Films That Witness Madness

review

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD

Ahh, sub-genres.

I remember once listening to two people get into a very heated, very long debate as to whether or not "romantic comedy" was a sub-genre of drama or a sub-genre of comedy. This heated argument went on for damned near 20 minutes until it degenerated into name calling and empty threats. When it was over, both sides could only agree on one thing: it was damned confusing business, this sub-genre stuff. Look at American horror films in the 1980s. You had, if we are to use sub-genre labels, slasher films, splatter films, demon possession films, zombie films, comedic zombie films, evil cults films, Satan films, eco-horror films, animals run amuck films, monster films, monster animal films, erotic horror films, demonic possession erotic horror films... What's the damned point of all this sub-genre business anyway? Aren't they all just horror films?

Well, yes, they are, but the reason we choose to divide a collection of films into smaller collections of films is to make discussing these films easier. Trying to compare, say, HALLOWEEN and THE EXORCIST is useless but comparing HALLOWEEN with other slasher films like FRIDAY THE 13TH is fairly easy. When discussing the genre work of Lucio Fulci, you really only need to split his filmography into two pieces: the Giallo and the Horror films. But even that, upon inspection, does no good. There's a world of difference between THE BLACK CAT and THE BEYOND, or MANHATTAN BABY and CAT IN THE BRAIN. So for purposes that will be readily apparent to any Fulci follower, I tend to split his genre filmography into three distinct pieces: Gialli, Horror films, and HORRIFIC films.

What's the difference between a Horror film and a Horrific film, you ask? Well, the simple answer is this: a Horror film sets out to frighten the audience while a Horrific film sets out to make the audience vomit.

Fulci's two forays into the nonsensical, THE BEYOND and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, fall into the Horrific film category. Neither film makes an attempt at being frightening in the normal sense of the word. These are films without suspense or carefully orchestrated chills. They rely on the sheer brutality and graphic nature of their bloodletting for shocks and shivers. They are more interested in creating nightmarish atmospheres, in sudden breaks in narrative continuity and slow, explicit violence. The horror lies not in the unexpected deaths or the slow build-up of suspense. It lies in the Horrific details of bodily dismemberment, grisly viscera and mangled flesh.

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD is a more substantial film than THE BEYOND but it certainly isn't better. It feels weird saying that. Neither film has a cohesive narrative - neither film pretends to either - or any semblance of internal logic. Both are nightmarish pieces of almost avant-garde horror, loosely constructed pieces of film tied together by graphic images. CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD attempts to tell a story but it loses interest in it by the halfway point. It doesn't really matter in the least. The narrative behind CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD is almost like a MacGuffin. The characters may give a shit about the gates of hell opening up but the audience largely does not. They're here for the gore and Fulci delivers the goods and then some.

In fact, it's the gore scenes that are the most memorable thing about the movie. The "internal organ vomiting scene" in particular has become strangely iconic - once seen, it's never forgotten - as has the infamous scene of Giovanni Lombardo-Radice having his head shoved up against a very large lathe. Like ZOMBI and THE BEYOND, CITY OF THE LVING DEAD remains one of the premiere Italian splatter classics and I think it deserves a bit of respect for what it manages to accomplish from a purely visual standpoint. I am not a fan of Fulci's Horror films in general or his Horrific films in particular but CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BEYOND both manage to outclass virtually all other films of their type.

Sure they're immature - I tend to use the "children opening their mouths to show a wad of chewed up food" analogy in describing them - and yes they are not classically "good" films, but they succeed in doing what they're meant to do. They're shocking, disgusting vomitoriums, singular pieces of film designed for a specific reason and for a specific effect. CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD might not be as all-around grotesque or visually interesting as THE BEYOND but it is easily one of Fulci's best genre films. It has a playfully nihilistic tone and enough punch to pull you through the nonsense of the plot.

Recommended.

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