City of the Living Dead (1980)

Original title:Paura Nella Citta dei Morti Viventi

AKA: The Gates of Hell

Director: Lucio Fulci

Writers: Lucio Fulci, dardano Sacchetti, H.P. Lovecraft

Composer: Fabio Frizzi

Starring: Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Daniela Doria, Fabrizio Jovine, Luca Venantini, Michele Soavi

More info IMDb

Tagline: The Dead Shall Rise And Walk The Earth

Plot: In the small New England town of Dunwich, a priest commits suicide by hanging himself in the church cemetery which somehow opens the gates of hell allowing the dead to rise. Peter, a New York City reporter, teams up with a young psychic, named Mary, to travel to the town where they team up with another couple, psychiatrist Jerry and patient Sandra, to find a way to close the gates before All Saints Day or the dead all over the world will rise up and kill the living.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

So-so Italian zombie movie with some good but sparse gore effects, a sometimes cool Fabio Frizzi score (the ending was the best), an adequate English dub but with a lot of little spots that dragged.  By the end I was hoping the gates of Hell would open up sooner and eat the living.  There was one thing I really dug...

MAGGOT STORM '80!!!

It's not a bad picture but the slow bits will put a lot of folks to sleep.  Here's a film that could have used some nudity and more blood & guts.  The Italians excelled at that.  Can anyone explain the final shot with the kid running toward the camera?  It seemed to me like it was supposed to be a 'gotcha' but I couldn't figure it out.  Did I fall asleep and not know it?