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City of the Living Dead (1980)
"Paura nella città dei morti viventi" (original title)

Unrated  |   |  Horror  |  6 May 1983 (USA)
6.3
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Ratings: 6.3/10 from 11,047 users  
Reviews: 215 user | 138 critic

A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from the grave.

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Title: City of the Living Dead (1980)

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
Peter Bell
Catriona MacColl ...
Mary Woodhouse (as Katriona MacColl)
Carlo De Mejo ...
Gerry
Antonella Interlenghi ...
Emily Robbins
Giovanni Lombardo Radice ...
Bob
Daniela Doria ...
Rosie Kelvin
Fabrizio Jovine ...
Father William Thomas
Luca Venantini ...
John-John Robbins (as Luca Paisner)
Michele Soavi ...
Tommy Fisher
Venantino Venantini ...
Mr. Ross
Enzo D'Ausilio ...
Sheriff Russell's deputy
Adelaide Aste ...
Theresa
Luciano Rossi ...
Policeman in apartment
Robert Sampson ...
Sheriff Russell
Janet Agren ...
Sandra
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Storyline

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. Written by matt-282

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

From the bowels of the earth they came to collect the living... See more »

Genres:

Horror

Certificate:

Unrated | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

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Language:

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Release Date:

6 May 1983 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

City of the Living Dead  »

Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (cut)

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Lucio Fulci always carried around a bag with his trademark pipe and tobacco. One day on set, he reached into his bag and found a handful of maggots (which had been used earlier to film the scene in which maggots blow in through a window). The perpetrator of this prank is rumored to be Christopher George, the film's lead actor, who did not get along well with Fulci. See more »

Goofs

Three minutes in, a noose is slung over a tree branch. The noose is shown dangling no more than 1ft below the branch. The noose swings back and forth but visibly stays at the same height in comparison with a branch directly behind it. The branch is far away. In the next shot the branches are much much closer to the noose. A priest climbs up onto something, approximately the height of a chair, to put the noose around his neck then steps of of what he is standing on (he does not jump) and drops out of frame farther than he climbed up into view. The shot pans up a good two to three feet and fails to show the branch that is previously established as being not more than 1ft above the priests head. This implies that there at least 3 feet of rope should be between the priest and the point of suspension. In the next scene the priest is revealed as being not substantially more than three feet down the rope and hanging near a low brick wall. The brick wall is more than two feet below the priest and there is nothing else for the priest to have climbed onto in frame. To hang himself the priest must have levitated as he ends up hanging higher than a chair could account for (even if a chair realistically fell out of shot behind the low wall). See more »

Quotes

Mary Woodhouse: It's her... Mrs. Holden. This morning she was inside a coffin at the funeral home, and now she's here in my kitchen!
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Hide and Creep (2004) See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Fulci's splatter film inspired on H.P. Lovecraft about the dead coming back to life at Dunwich
18 September 2010 | by See all my reviews

This is a genuinely frightening story with correct utilization of images-shock , skill edition and eerie images . Lucio Fulci's main great success along with ¨Zombie 2¨ , is compelling directed with startling gory visual content . It's a creepy horror film plenty of brutal frames and gory events. Fulci's horror film about the dead coming back to life on a small location of Dunwich with inspiration on famous novelist H.P. Lovecraft . A journalist named Peter Bell (Christopher George), a psychiatrist (Carlo De Mejo) and a psychic named Mary Woodhouse (Catriona MacColl , Fulci's fetish actress) race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide by hanging of a priest caused them to open , allowing the zombies to rise from the tombs . Gory, gruesome , pretty repellent , and ghastly gory-feast in which the stumbling flesh-eating stiffs are relived by an ancient curse .

Chilling Italian terror flick full of screams, shocks, chills, thrills and lots of blood and guts . Astonishing , mesmerizing , very repellent , and scary mess in which the living dead are reanimated and committing horrible murders . This is a classic excruciatingly terror film in which the intrigue,tension, suspense, horror appears threatening and lurking in every room, corridors , cellar , morgue, streets, cemetery and many other places . Watch for the great highlights as the alive burying and the pick-axe coming dangerously close to her head ; as when a drill punctures the face an unfortunate young -a Fulci's mark who repeats ad nauseam - and clergyman's mesmerizing stares making eyeballs bleed . And as always brief appearance of Lucio Fulci, in Alfred Hitchcock cameo style , as Police Inspector and a young future director of terror movies , Michele Soavi as hapless victim . Good make-up and special effects by makeup artist named Rufini replacing the usual maestro Gianetto De Rossi. Produced on a tight budget by Giovanni Masini and the same Fulci . Moody photography Sergio Salvati on location in Fort Lee, New Jersey, New York City, Savannah, Georgia, USA . Eerie musical score composed and conducted by Fabio Frizzi in Goblin style. The motion picture is realized by one of the most controversial filmmakers of terror movies ,Lucio Fulci , in his ordinary style with flaws and gaps but is professionally made because being a skilled craftsman . Reviewers are divided over booth the morals and talents of Fulci (1927-1996) who sometimes directed under the alias ¨Louis Fuller¨. For some critics many of his movies are cruel and shockingly violent , yet their gory surface often conceals religious, social commentaries or intelligent issues. Whether he should be viewed as a cheap sensationalist or just a genius Fulci has a loyal fan base and undeniably has an important and unique influence on the terror genre , creating great works on a low budget such as proved in ¨The Beyond¨, ¨Manhattan baby¨, ¨Gates of Hell¨, ¨Island of the living dead¨, ¨New York ripper¨ , among them . This is one more imaginative , though imperfect horror/splatter picture in which the camera stalks in sinister style . It's just one long unrelenting guts-feast and passable budget horror movie that still packs a punch for those who appeal to be terrorized out their wits . This gore-feast that tried to disguised itself under many other titles as ¨City of living dead¨ will enjoy to Lucio Fulci aficionados.


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Drilling the head...how'd they do it? Metalshed
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Weakest installment of the Gates of Hell trilogy? bilttd_biscoi
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