The only film in Lucio Fulcis zombie quartet that wasnt banned or prosecuted for obscenity in the UK, City Of The Living Dead is arguably even more explicit than Zombie Flesh Eaters. Among Franco Rufinis effects is a scene where a woman vomits up her internal organs and a sequence where a drill bores through a young mans head. Owing a debt to Lovecraft, COTLD takes place in the fictional town of Dunwich, where a Priests suicide causes the gates of hell to open and the dead to walk the earth. Thats all the plot the film needs as for the rest of its running, its one startlingly effective sequence after another. Best of all is the scene where Mary (Catriona MacColl), believed dead after collapsing at a séance, wakes up in her coffin. Her screams attract the attention of reporter Peter Bell (Christopher George), who attempts to pry open the coffin lid the only way he can with a pick axe that stops inches above Marys eye.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
