Lucio Fulci (1927-1996) is an Italian horror film director whose cult and popularity have increased since his death. He is most famous for the films Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Beyond – the latter of which was a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino who gave it a theatre release in the USA.
I would argue that Fulci is much more than a horror film hack as he is often perceived. His horror films were immensely successful within Italy but he was very bitter about Dario Argento and the big budgets he could procure, as well as the critical acclaim. Fulci thought that he would be remembered as a mere side note in film history but he must be looking down from the skies now having the last laugh as he sees how horror fans have given him so much esteem.
As I said, I would go further than praising Fulci as ‘The Godfather of Gore’ – a title he shares with Herschell Gordon Lewis. During the 1970s Fulci directed two key Giallos (violent Italian murder mystery films) which have only achieved recognition over the past couple of years.
His work needs to be reassessed in light of this and so I present to you: The Top Ten Best of Lucio Fulci in all its g(l)ory!
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6 Comments
Another great article and I totally agree with you, Fulci may have directed some films of dubious quality (Conquest is particularly dire) but he also directed two of my favourite horror films of all time; Don’t Torture a Duckling and The Beyond. A hack for hire he was not. Its great that Shameless and Arrow are finally releasing definitive versions of his movies and I look forward to introducing my, somewhat, reluctant friends to his oeuvre. I’ll make them fans of Fulci or die trying (preferably not by being eaten by maggoty zombies)!
Hi Chris, glad you liked the article and I’m glad to have another Fulci appreciator on board. I was feeling quite lonely there for a while. Im glad that you are going to try and spread the Gospel of St Lucio – he does grow on people – a bit like a stinking form of fungus. But he grows nevertheless!
While I adore the Fulci films that I adore, I personally think that his best films came out between 1979 and 1983. I feel he was at his stylish best in that period and his collaborations with Dardano Sacchetti are what made those his best films. Granted, there are a few others here and there that I enjoy (Don’t Torture A Duckling, Touch of Death, A Cat In The Brain), but when you look at his filmography as a whole, much of it is a bit disappointing.
Hi Ian
You are correct. I love Duckling, but he didn’t produce a decent film again until the 1979 -1983 time period that you are talking about in which he was amazingly prolific and directed decent films. After that, from what I can discern, his health took a serious nose dive and he never really was able to reach his peak
I think it is fair to say that Fulci’s best work was produced between 1979 and 1983, after all in this short period of time he gave us some true, video nasty, classics; Zombie Flesh Eaters and The New York Ripper spring to mind. His filmography as a whole was surprisingly varied and he accomplished much with very little budget and resources. As Clare mentions in her article, Fulci was never treated with the respect he deserved and if someone had had the nerve to grant him an Argento sized budget I believe he would have surprised us all. It’s a shame that we will never find out what he could have produced if given the finances. I suppose we will just have to make do with sequences involving duck-voiced serial killers and zombies that fight sharks (which I always thought was pretty cool)!
Absolutely Chris, Fulci never got the credit he deserved and as you say he accomplished much with very little. He was aware and very bitter about the limitations – he said to a reviewer that he would be a mere postscript in cinema. A few months before his death, he went to a fan convention and was absolutely tickled pink when he was mobbed by fans from all over the world – not just Italians. He got to see what an impact he had on horror before he died.