Lucio Fulci was born on 17 June 1927.
To me, Fulci is the Italian Tobe Hooper. I love his films but I’m not exactly sure why. With Hooper, I think John Carpenter and David Cronenberg make more skilled films. And Dario Argento makes more skilled films than Fulci. Yet, I enjoy Fulci’s films more overall.
With both directors, I think a lot of it is just their sensibilities. It’s as much what they render as how they render it. And that means that realism is less important.
Consider The Beyond. It contains an iconic scene with a bunch of attacking tarantulas. Much of it doesn’t look real. Or consider the infamous drill press scene in City of the Living Dead. In it, some of the skin breaks in a totally unrealistic way. And Giovanni Lombardo Radice doesn’t fight the way you would as a drill goes into your skull.
But none of that matters! In fact, I think these scenes would work less well if they were more realistic.
Consider the three King Kong films. I’ve noted that the Peter Jackson version is my favorite because Kong is digitally animated. But that’s because the other efforts didn’t allow Kong much emotion. In both the 1933 and 1976 versions, he looks like an idiot when he’s in love.
I think it is different in standard horror. No one wants to watch a slasher that is medically accurate. Nor are we interested in an accurate tarantula attack or brain drilling!
Of course, there are some things Lucio Fulci does that are unnervingly realistic. The obvious example is the splinter in the eye scene in Zombie. So I wouldn’t say that his work is good because of weak effects. It’s more that he simply makes whatever he does work. And again, it’s his sensibility — and attitude.
Let’s watch one of Lucio Fulci’s sickest films, The New York Ripper.
Other 17 June Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Ralph Bellamy (1904-1991): Actor with a long and broad career including some Universal horror films and Rosemary’s Baby.
- Wally Wood (1927-1981): Artist known for his work with EC Comics as well as creating the Mars Attacks cards.
- Thomas Haden Church (1960-): Actor known for the TV show Wings but I know him mostly from the George of the Jungle films.
- Jason Patric (1966-): Actor who played the guy who ate the worms in The Lost Boys.
- Joshua Leonard (1975-): Actor who was the first to disappear in The Blair Witch Project.
Films
- Mesa of Lost Women (1953): Mad scientist makes spider women zombies.
- King Dinosaur (1955): Bert I Gordon’s least watchable non-sex-comedy.
- The Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977): Bizarre sequel to the original where Regan is being studied. You are better off watching the fabulous The Exorcist III.
- Superman III (1983): If you like Richard Pryor more than Superman, this is the film for you!
- House of the Long Shadows (1983): A writer makes a bet he can write a novel in a night — with Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and John Carradine.
- Waxwork (1988): College students get trapped in a wax museum.
- Wolf (1994): Werewolves fight and it is apparently a metaphor for something.
- Central Intelligence (2016): Surprisingly good cop buddy film.
Lucio Fulci from Cat in the Brain under Fair Use.