Horror Movie Podcast Ep. 146: Lucio Fulci’s Gates of Hell Trilogy – City of the Living Dead (1980) and The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981)

Welcome to HORROR MOVIE PODCAST, where we’re Dead Serious About Horror Movies. This is Episode 146, another themed episode, where Dr. Shock suggests the topic of Lucio Fulci’s Gates of Hell Trilogy. Our theme discussion includes the Lovecraftian roots of Fulci’s influences and the artists that Fulci has gone on to influence, as well as a lot of talk about appreciation of schlock cinema and avant-garde art and what an audience brings to that experience. Of course Jay of the Dead, Wolfman Josh and Dr. Shock review all three films in Fulci’s thematic trilogy, City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981). We also bring you a postmortem mini review of a film directly inspired by the Gates of Hell Trilogy, Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here (2015). Join us or you will face the sea of darkness and all therein that may be explored!
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SHOW NOTES:
I. Introduction
— Dave “Dr. Shock” Becker completes his 2,500 movie challenge for DVDinfatuation.com
— Listener feedback


[ 0:06:54 ] II. Theme Discussion – THE GODFATHER OF GORE AND THE GATES OF HELL TRILOGY
— Lucio Fulci “The Godfather of Gore”
— Influences on Fulci:
H.P. Lovecraft, Ashton Smith, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Alfred Hitchcock (generally), Stephen King (generally), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Vertigo (1958), The Innocents (1961), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Amityville Horror (1979), among others.
— Fulci’s contemporaries:
Hershchell Gordon Lewis, Dario Argento, George A. Romero, John Carpenter
— Films influenced by Fulci:
Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Evil Dead (1981), The Thing (1982), Prince of Darkness (1987), Basic Instinct (1992), Reservoir Dogs (1992), True Romance (1993), Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), Natural Born Killers (1994), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Scream (1996), From Dusk ‘til Dawn (1996), Kill Bill vol 1 & 2 (2003-04), The Innkeepers (2012), Berberian Sound Studio (2012), The Lords of Salem (2013), Oculus (2014), Starry Eyes (2014), The Hateful Eight (2015), Deathgasm (2015), We Are Still Here (2015), The Girl in the Photographs (2016), The Void (2017), among others.

[ 0:18:41 ] III. Feature Review: CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980, USA ‘83)
Jay of the Dead = 7 ( Must-See Once / Strong Rental )
Wolfman Josh = 7 ( Must-See / High-priority Rental )
Dr. Shock = 7 ( Strong Rental )

[ 1:01:24 ] IV. Feature Review: THE BEYOND (1981, US ‘81 edited as 7 Doors of Death, US ‘83 uncut, US ‘98 theatrical revival)
Jay of the Dead = 10 ( Masterpiece / Must-See / Buy it! )
Wolfman Josh = 9 ( Buy it! )
Dr. Shock = 9.5 ( Buy it! )

[ 1:41:00 ] V. Feature Review: THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981, US ‘84)
Jay of the Dead = 6 ( Rental )
Wolfman Josh = 7.5 ( Rental )
Dr. Shock = 6.5 ( Rental )

[ 2:02:33 ] VI. Postmortem: WE ARE STILL HERE (2015) – originally reviewed on HMP Ep. 76
Jay of the Dead = 8 ( Strong Rental )