CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980)
Label: Cauldron Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 92 Minutes 4 Seconds
Audio: English 24-bit DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0, Italian 24-bit DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cast: Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Daniela Doria, Fabrizio Jovine, Luca Venantini, Michele Soavi, Venantino Venantini, Enzo D'Ausilio, Adelaide Aste, Luciano Rossi, Robert Sampson, Janet Agren
City of the Living Dead (1980), or The Gates of Hell as it was titles here in the U.S., is the first film in the unofficial Gates of Hell Trilogy from Italian master of atmospheric gore Lucio Fulci. It kicks off with a depressed priest named Father Thomas (Fabrizio Jovine) wandering around a fog-shrouded cemetery in Dunwich, New England, where he throws a rope up over a branch of a tree and hangs himself. Simultaneously, a psychic named Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl, The Beyond) is holding a séance in NYC, while in a spiritual trance she bares witness to the priest's suicide and apparently dies of fright right there on the spot. While she is later being buried at the cemetery she wakes up locked inside the coffin, but she is rescued by intrepid reporter Peter Bell (Christopher George, Pieces) who is at the cemetery looking for leads about her mysterious death. After hearing her screams he takes a pickaxe to the lid of the yet to be buried coffin, splintering it, and nearly gouging the woman's eye out in the process - Fulci loves his eye-gore!
Afterward the pair team-up, she tells the skeptical reporter about the priest's suicide on consecrated ground, and her premonition that the act has somehow unlocked the Gates of Hell, and if they do not find the priest's tomb and somehow close the gate by All Saint's Day the barrier
between the worlds will fall and the undead will swarm the Earth. Arriving in Dunwich the cop/psychic duo meet and team-up with another couple, Gerry (Carlo de Mejo, The House By The Cemetery) and his friend Sandra (Janet Agren, Eaten Alive!) who join in on stopping the end-of-days shenanigans.
That's the basic outline, but in typical Fulci fashion when he was in gore-mode what transpires onscreen might not make a lot of sense, but it is well-executed with loads of creepy Lovecraftian adjacent vibes and some remarkable gore-gags that have made this slice of phantasmagorical nightmare fuel such a beloved flick. Fulci’s full-tilt gorefest features the hanging priest who aftre his death has an uncanny knack for appearing all over the place, he's a bit of a portent of doom throughout the film. At one point he interrupts a pair of lovers (one of them Michele Soavi, director of Cemetery Man) who are making it out in a vehicle, after seeing the priest the woman begins to bleed from their eyes before vomiting her intestines up, it's a scene that will have you reaching for the antacid for sure, especially when you know that the actress was such a sport and put real animal intestines in her mouth to make the shot work! The priest then appears in the backseat of the car and crushing her beau's skull with a single-hand, his brains oozing out of the wound like someone squeezing playdoh between their fingers. A later scene involves a father who seems to have been influenced by the encroaching darkness to turn unusually murderess, he goes after a guy (Lombardo Radice, Cannibal Ferox) who's been hanging around his daughter, he tackles him in his garage and holds the guy's head down while slowly, very slowly, using a drill press to drill a hole in his skull, which we see go in one side of his head and out the other. It feels a bit like the eye-splinter scene from Fulci's Zombie, and it expertly achieved onscreen, bloody and grotesque, just the way I like my Fulci flicks. There are also a myriad of bonkers happenings that defy logic, these include a hurricane maggot-storm that appears out of nowhere (and looks to have been very uncomfortable to film for the actors), walls that bleed, and a subterranean finale that features the flaming undead, teleporting zombies, maggot riddled corpses, and a cracked-screen freeze-frame finale that might have you either screaming "WTF!?!" or "fuck yeah!", I'm absolutely in the latter category, this is a Fulci classic, and depending on what day it is, the best in the trilogy.
As with all of his Gates of Hell trilogy flicks Fulci had a great team behind him with City of the Living Dead; we have a terrific main cast by way of MacColl and George, plus legendary Italian screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti (Demons) scripting it, moody cinematography by Sergio Salvati (The Black Cat), gut-spewing special effects by Gino De Rossi (Zombie) and a eerie soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi (Contraband) - on a technical level the film is firing all all four cylinder - it looks and sounds great, and the gore is off the charts. I love this wild phantasmagorical Fulci flick, it doesn't make a lot of sense as it moves along, but we do get plenty of regurgitated guts and oozing brains so who cares, I get proper narrative storytelling and things that make sense from other films, I am watching a Lucio Fulci flick, I don't need it to make sense, I need it to make a visceral impression - and boy howdy dos this one make an impression, and then some!
Audio/Video: City of the Living Dead (1980) is Cauldron Films first venture into 4K Ultra HD, presenting Fulci's intestine-vomiting classic in 2160p UHD in the original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ration with the added benefit of Dolby Vision (HDR10) WCG color-grading. This flick has always had a diffused look with course grain and that holds true here, but the image is more stable and the grain is better managed, offering nicely textured and filmic presentation that benefits from the the 4K resolution, easily surpassing the Blu-rays from Arrow and Blue Underground with it's film like textures, and it's a tad darker than the Arrow Blu-ray which at time felt a bit too bright by comparison. The WCG Dolby Vision HDR color-grading offers tastefully vivid primaries but doesn't overdo it, the gut-spewing gore and blood hemorrhaging from eyeballs looks splendid throughout, with deep, dark black levels with excellent shadow detail and contrast.
Audio comes by way of both English or Italian 24-bit DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. Both tracks are post-dubbed as was the style for these Italian films so it really comes down to preference, I prefer the English track as that is how I have always watched the film. Both tracks are clean and mostly free of any hiss or distortions, the English rack has some minor sibilance but it never reaches a level that proved bothersome, dialogue sounds great and the fantastic Fabio Frizzi score if full-bodied.
Onto the extras, oh boy, so many! Cauldron license most of the extras from past edition from what I can tell, we get get four commentaries, three from past releases and a new exclusive Audio Commentary with with film historian Samm Deighan. All four commentaries are presented on both the region-free 4K Ultra HD and accompanying region-A locked Blu-ray. Having all of these commentaries on one release is terrific, the track with Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth, author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films, was exclusive to the Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray from 2020 which I never upgraded to having already owned the Blue Underground and Arrow releases, but these guys are two of my favorite commentators, and the track rocks.
All other extras are presented on a third bonus features disc that is stacked with new and archival bonus junk that is sure to please fans both new and old with over three hours of extras! The only new extra is the 5-min A Trip Through Bonaventure Cemetery (2022) which is a cool tour through the cemetery where it's said that certain scenes where shot. The archival stuff is awesome, we have an Intro from Catriona MacColl, interviews with special effects artist extraordinaire Gino De Rossi, production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng, actors Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Carlo De Mejo; film festival Q&As with Venantino Venantini & Ruggero Deodato, Catriona MacColl, and Fabio Frizzi. Another great add-on are a collection of Archival Interviews with cast and crew from Paura, Lucio Fulci Remembered Vol. 1 doc (2008) that relate to City of the Living Dead, 43-minutes of interviews with Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Luca Venantini, Fabrizio Jovine, Venantino Venantini, Michel Soavi, Dardano Sacchetti, Massimo Antonello Geleng, Gino De Rossi, Rosario Prestopino, Fabio Frizzi and Sergio Salvati, all terrific stuff.
The disc extras are buttoned-up with a selection of Trailers for the film and an image gallery. Tucked away on disc three are two Easter Eggs, we get the VHS Version of the film The Gates of Hell (92 min) in standard-def, which is a fun way to revisit the VHS glory days, and probably how most of us discovered this gem, plus images from Christopher George’s spread for Playgirl when he was Playgirl’s Man for June 1974 - what a stud!
This 3-disc (1 UHD/2 BD) standard Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray set arrives in a black Elite keepcase with a flipper tray housing the discs inside. The reversible artwork by artist Matthew Therrien looks terrific, both sides, though I prefer the B-side with an eye-bleeding image of MacColl. I love how large the lettering is on the spine, it has very nice shelf appeal. I actually like the spine a bit more here than the limited edition set, not because of the color change, it all comes down to the font and I like how the "of" sits atop the "the" on the standard version, it just looks cooler IMO.
What you do not get with this standard release version that you would have with the LE set is a very cool embossed slipcase, reversible artwork with the original The Gates of Hell VHS reverse artwork, a set of stickers, and the CD Soundtrack featuring the 17-song Fabio Frizzi score, which came in it's own separate embossed cardboard sleeve adorned with three panels of original movie poster artwork with both the English and Italian titles, and a Double-Sided Fold-Out Poster. The three discs on this standard release version mirror the same feature and extras as the LE set, so you're not missing out on anything disc wise others than the CD soundtrack - but just the same I am glad I ordered the LE set, the soundtrack is awesome!
Even if you missed out on the 4-disc limited Edition set this 3-disc standard release version is still quite a wonderful release, and easily the best this Fulci gore-fest has ever looked in home video. Now, if you own this on previous Blu-rays from Arrow, Blue Underground or Scorpion Releasing there are exclusive extras on all those sets that are not present here. I am a bonus junk junkie so I am hanging onto the other versions, but when it comes down to which version I will re-watch, this UHD is going to be my go-to release - it looks fantastic.
Special Features:
Disc 1: 4K UHD
- Seamless branching - watch in English Language w/ English credit sequences and watch Italian language w/ Italian credit sequences.
- NEW! Audio Commentary with film historian Samm Deighan
- Archival Audio Commentary with film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson
- Archival Audio Commentary with actress Catriona MacColl moderated by Jay Slater
Archival Audio Commentary with actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice moderated by Calum Waddell
Disc 2: Blu-ray
- Seamless branching - watch in English Language w/ English credit sequences and watch Italian language w/ Italian credit sequences.
- NEW! Audio Commentary with film historian Samm Deighan
- Archival Audio Commentary with film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson
- Archival Audio Commentary with actress Catriona MacColl moderated by Jay Slater
- Archival Audio Commentary with actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice moderated by Calum Waddell
Disc 3: Blu-ray - Special Features- Zombie Kings: Interview with Massimo Antonello Geleng (2017) (46 min) HD
- Requiem for Bob: Interview with Giovanni Lombardo Radice (2017) (28 min) HD
- On Stage: Q&A with Venantino Venantini & Ruggero Deodato (2017) (46 min) HD
- Catriona MacColl Q&A (2010) (20 min) HD
- Music for a Flesh Feast Fabio Frizzi Q&A (2012) (29 min)
- The Meat Munching Movies of Gino De Rossi (26 min) HD
- Carlo of the Living Dead, an archival interview with actor Carlo De Mejo (18 min) HD
- NEW! A Trip Through Bonaventure Cemetery (2022)(5 min)
- Catriona Maccoll video Intro (2001) (5 min)
- Archival Interviews with cast and crew from Paura, Lucio Fulci Remembered Vol. 1 (43 min)
- Image Gallery (9 min)
- Image Gallery (9 min)
- Trailers (7 min)
- Easter Egg: VHS version of The Gates of Hell (92 min) HD )
- Easter Egg: Christopher George’s spread for Playgirl (7 Images) (3 min) HD
- Double sided Blu-ray wrap with artwork by Matthew Therrien
The cheapest I have seen this 3-disc set is from https://diabolikdvd.com/ or direct from https://www.cauldron-films.com/ - where it's currently on sale for $39.99, nearly $20 cheaper than Amazon
Screenshots from the Cauldron Films Blu-ray:
