Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 & 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Simone Scafidi
Cast: Fabio Frizzi, Sergio Salvati, Paolo Malco, Michele Soav, Antonella Fulci, Camilla Fulci, Enrico Vanzina
Lucio Fulci docu-drama Fulci For Fake (2019) opens on an interesting note, with a made-up actor named Nicola Nocella who has been cast to play Lucio Fulci in a film biopic about the infamous Italian director. He's method in his ways and decides that he must steep himself in the ways of the Italian 'Godfather of Gore', which he sets about doing by deep-diving into the director's films and by setting up a series of interviews with those who knew him best during his lifetime. This device is the gateway by which we come into the interviews with composer Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead), writer Enrico Vanzina (Nothing Underneath), cinematographer Sergio Salvati (The Psychic, Zombie), former actor/assistant Michele Soavi (Stage Fright), actor Paolo Malco (The New York Ripper), and for the first and final time, we have both of the director's daughters Camilla Fulci, and the late Antonella who passed away last year.
The novel set-up of the actor tasked with playing Fulci offers some cool opening moments of the actor dressed like Fulci as he appeared during the making of Cat In The Brain wearing a long-sleeved flannel plaid shirt. That there's no real pay-off for this bit of business is a bit of a let down, we just have that actor going on to interview the participants in the documentary, and while the interviews are actually quite good, that this intriguing element does not pan out along the way made me wonder what it was all for? The interviews themselves are very good, with his friends, collaborators and daughters shedding light on the personal stories behind the controversial filmmaker. We get some great tales about working with Fulci on many of his films, from his early work in musicals and comedies, to the sexy gialli, and of course his iconic run of gory films that earned him the title of 'Maestro of Gore', and there's even some candid discussion of his later era stuff like Aenigma (1987), and Zombie 3 (1988), and Demonia (1990) which were not as great, but still had their shining moments. There's plenty of that and more, but the best stuff coming from his longtime collaborators are not about Fulci the director, but about Fulci their difficult friend.
The doc is also notable for having contributions from both of Fulci's daughters, the late Antonella and Camilla Fulci, it's through them that the doc gets to the meat of the man, not so much the behind the camera, but as the father figure. Antonella paints a much warmer picture of her father, whom she worked with on several films. She touches on his biting sense of humor, which extended to what I would think would have been devastating comments to his own daughter, of how she was stunning from the waist up, but with legs like a table, meaning he though she had no ankles. She also touches on the horse riding accident that left her briefly unable to walk, and of her later crippling illness. She even gets into the tragic suicide of her mother and of Fulci's heart ailments, and how he was infected with Hepatitis during a blood transfusion, and his eventual death. Her sister Antonella paints a much harsher image of her father as someone who was a hard man to please and who resented not having a son to give his legacy to, painfully noting how he lavished the attention she craved as his daughter on a nephew in the family. It's quite emotional, their dichotomous views helping paint an intimate picture of the director, giving me a new appreciation and insight into not only the man behind the lens of some of my favorite horror films but also of the man as a father and friend.
I do wish the actor-playing-Fulci thing would have paid off more but I really dig the doc overall, it got down to the bone of the man in a way that I have never seen him portrayed before, but still manages to somehow keep the mystique of Fulci. I also wish we had gotten some clips of his actual films, I don't think there was a single clip in the who documentary, which felt strange. I am assuming this is a right issue perhaps, whatever the reason for them not being here it was noted during my viewing, but not ruinous, and we get plenty of great audio and video recordings of Fulci, and a wealth of vintage pictures of him at home and at work behind the camera.
Audio/Video: Fulci For Fake (2019) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1, the film was shot digitally and the image looks sharp with good colors and black levels. Audio comes by way of both 2.0 and 5.1 Italian DTS-HD MA with optional English subtitles, and being a documentary and dialogue-centric there's not a lot of surround action but the dialogue is clean and precise throughout.
Extras begin with a 23-minute interview with director Simone Scafidi whom speaks of both the honor and difficult obligation of making a Fulci documentary, pointing out that it's not meant to be an exhaustive biopic of the director, but something a bit more esoteric. He also speaks of seeking out Fulci's films in his youth, his love for his work, as well as setting up the interviews for the documentary. There are also 18-minutes of interviews with the crew, including producer Giada Mazzoleni of Paguro Films, co-producer Claudio Rossoni and sound designer Dino Gervasoni who get into what specifically they're jobs entailed in the making of this documentary.
One of my favorite extras is the 'Camilla Fulci Uncut', advertised as the first and only video interview with Lucio Fulci’s daughter, this is the raw unedited interview footage from the documentary , and it's quite wonderful, detailing her life with her father, what it was like working with him, and growing up with him as a father. It's a fascinating watch as she explored her memories while offering a very personal insight, stuff that I as a Fulci fan have not heard a lot about.
In the 46-minute 'Lucio Fulci & Friends' we get a wealth of interview outtakes with Sergio Salvati, Fabio Frizzi, Paolo Malco, Michele Soavi and Enrico Vanzina which dives further into their recollections of Fulci, the best stuff was used in the doc but if you finish watching it and are craving more tales of the director this will have you covered.
Fulci biographer Michele Romagnoli shows up in the 23-minute 'The Eye Of The Witness', telling of how he was a big admirer of Fulci before ever meeting him, and how he arranged to initially meet the director, and how that meeting developed into a friendly relationship with Fulci that lead to him writing the biography.
The sixteen-minute 'Looking For Lucio' is a collection of rare 8mm home movies from Fulci’s private life and on location scouts, with running audio commentary by Michael Romagnoli and archival audio of Lucio Fulci, with some cool footage of Fulci in the set of White Fang and doing location scouts for Zombie (1979) in New York City. More behind-the-scenes footage can be found on the 10-minute 'Demonia Backstage' which is VHS footage of the director on the set of Demonia (1990) in which we get to see certain scenes being set-up.
The 23-minute 'Lucio Fulci’s Audio Tapes' are highlights from conversations between Lucio Fulci and Michael Romagnoli that he recorded while preparing to write Fulci’s memoir. It's an interesting series of conversations with Fulci commenting on Cat In The Brain and his legacy with some fun anecdotes being told, it can sound a bit rough at times but if you're a fan it is well worth listening to. The disc is buttoned-up with the self explanatory 'Zombie Parade at the Venice Film Festival' that runs short of two-minutes, and a two-minute trailer for the documentary. The single-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, that same artwork is mirrored on the disc.
Special Features:
- Interview with Director Simone Scafidi (23 min)
- Crew Interviews with Producer Giada Mazzoleni of Paguro Films, Co-Producer Claudio Rossoni and Sound Designer Dino Gervasoni (18 min)
- Camilla Fulci Uncut: The first and only video interview with Lucio Fulci’s daughter (72 min)
- Lucio Fulci & Friends: Interview outtakes with Sergio Salvati, Fabio Frizzi, Paolo Malco, Michele Soavi and Enrico Vanzina (46 min)
- The Eye Of The Witness: Biographer Michele Romagnoli recalls his relationship with the director (23 min)
- Looking For Lucio: Rare home movies from Fulci’s private life and location scouts, with accompanying commentary by Michael Romagnoli and Lucio Fulci (16 min)
- Lucio Fulci’s Audio Tapes: Audio highlights from conversations between Lucio Fulci and Michael Romagnoli for the writing of Fulci’s memoir (23 min)
- Demonia Backstage (10 min)
- Zombie Parade at the Venice Film Festival (2 min)
- Trailer ( 2 min)
I thoroughly enjoyed the Fulci For Fake doc, while it was something different than what I had expected and didn't follow throughout on it's own novel framing device, the interviews, particularly those with Fulci's daughters, expose Fulci in a way that has not been seen before. As a Fulci fan I absolutely loved hearing these personal accounts of what it was like living in the shadow of an often difficult Italian film titan, it made for an engrossing watch from start to finish.
Buy it from the good guys at Grindhouse Video for $19.99 or from Diabolik for $22.99, or from the Amazon link at the bottom of the review.
More screenshots from the Blu-ray:
Extras:
