Release Year: 1980
Country: Italy
Starring: Christopher George, Katherine MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Daniela Doria, Fabrizio Jovine, Luca Venantini, Michele Soavi.
Writers: Dardano Sacchetti, Lucio Fulci
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cinematographer: Sergio Salvati
Music: Fabio Frizzi
Producer: Giovanni Masini
Original Title: Paura nella citta dei morti viventi
Alternate Title: Gates of Hell
Availability: Buy it from Amazon

A priest hangs himself, an act that causes the gateway to hell to open up. I asked the question in my review of The Sect, and I will ask it again here — shouldn’t someone in a position of religious authority be keeping track of these things? How come some dopey reporter and his female companion are always the ones fighting to close the doorway to hell? What’s the Pope doing? Shouldn’t he be the one on top of this stuff?

Anyway, some woman at a seance has a premonition of the end of the world, and then she keels over dead. But she’s not quite dead, as a bumbling reporter learns while he strolls through the graveyard and hears her screaming. What? Okay, it’s cool and all, but whatever happened to, oh I don’t know, all that stuff they do to you before they bury you? Like embalming fluid. And there must be a better way to open a coffin than smashing it with a pick-ax. I mean, he damn near drives the thing into her forehead. I guess this is supposed to be suspenseful — “Will this dumb-ass split her skull while trying to rescue her?” Just calm down a little, man, then after you’ve poked some holes into the coffin to allow her to breathe, go about the whole thing more cautiously.

So she’s out of the ground now, and they soon learn that the hangin’ priest opened the door to hell in a town called Dunwich. Dunwich always has a bad turn of things. In this film, Dunwich was built on the ruins of Salem, even though Salem is still alive and kicking as a town despite the whole witch trial thing. I was there a couple years ago. It’s like Gatlinburg, but with cheesy new age stuff instead of Hillbilly Golf. But this is Fulci’s surrealistic masterpiece, so if he wants to locate his town on the ruins of a town that isn’t in ruins, then so be it.

If the reporter and his sidekick don’t get to Dunwich and close the door to hell, then on All Saint’s Eve (a few days away), the dead will rise, hell on earth, blah blah blah. So our intrepid duo valiantly mosey toward Dunwich at a leisurely pace. Yes, the world is going to end, but our heroes have plenty of time for snack breaks, getting lost, quaint tea times, and stuff like that. I don’t know. First of all, if I found out the door to hell was open in Dunwich, I’d phone the local clergy and tell them they may want to keep an eye on things. And if they didn’t believe me, I’d at least haul ass toward my destiny. I wouldn’t sit around going, “Wow, I am really hungry. Let’s stop for some lunch.” Pack a sandwich!

All sorts of strange things are happening in Dunwich, each one gloriously depicted by the requisite Fulci gore effects. A woman barfs up her entire intestinal tract; a guy gets a power drill through the mouth; and decaying zombies are popping up all over the place to squish people’s brains, as these people apparently do not have skulls.

This movie is a foley artist’s dream. In one scene, Fulci goes to great lengths to create an eerie mood in which we know zombies and ghoulies are lurking in the shadows. And then, out of nowhere, comes the terrifying sound of … chattering monkeys? Those dreaded New England monkeys. Add to that the fact that the movie is filled with squeaking, chattering worms, and you have a sound effects circus going on. The guttural growls of the living dead are quite cool, but come on, Lucio — squeaking worms?

Now some people have defended this by claiming it is an example of Fulci’s surrealism, of his desire to show that all reality was coming unglued. Others have said there was probably just a zoo nearby. I tend to think that some post-production moron made a really stupid decision, and by the time everything was said and done, it was too late to take the monkeys out. Either way, it’s really a minor thing that provides a momentary chuckle, ruins a little tension, but is recovered from quickly. The finale in the underground crypt is one of Fulci’s most effective and chilling. When he hits his stride with imagery, he’s really quite talented. Too bad it takes more than that to make a great film, but what the hell? He gets by.

Then there’s the controversial ending. Did some footage get lost? Maybe Fulci wanted us “to think about it.” Maybe someone lost some film. Who knows? Either way, if you shut this film off after the showdown in the crypt, you have yourself a fine ending. If you watch the last minute…what a stupid way to end an otherwise cool movie. I guess it’s still better than City of the Walking Dead’s “The dream becomes reality!” ending.

Despite its short-comings, this is one of my favorite Fulci films. It’s moody, tense, gory, and even scary in some parts. The characters are not very interesting, but they are better than most Fulci characters, and the annoying little kid has minimal screen-time. But best of all, it lacks one of the most famous of Fulci’s trademarks — long, boring stretches in which nothing happens.