tackle the heavy-hitters (this one today, Zombi 2 on Zombie Day), so I can finally get this Fulci train going for real.

    I feel The Beyond has been covered here extensively enough, but I'll just add that it was every bit as creepy and gory as previously advertised. I'm not a big fan of spiders, so some scenes were easier for me to watch than others. My favorite part was probably the morgue sequence with the slow-moving bloody goo of terror, which concludes with a frozen close-up of the red-haired girl screaming her head off and then dissolves into the interior of a restaurant where the main character's sipping her wine, with a jazz band playing a laid back tune in the background. Beautiful, disconcerting stuff, just like the movie's ending itself.

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  24. THE DEVIL'S HONEY (1986)

    This is what a Lucio Fulci love story looks like.

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  25. Murder Rock: Dancing Death (1984)

    Murder mystery where girls at a dancing studio are being killed by slowly pushing a needle through their naked breasts into their heart. I found it a little dull at times, but the mystery works well, with red herrings and a surprise at the end.

    And then the dancing. So much dancing. They're wearing 1 piece suits that ride so high over the hips. So very very high. There's constant crotch shots. It's like crotch, ass, crotch, even closer crotch, ass, crotch, very zoomed onto the crotch, even more zoomed on the crotch. It was a little much.

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  26. Aenigma (1987)


    The movie is aenigmatic. Actually, not really--it's got a lot of signature Fulci, but, like a lot of his movies that weren't written by Dardano Sachetti, the scenarios just aren't as good. Totally worth the watch if you're a Fulci freak, though.

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  27. The Beyond

    An old hotel is built on a gate to hell!

    Eye trauma! Flesh eating tarantulas! That nasty bath water that I would NEVER put my hands in! Zombies! This has it all!

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    1. Seriously! I was watching like, "lady, you sure you don't want to go look for some rubber gloves before you stick your hand in this evil looking filth?"

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    2. I see water like that anywhere, I will nope out so fast!

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  28. The Beyond (1981)

    First Fulci film. I was a little lukewarm to it. The effects seemed creaky, and sort of fake-looking. The ideas for gore effects were cool, appreciated the enthusiasm for getting gross, but thought the execution was a bit off. Then I got to the last 20 minutes.

    Once the shit really hit the fan, and the main character were clearly in “hell,” the film really revved up, and got gnarly. The whole conceptual turn of the world changing, populated by the walking dead, and no physical space between any of the established location in the film really works

    Great use of New Orleans and Louisiana locations provide plenty of atmosphere. Those contacts look really damn uncomfortable though.

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    1. Bet the next time you rewatch "The Beyond" (not right away, too soon) it's gonna hit you hard. So good! :-)

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  29. The Beyond (1981) - I remember City of the Dead having some gnarly moments but I saw so many things in this movie that were NOT OKAY. The combination of the gore effects, sound, and editing were unlike must horror movies I've seen which made them all the more effective. I planned on finishing the trilogy today but will try to get to The House by the Cemetery tomorrow, instead.

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  30. Contraband

    This movie rips. Some of the craziest stunts had me rewinding to see where they cut to a dummy, but all human. When smugglers loaned their boats to the production when money ran out, they pulled off some truly crazy boat stunts. Bravo!

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