City of the Living Dead (1980)

Directed by Lucio Fulci. Starring Catriona MacColl, Christopher George, Carlo De Mejo, Janet Agren, Antonella Interlenghi, Luca Venantini, Daniela Doria, Michele Soavi, Fabrizio Jovine.

A priest hangs himself in a cemetery and opens the gates of hell in this clammy, gross-out gore-fest. As expected for a Lucio Fulci production, acting is the pits and storytelling is often incoherent, little more than a meandering means to string together a series of brutal, surreal (and barely-related) shocks; some may admire the spooky nightmare (il)logic, others will lose interest quick or look for ways to bide their time waiting for the next galvanizing effect. If you’re in it just to see a drill go straight through a person’s whimpering head or a woman vomit up enough entrails to fill a wash basin, this will probably fit the bill, but it’s just the musty same old, same old for its type. Released in the U.S. in 1983 as The Gates of Hell.

39/100