By Joshua Cornelius

A Still from Lucio Fulci’s “The Beyond”

Remember Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey?  Early in the film an ape, tired of being stalked by larger predators, picks up a large bone and begins smashing things with it.  Thus begins man’s ascension to the top of the food chain with one swift and violent act.  Had cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth let his camera drift just a bit to the left, he might have inevitably captured another ape, probably a bit less clever, picking up a stick and mimicking the very same motions of his friend.  Imitation, as they say, is the sincerest form of flattery.

One common, immutable truth has remained present throughout the whole of recorded human history: if you are a success at something, someone will inevitably line up to attempt to recreate your success or, at the very least, steal a bit of your thunder.  So it goes that the unexpected success of Dawn of the Dead brought wave after wave of imitators hoping to cash in by placating audiences with more of their beloved undead.

Most were awful, and more than most were not produced domestically .  Italy, more than any other country, is responsible for bringing new zombie films to American shores.  One man in particular, the late director Lucio Fulci, cashed in on the zombie craze like no other.  Throughout the late 70s and early 80s he produced film after film that featured zombies, either en masse or sparsely.  Though they were often cheaply produced, dubbed and riddled with nudity, there are at least a few films worth a spot on your Netflix queue — even if a great number are plainly terrible.

Zombi (aka Zombie 2)

In many European countries, Dawn of the Dead was instead released under the title Zombie or Zombies.  Thus Lucio Fulci’s Zombie 2 is about as much a sequel to Dawn as Troll 2 is to its predecessor (clue for the uninitiated: not at all).  This film is famous in its own right for a zombie vs. shark scene that seems somehow logistically impossible. Even if it lacks the character development and themes of Dawn, Zombi may deserve it’s own little write-up as it stands amongst the best of the worst imitators for some truly iconic kill scenes and great cinematography.

The City of the Living Dead

This may be the darkest film of Fulci’s wave of mutilation, with religious themes that surely upset some Catholics.  From start to finish the film’s cinematography seems bathed in a wall of fog, lending to the creepy, otherworldly atmosphere of the town of Dunwich, where the story is set.

The House by the Cemetery

While I’ve never actually seen The House by the Cemetery, I’m assured it features at least one zombie.  By many accounts this is considered one of Fulci’s classics and a remake has been spoken of at length.  Right now you can watch the whole thing for free over at Youtube.  You know what’s better than free?  Not a damn thing.

The Beyond

My personal favorite of all the Fulci films, The Beyond mixes its elaborately staged gore with the same camerawork that made Zombi pop as well as it did.  When you look at lists of the great Italian horror films, The Beyond is shoulder to shoulder against anything Argento produced around the same time.

Zombi 3

Easily the worst of the group,  Zombi 3 was apparently produced while Fulci was in ill health.  During the production he became either unable or uninterested in continuing and Claudio Fragasso stepped in to take the reigns.  The fact that Zombi 3 was not a bonafide classic may have something to do with Fragasso’s involvement.  He is after all responsible for writing and directing one of IMDB’s perpetual Bottom 100 movies (and one of my favorite bad films), Troll 2.  Fragasso went on to pound a final nail in the coffin with an entirely unnecessary and nearly unwatchable, Zombi 4.

In all, Fulci directed over fifty films in his time on this earth, not all chocked full of zombies.  Of particular note are The New York Ripper, The Black Cat, Conquest (a lavish and strange Conan-esque swords and sorcery epic) and his controversial but well received Don’t Torture a Duckling.

When starting down the horror path, Fulci is as much a cornerstone in the genre as Romero himself.  Immerse yourself in some of these films and it’s easy to see the impact George A. Romero’s creations had on the filmmaking world.  You might at the same time see a side to the tried-and-true zombie outbreak you’re not used to getting. ✪