City of the Living Dead (The Gates of Hell)

I like horror movies. I always have. Not sure why, but I love 'em. I especially love a good zombie or slasher flick. Ever since I started this blog I've always wanted to spot light a few movies come October. I guess I've just been too busy to do so. This month however I plan to change that. The movies I'll share over the coming weeks aren't in any sort of order. Trying to rank them would be too hard anyhow.

We'll kick things off with a Lucio Fulci movie originally titled "The Gates of Hell" or better known to some as "The City of the Living Dead". I'll start off by saying this isn't the greatest movie I've ever seen, but there are some redeeming qualities...namely the gore. The story goes something like this. The suicide of a priest has opened the gates of hell and a reporter and a psychic try to close the gates all the while the dead have risen from their graves. Yes - it's a hokey story.  It doesn't help that the acting and script aren't that strong either. The movie was released in Italy in 1983. The DVD I own is in English, but I can't help think it was dubbed as the words and the mouths of the characters don't always seem to be in synch.

I never did understand everything that was going on in the movie - like how did the hanging death of a priest cause the gates of Hell to open? How does one close said gate? All I know is that I heard that the gore scenes were some of the best and that Lucio Fulci was a "legend" in the horror genre. I happened across the DVD years ago while at Best Buy so I thought I'd give it a try. Watch the trailer and if you have the stomach watch the other two clips. I warn you however that they aren't for the faint at heart!

Trailer

Death by drill!

CAUTION!  Click at your own risk!

This is an odd movie. It's not quite your standard zombie flick and I'm not really sure how to classify it. It is worth the watch if this type of  movie is up your alley.