City of the Living Dead (1980)

Following on from their recent release of HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, Arrow Films bring another Lucio Fulci classic to UHD.

A priest hangs himself in the small town of Dunwich in one of the many mesmerising sequences Fulci manages to conjure up on a small budget. This causes the gates of hell to open, and if they're not closed by All Saints' Day (which of course is going to be very very soon) then Hell on earth will ensue. So it's up to cigar-chomping Christopher George and medium Catriona MacColl (after she's been rescued by George from being buried alive in another standout scene Tarantino would later steal for KILL BILL VOL 2) to either save the day or cause reality to fracture in a kind of spider webby way that has left people debating the ending of this one for years.

It's a testament to just how good, and how varied, Fulci's 'zombie quartet' of 1979-1981 is that any one of the four (the other two are ZOMBIE FLESHEATERS and THE BEYOND) can be justifiably be argued by fans to be their favourite. CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD does a fantastic job of conjuring an otherworldly atmosphere such that you can believe Hell is leaking into the town of Dunwich. Add in some memorable special effects and Fabio Frizzi's music and it's easy to see why the appeal of CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD persists after all these years.

Arrow's UHD transfer provides an upgrade on previous release, and while you can't expect miracles it's amazing how much more detail you get on direct comparison with their previous Blu-ray release. One example would be the shot of the hanging priest which mow shows much better definition of the tree branches against the sunlight. 

The disc does come with a ton of extras, though, many of which have been carried over from previous releases. These include two commentary tracks (Catriona MacColl and Jay Slater, Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Calum Waddell) and a stack of interviews with screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti, production designer Massimo Antonio Geleng, DP Sergio Salvati, SFX man Gino De Rossi, composer Fabio Frizzi and actors MacColl and Carlo De Mejo.

Fulci expert Stephen Thrower provides a video essay, and Andy Nyman gives us his appraisal of Fulic's gothic period. There's also a Kat Ellinger video essay, behind the scenes footage, alternate title sequences and image gallery.

Finally, you get a reversible sleeve, a double-sided poster, six lobby card reproductions and a 60 page book with writing from Travis Crawford and Roberto Curti. 

Lucio Fulci's CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD is out from Arrow Films on 4K UHD on Monday 25th March 2024