Were he alive today, the iconic Italian fright film director Lucio Fulci would be 89. His birthday was Friday.
He was called by Rogue Cinema, “One of the most revered and reviled figures in the history of the modern horror film.” Indeed, his work remains divisive today – even among genre fans. His movies are both hallucinatory and surreal yet disturbingly visceral and graphic at once.
In honor of the macabre man’s birthday, I scheduled (much to my squeamish girlfriend’s chagrin) a weekend’s worth of five Fulci flicks, a celebration of several of his most original works (in no particular order). For your own viewing pleasure, and combing two of the great loves of my life, I’ve included here my choice for best beer to go with each film. But first…
Who was Lucio?
Patricia MacCormack has written a wonderful bio of the director, both concise and complete, and it’s available at sensesofcinema.com. I highly recommend it. Fulci, she wrote, “is best remembered for his delirious hallucinatory and visceral horror films of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Expressed in these films was a creative libation of splanchnic yet nonetheless seductive images strung together by loose, almost incoherent, narratives.”
The man worked in almost every genre under the sun (and a few that only come out after dark), including comedy, adventure, gialli and even westerns. It is for his horror films, however, that we most love the lunatic. Best known among them is probably “Zombie 2” (1979), which was actually intended as a kind of sequel to George A. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” and features an infamous scene wherein a zombie and shark attack each other. Needless to say, it’s rightfully lionized.
That being said, it didn’t make my cut for this festival. I’ve seen it too many times and, given the opportunity, I sought to explore some additional titles from the man’s fearsome filmography. If you have not, you should see it though.
Note: All my beer choices are from the Seattle area. If you live far away, I’m sorry. Check out the descriptions and choose something comparable. Or don’t, and just drink whatever you want. This little festival, much like most of Fulci’s best work, is more about style than specifics.
Friday, June 17
For Fulci’s actual birthday, I chose to kick things off with “The Beyond” (1981).
It’s my favorite Fulci film by far, and expertly combines all of the themes that would obsess the director throughout most of his work in the genre. The second in his unofficial “Gates of Hell Trilogy” (which also includes both of Saturday’s offerings BTW), the film tells the story of a young woman who inherits an old hotel in Louisiana. After a series of creepy occurrences, she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell, all of which promptly breaks loose as it is opened.
Good times, good times.
The movie features a badass performance by David “I’m a doctor and I won’t accept irrational explanations” Warbeck, a man tragically overlooked today, but who was once reportedly in the running to play James Bond. I’m serious. You can look it up. He’s that cool.
The perfect drink wth this film?
“The Beyond” is just so damned fun. So drink something fun. Also, we’re early on yet in the festival, so maybe drink something light and keep your strength up? I recommend Deschutes Brewery’s Fresh Squeezed IPA (6.4 % ALC, 60 IBU).
Saturday, June 18
Feature 1:
“City of the Living Dead” (1980). Actually the first installment in the “Gates of Hell Trilogy” (Don’t worry, continuity here isn’t really necessary), this movie is about a reporter and a psychic teaming up to close the recently-opened Gates of Hell after the suicide of a priest caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from the grave and torment a small town in rural America.
This one’s more about mood and atmosphere than the story, which actually becomes even less important as things progress. The movie does not benefit from great critical acclaim. Most said it was great practice for all the things Fulci would later get right in “The Beyond,” but it’s totally worth a watch for the creepy mood and unsettled aesthetic, an impressive achievement made all the more incredible given the low budget and practical effects.
The perfect drink with this film?
We’re getting serious now, into the meat of the man’s work. So upgrade your beverage accordingly. I recommend something dark and ominous, like Silver City Brewery’s Fat Scotch Ale (9.2% ALC, 30 IBU).
Feature 2:
“The House by the Cemetery” (1981). The final installment in the trilogy, this movie is about a series of gruesome murders in a remote New England home and the family that’s moving in – despite the palpably bad vibes coming off the place.
According to Wikipedia, Time Out called the film “a hack-work of almost awesome incoherence.” But I think that’s a little harsh. It’s not his best, but it’s still super stylish and the finale totally delivers.
The perfect drink with this film?
Something red to go with all the blood, I’d think. I had an Arrow Point Amber (5.2% ALC, 25 IBU) from Bainbridge Island Brewing. No regrets.
Sunday, June 19
Feature 1:
“The New York Ripper” (1982). A surreal slasher / giallo gore-fest, this one’s about a tough guy New York police detective who teams up with a college psychoanalyst (Fulci’s very big on mismatched duos) to track down a vicious serial killer stalking and killing sexy young women around the city. It’s a neon-drenched fever dream of a film in which the killer, of course, calls to taunt the cop. In a cartoon duck voice, no less. I’m not kidding. You’d be surprised how creepy that gets.
The perfect drink with this film?
This one’s out there, so choose a beer that’s likewise imaginative. I chose the Space Dust IPA from Elysian Brewery (8.2% ABV, 73 IBU). It’s a tasty but effective libation with a fun cartoonish label that might take your mind off the downer ending this movie leaves you with. Sorry, semi-spoiler alert.
Feature 2:
“A Cat in the Brain” (1990). A later offering, this one’s more introspective than most of the man’s work. I can’t say it any better than it’s already been said without giving something away, so the movie is “one of Lucio Fulci’s final films and is notable for self-reflexively summing up his career. The film is a meta-film in which the director appears playing himself, a tortured horror filmmaker who is driven by the violent visions that he experiences both behind the camera and off the set. Feeling like he’s losing his grip on reality and disturbed by murderous fantasies, Fulci consults a psychotherapist. The ‘shrink’ exploits the director’s vulnerabilities to his own murderous ends,” (Wikipedia).
It’s the Godfather of Gore’s version of “8 1/2” and a perfectly appropriate final film for this, my inaugural Fulci-fest.
The perfect drink with this film?
One more for the road means make it count. I marked the Fulci finish line with a Monk’s Uncle, a Belgian-style tripel from Pike Place Brewery (9% ALC, 34 IBU).
Happy birthday, Mr. Fulci, and R.I.P. Thanks for the nightmares.
Further reading:
Shocking Images, a Fulci tribute site
Biography at House of Horrors.com
