Profile of Lucio Fulci on Famous Like Me

Lucio Fulci (born June 17, 1927 in Rome, Italy - died March 13, 1996 in Rome, Italy (diabetes-related illness)) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor.

After studying medicine, he opted for a film career, working in a wide variety of genres in Italy. In the early 1970s he moved into the thriller arena, directing giallo films that were both commercially successful and controversial in their depiction of violence and religion.

In 1979 he achieved his international breakthrough with Zombi II, an excessively bloody zombie film made to cash in on the popularity of Dawn of the Dead (1978), released in Italy as Zombi (it is not connected in any meaningful way to the George Romero series). He followed up with several classic tales of horror and the supernatural, many also featuring zombies, which are widely regarded as some of the goriest films ever made. The nightmarish City of the Living Dead (1980), The House by the Cemetery (1981), and The New York Ripper (1982) are considered milestones of on-screen blood and cruelty.

ZOMBIE (1979) - A reporter and his beautiful female partner travel to an island in the Caribbean after a policeman in New York City is killed by a zombie on a deserted boat. The reporter is determined to find the source of the zombie attack. A mysterious epidemic is killing off residents of the island, and it's not long before the zombies are taking over the island...and the streets of New York City.

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980) - A priest in the New England town of Dunwich commits suicide on the verge of All Souls Eve, causing the dead to come out of their tombs as flesh-eating zombies. Now a reporter and a psychic must kill the priest, who is also a zombie, to save Dunwich from an invasion by the undead. A scene showing a man's head being perforated by a power drill caused howls of protest from British censors, and the movie was not released on video in the UK for several years.

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981) - A college professor and his family move from their upscale house in New York City to a more traditional old house in New England. Only problem? The house was the scene of a brutal murder during the 19th century, and the killer is still bumping off victims to keep himself alive.

THE BEYOND (1981) - A woman opens a hotel in New Orleans over one of the seven gates of hell, triggering a zombie invasion. Many people consider this Fulci's masterpiece. With scenes involving crucifixion, acid poured onto faces and flesh-eating tarantulas, it's easy to see why.

Fulci's films were so graphic and shocking that many of them were given an X-rating in the US, meaning they couldn't be seen by anyone under the age of 17.

At his peak his fame and popularity was on a par with that of his Italian contemporary Dario Argento, with whom he coloborated on the 1997 film Wax Mask before his untimely death. His films remained generally dismissed by the mainstream, who regarded his work as pure exploitation, but he was immediately embraced by horror fans, and later much of his work began to be re-appraised as pioneering works of art.

The period from the mid-1980s onwards was less successful for Fulci, suffering from personal and health problems, and marking a decline in the quality of his work. His death in 1996 is clouded in mystery: he did not take his insulin to treat his diabetes and died that night. Some suggest this was a deliberate suicide.

Filmography

• Door to Silence (1991)
• Voices From Beyond (1991)
• A Cat in the Brain (1990)
  • aka Nightmare Concert (1990)
• Demonia (1990)
• The House of Clocks (1989) (made for Italian TV)
• The Sweet House of Horrors (1989) (made for Italian TV)
• Sodoma's Ghost (1988)
  • aka The Ghosts of Sodom (1988)
• When Alice Broke the Mirror (1988)
  • aka Touch of Death (1988)
• Zombi III (1988)
• Aenigma (1987)
• The Devil's Honey (1986)
  • aka Dangerous Obsession (1986)
• Murder-Rock, Dancing Death (1984)
• I guerrieri dell'anno 2072 (1984)
  • aka The New Gladiators (1984)
  • aka Rome 2033 - The Fighter Centurions (1984)
• Conquest (1983)
• Manhattan Baby (1982)
• The New York Ripper (1982)
• The House by the Cemetery (1981)
• The Beyond (1981)
• The Black Cat (1981)
• City of the Living Dead (1980)
  • aka The Gates of Hell (1980)
• Contraband (1980)
  • aka The Naples Connection (1980)
• Zombi II (1979)
  • aka Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)
  • aka Zombie (1979)
• Silver Saddle (1978)
• Seven Notes in Black (1977)
  • aka The Psychic (1977)
• La pretora (1976)
• Il cavaliere Costante Nicosia demoniaco... ovvero Dracula in Brianza (1975)
  • aka Young Dracula (1975)
  • aka Dracula in the Provinces (1975)
• The Four of the Apocalypse (1975)
• The Challenge to White Fang (1974)
• White Fang (1973)
• Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)
• All'onorevole piacciono le donne - Nonostante le apparenze e purche la Nazione non lo sappa... (1972)
  • aka The Eroticist (1972)
• A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)
• Beatrice Cenci (1969)
  • aka The Conspiracy of Torture (1969)
• One on Top of the Other (1969)
• Operazione San Pietro (1967)
• Il lungo, il corton, il gatto (The Long, the short, and the Cat) (1967)
• Come rubammo la bomba atomica (How We Stole the Atomic Bomb) (1967)
• Le colte cantarono a morte e fu... tempo di massacro (1966)
  • aka Massacre Time (1966)
• Come svaligiammo la Banca d'Italia (How We Robbed the Bank of Italy) (1966)
• I due para (The Two Parachutists) (1965)
• 002 operazion Luna (002 Operation Moon) (1965)
• Come inguaiammo l'esercito (How We Got into Trouble with the Army) (1965)
• I due pericoli pubblici (Two Public Enemies) (1964)
• 002 agenti segretissimi (00-2 Most Secret Agents) (1964)
• I due evasi di Sing Sing (Two Escape from Sing Sing) (1964)
• I maniaci (The Maniacs) (1964)
• Gli imbroglioni (The Swindlers) (1963)
• Uno strango tipo (A Strange Type) (1963)
• Le massaggiatrici (The Masseuses) (1962)
• I due della legione (Those Two in the Legion) (1962)
• Colopo gobbo all'italiana (Hunchback Italian Style) (1962)
• Urlatori alla sbarra (Howlers in the Dock) (1960)
• I ragazzi del juke box (Jukebox Boys) (1959)
• I ladri (The Thieves) (1959)

External Links

• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Lucio Fulci