VIDEO REVIEW: Day of the Animals

VIDEO REVIEW: City Of The Living Dead

REVIEW: City of the Living Dead

City of the Living Dead
Director: Lucio Fulci
Year 1980
 
City of the Living Dead is an atmospheric zombie film brought to us by Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci. While wholly unorthodox, the movie has one of the most oppressive atmospheres of the genre, placing the viewer smack dab in the middle of a surreal nightmare where hell is threatening to break loose and seemingly does. With Fulci’s trademark splatter effects and his pension for creating a dreamlike tone for his films, this strange zombie opus is one you won’t soon forget.
 
The film begins in a small mysterious town of Dunwich, where a priest commits suicide by hanging himself from a tree. This disturbing act opens the gates of hell, turning this normally quite town into a feasting ground for the living dead. Plagued by a vision of the dying priest, young psychic Mary Woodhouse, teams up with a New York City reporter, Peter Bell, as they travel to the town of Dunwich in order to stop, what Mary possibly believes, to be the end of the world. The dead shall rise and walk the earth and we have front row seats for the zombie apocalypse. Thank you Fulci!

Catriona MacColl plays the role of Mary Woodhouse, the psychic who is literally, yet temporarily, struck dead after having a horrible vision of a priest committing suicide. MacColl is no stranger to fans of Lucio Fulci, seeing that she has played key roles in two other films of the Italian filmmaker’s; The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery. With City of the Living Dead being her first foray into the dark and disturbing world of Fulci, Catriona does an amazing job in rolling with the strange structure of the narrative and reacting quite realistically to the ungodly sights that quite often come into contact with her character. Lucio seems to revel in putting his actors and actresses through hell, and MacColl seems to have the grapes to take anything the twisted director can throw at her, resulting in three strong female characters that are just masterfully performed by the talented actress.
 
Playing her partner in crime is Christopher George as New York City reporter Peter Bell. Another virgin in Fulci territory, George pulls off the roll of the smarmy and wise cracking reporter with a good deal of cheese, showing us that award winning smart ass smile of his that he just loves to show off in the long list of genre efforts that he’s managed to pile up over the course of his career. I’ve always got a kick out of George and enjoyed his various contributions to the horror genre as a whole and City of the Living Dead is no exception. His performances in Pieces, Day of the Animals and Grizzly, are legendary among my circle of friends, and in this film he succeeds in bringing that same charm and watchability that he’s known for.

As for the film itself, it is something of an oddity, relying heavily on its tremendously established atmosphere to set the tone and feel of the movie. The story overall seems random, placing us back and forth between various groups of characters as they experience the horrors of living in a town that now serves as the opening to hell, but it’s through these characters’ experiences that we are visually told on what is going on. With every strange occurrence and morbid sequence, the atmosphere of the film becomes more and more overwhelming, until we are saturated in this disgusting sequence of events and vividly given the impression of the dire situation that the world now faces if something isn’t done soon about this rift in our world. It’s quite an accomplishment to be able to convey these types of feelings, without really presenting the film with a structured narrative for the audience to follow, but Lucio Fulci’s horror movies never pay too much attention to the conventions of the genre. Instead, Fulci enjoys throwing the viewer right into the fray and allowing them to swim head deep into a surreal world where nothing is as it seems. The result of this technique is nothing short of brilliant, giving way to a vibrant cinema world that is truly unsettling.
 
The aspects of Fulci’s films that add even more to the unsettling tone of his stories are the outrageously gory moments that he splatters throughout these surreal gems. With City of the Living Dead, we are gifted a truly disgusting series of effects driven wonders, particularly when a young woman begins dripping blood from her eyes and then vomits up her insides in one gore producing mess. Now that is excellently disgusting! With that horrific ordeal recorded, we also are given some nasty kills provided by the strangely teleporting zombies of the flick. In a great number of scenes, the zombies choose to sneak up on their victims and then proceed to rip out the back of their skull and yank a piece of brain out, squishing it like a rotten piece of fruit. Now that’s gotta hurt! Another one of Fulci’s trademark calling cards is put to the test when a window bursts open and begins pouring a huge mass of maggots onto the ensemble cast, as they try desperately to avoid the shitstorm of creepy crawlers. It’s one of those WTF moments, but in a Fulci movie it is an everyday occurrence. If there is one thing to be said for City of the Living Dead, it is that it’s one grotesquely surreal and absolutely nasty zombie film, done just the way I like it.

City of the Living Dead is as bizarre as a zombie film can get and when you add that to the fact that Lucio Fulci is behind the lens, then you’ve got yourself one demented undead smorgasbord. From the very start of the film, we are witness to a priest hanging himself, and in the process, unleashing the gates of hell onto the world, setting the film down a twisted and winding path that never leads to a safe haven for the viewer. The movie is saturated in doom, never lifting the tone for a second and relishing in every macabre filled moment of it.

 
The cast gives a superb effort with the tough situation that they are presented with by their unorthodox director, and both Catriona MacColl and Christopher George especially do a tremendous job in helping us figure out the story behind this mysterious apocalyptic event. The level of gore and grotesquely shot moments are abundantly present and the quality to these memorable chunks of movie gold are off the richter scale, showing that tried and true staple of excellence that Italian splatter cinema is famous for. If you’re in the mood for something truly bizarre and you fancy yourself a zombie movie lover, then get your ass a copy of City of the Living Dead, because that Lucio Fulci is one sick, gore loving bastard. This film is……

Hang in there buddy.

She really is scared shitless.

Getting buried alive kind of sucks.

These aren't tears of joy.

Christopher George, you are one cool bastard.

Why is this guy always hanging around the set?

We even get a little zombie peeping tom action. Undead pervert!

We're going to paint some happy little trees right next to this creepy little rhino.

I wouldn't go in that house if I was you.

I've got six little friends and they can all run faster then you.

Christopher George does his best Dirty Harry impersonation.

Dude... your town is a piece of shit. Tell him how it is George.

It's a maggot SHITSTORM!!!!

I think you've got something on your face.... maybe?

These actors are literally scared out of their damned minds.

The inspiration for Drowning Pool's "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor".

I think Christopher just shit his pants.

See you bastards in The Beyond.

SLASHER SATURDAY: Pieces

Pieces
Director: Juan Piquer Simon
Year 1982

Pieces is one of the most enjoyable films I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, not because of it's fine qualities, which the film does have, but because of the entertaining characters and the stupid choices they make. This is one of those films you really have to see with a group of friends, because with my circle of friends this film has become the thing of legends.

The film starts out in the 1940's, with a young boy putting together a puzzle of a naked girl. His mom busts in on this fun past time and bitch slaps him a couple of times to teach him a lesson. Well the lesson wasn't understood by the kid and he proceeds to chop up his mom with a large ax. When the cops arrive at the scene they mistaken the boy for a victim and put him into foster care, hopefully with enough sleazy puzzles to keep his insane mind occupied enough to not chop up more people. We then flash forward to 1983 at a college campus in Boston, Massachusetts, where a now grown psycho begins starting a killing spree in the otherwise peaceful university.



The rage of a young pervert is frightening. Don't mess with his nudie puzzles.

The effects in this film are gorishly frightening and deliciously sleazy in that italian slasher, giallo sense. They spare no expense for the flowing of blood and each kill is graphically displayed like a proud kid showing his first place spelling bee trophy. It may be crude and somewhat excessive to form, but for me the gore effects work and are quite well done for this time period and budget. There's nothing like seeing a headless body of some poor woman just basking in the afternoon sun. Goretastic! 

This woman was having such a nice time in the park that she lost her head.

Once the killings start to happen, the university calls on the intuitive skills of Detective Bracken, played by the great Christopher George. Christopher is no stranger to the obscure genre of horror and has starred in many classic flicks like Grizzly, Day of the Animals, and Lucio Fulci's City of the Living Dead, so he's somewhat of a veteran in this field. He brings a kind of swagger to his role as detective and always seems to have the answers even though he has to later enlist a young college student to help him solve the crimes. 

Christopher George is one smug son of a bitch.

As Detective Bracken searches for the identity of the person behind the murders, we are given glimpses of a few suspects that continue to show up in this baffling case. One of our main red herrings is in the form of Popeye's arch enemy Bluto and campus gardener Willard, otherwise known as Paul Smith. He keeps showing up after each one of the murders with a suspicious look on his face, the sneaky bastard. Then there's the dean of the school, played by Edmund Purdom, who seems rather put off by the reputation of the school being compromised by these grizzly murders and doesn't seemed concerned in the slightest about the well being of the other students on campus. Both of these guys are prime suspects, but there still isn't any shred of evidence to place any of them at the scene of the crime.

Bluto says, Dean you are a stupid head.

What really makes this film the ridiculous and marvelous spectacle that it is, is the introduction to one of the most annoying yet cool as shit dudes, Kendall, played by the luckiest actor in the entire world, Ian Sera. This guy is the biggest dork I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, yet he is with a different woman each scene he appears in. How this guy gets the amount of tail he gets in this film, is mind boggling and it doesn't help matters either that he has a curly headed perm and a shit eating grin glued on his face 24 hours a day. In this bizarre world the film is set in, Kendall becomes an intricate part of the ongoing investigation, even getting deputized by Detective Bracken later on in the film. It's madness yet it's so damn entertaining you can't look away.

Jesus christ, look at this guy!

The moments when Willard the gardener is caught multiple times, at the scene of the crime are just hilarious in their ludicrousness. In one of the most outrageous displays of red herringdom, Willard is seen standing by a bloody chainsaw, with blood all over his hands, and a suspicious looking grin as if saying, "Yeah I'm the killer, big woop." To make his case even worse, he fights off the police when they arrive at the scene, making him look like a mad lunatic as he throws them through doors and hulks out better then the legendary Hulk Hogan himself. When we find that he couldn't have possibly committed those crimes because he was somewhere else, the audience is given a big, "What the fuck was this whole set up of Bluto being the killer for!" If it wasn't so hilarious and enjoyable to watch I would have been pretty pissed off, but to me that is what the charm of the film is all about. It doesn't make a lick of sense and I love it for that. Plus how can I stay mad at a face like Willard's.

Just look at that suspicious expression! How are we not
supposed to suspect this guy of committing the murders.

He practically has it stapled on his large forehead!

Ok, now back to the deputizing of Kendall. For some reason, Detective Bracken has a good feeling about Kendall and doesn't suspect him of being the killer even though he's been spotted at the scene of the crime each time the killer slices up one of his victims. Bracken even goes as far as vouching for Kendall's innocence when one of his colleagues wisely mentions Kendall being a prime suspect. The detective spouts these lines of Kendall being a bright kid and the apple of his eye, or some shit like that, and deputizes him making him his partner on this case. Every time Bracken and the rest of the police force are stuck on what do to next, they give Kendall a call, and miraculously he knows what to do. I'd be crying over this horrible plot in the film if I wasn't laughing my ass off over how absurd the notion really is. These moments of Kendall praising by Detective Bracken always bring to mind the line, "Quick get Kendall", as if that silly line was this films answer to "What Would Jesus Do?" The guy is treated like the second coming of christ and he's a full blown tool, as seen in picture below. Now that's Kendall-tastic!

This is the start of their beautiful friendship. What a dream team.

Now before you forget that this is indeed a horror film, there are some brilliant set ups and tension filled scenes of the killer stalking a dancer as she practices her routine after hours at the campus. These moments are rich with voyeuristic intent and bring the old technique of the point of view camera shot into play. The scenes where this concept is used is pure 80's in tone and style and is great to see drawn out as the killer gets closer and closer to his prey. We are even treated to some creepy silhouettes of the killer as he looks through a glass opening in the studio door. Other then the over the top story line of Kendall becoming one with the police, this really is an enjoyable slasher that has a charm of its own. 

Dick Tracy even makes an appearance in this wild film.

The highlights of this film, like in all slasher movies, is when the killer makes his kill. Each murder is more brutal then the next and like I've already mentioned, the camera stays through all of the bloody details. Even chainsaw kills are seen in their entirety, as we watch limbs go flying from bodies, leaving a stream of blood to spout from their bloody stumps. It's pretty bold stuff and nothing seems scaled back or held at bay from the viewers eyes. That is something that I can truly appreciate and be proud of in this topsy turvy film.

The killer is about to take his next victim. Quick get Kendall!

As the bodies begin to pile up, the cops still don't have a clue as to who is performing the murders. The entire cast is full of red herrings and no one is excluded as being a suspect. That is unless your name is Kendall and you have the soft side of velcro on top of your bulbous head. I think we have a winner! If you think Kendall is familiar in this movie, then you might remember him in another Juan Piquer Simon film entitled, The Pod People. That shit stain of a film has the same qualities that make Pieces the entertaining gem that it is. I have only seen the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 version of the film, but the movie centers around a furry creature from space that can do "magic things" and who has the nose of an ant eater and the movements of a midget with a stick up its ass. The MST3K version is actually very hilarious and I recommend you check it out, because there are some classic moments in it. Now back to 'Kendall Saves the Day'.

I must have this group photo framed in my house. Classic.

As the film goes on, we are proven that brutality is the name of the game, as we're witnesses to some gory kills all in the name of slasher cinema. It's very strange to have such a light and fluffy cast in such a heavy blood driven narrative, but that's what we are given in Pieces. You go from a corny scene where Kendall arrives just when the killer is taking his next victim, and Kendall begins ordering around the police officers and they actually listen to his stupid ass, to a graphic shot of a woman getting her skull caved in by a large kitchen knife that proceeds to jut out her mouth. Nasty stuff and to be paired with the idiot stylings of Kendall, is truly rare in any kind of film.

Holy shit! Will someone get Kendall!

I haven't really delved into the acting of this film. Well put on your shit waders, cause this is not a pretty sight. Every actor does their damnedest, but the end result is something rather amusing and entirely opposite of what they were originally trying to convey. Take the character of Mary Riggs for example, played by the lovely Lynda Day George, who also starred alongside Christopher George in Day of the Animals. In her one pivotal scene, she is supposed to be outraged by the killings and how they haven't been able to stop the murderer. She screams at the top of her lungs, "Bastard.... Bastard!", but instead of gaining an oscar worthy performance in this dramatic exposition we are given a scene that provides more laughter then heart felt sympathy for her characters plight. I for one love the scene as it is and revel in all its absurdity, but you can tell that this wasn't the intent of the director. I feel that these missteps actually add to the charm of the film and make it more memorable then if it was played straight forward and effectively came off as that.

I think Kendall is a..... Bastard! Bastard!

I really don't want to give the ending of the film away, because it really should be experience by a group of people that are all viewing the film for the first time. To say the least, it ends in a doozy of a ball busting conclusion, where one of our most beloved characters gets what was coming to him for the entire length of the movie. After this conclusion, I can stomach all the praises of Kendall in the world if it means all of this adoration leads to this moment. The only thing I'll show you is the last shot from the film, where Kendall has one of the most ridiculous expressions ever to grace the slasher movie history books. Enjoy.

Somebody quick, get Kendall's balls on ice!

Pieces is a slasher film that really is a classic in its own sense. For some reason the charm in this film has stayed with me for years and after viewing it recently, the memories have never diminished. It's a goofy but well put together 80's slasher that has all the elements that we love in these stories. It has got the interesting characters that you'd never find in any other genre, its got the lovely ladies of the era, it has the buckets of blood served fresh from the killers brutal slayings, and it has a fun quality to it that really can't be described. This unique element is what makes this film so enjoyable and one that places it in a classic status, remembered by all the good times had while viewing it with great friends. I highly recommend you get a group of friends together this weekend and pop this bad boy into your set. You won't be disappointed at how absurd this slasher film can get and how thoroughly entertaining the whole debacle is. Always remember, what would Kendall do?

4 out of 5 stars      One of the Most Entertaining Slashers Out There!