City of the Living Dead (1980) on Netflix
The medium Mary Woodhouse collapses at a New York City séance after a vision of Father William Thomas hanging himself in Dunwich. Reporter Peter Bell comes to her grave before the burial.
- Netflix2.8/5
- IMDb6.2/1021,287 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes44%
Trailer
Plot summary
At the apartment of the medium Theresa in New York City, Mary Woodhouse has a vision of Father William Thomas hanging himself in a cemetery in the village of Dunwich. The vision overwhelms her; the others take her for dead and call the police. The journalist Peter Bell looks into her death and reaches her grave as she is about to be buried, hears her cries and gets her out. Theresa tells him the priest's suicide has opened the gates of Hell, and that the dead will rise on All Saints' Day, so Peter and Mary set out for Dunwich.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about City of the Living Dead (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A crew member hid maggots from the film's 10 kg supply in Lucio Fulci's pipe tobacco as a prank; Fulci only noticed after a few puffs and later blamed the incident for his heart surgery, ventricular aneurysm, viral hepatitis and cirrhosis.
- Because Catriona MacColl blinked each time a pickaxe hit Mary's coffin, Lucio Fulci climbed into the coffin himself and did the shot without blinking, telling her: "If I can do it, you can do it".
- Promoted in the US as Twilight of the Dead, the film drew a cease and desist order from United Film Distribution Company over the title's similarity to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead; distributor Motion Picture Marketing then withdrew it and re-released it as The Gates of Hell.
- Catriona MacColl felt the script was "badly written" and almost declined taking part; she phoned her agent from her hotel room, and he told her to take the role because "nobody was going to see the film anyway" — a prediction she later noted proved incorrect.
- The scene where a character vomits their own intestines was not in the original script: Daniela Doria spat up baby veal intestines, and her head was then replaced with a replica for further vomiting.
- Horror films such as Maniac had been released uncensored in Germany, but after a June 1984 ZDF report on violent videos and minors, City of the Living Dead was banned in West Germany and 1983 VHS tapes were confiscated after a 1986 Munich District Court hearing.
- The film's low budget dictated shooting in Savannah, Georgia, chiefly to avoid union conflict over importing most of its cast and crew; six weeks were scheduled there and two in Rome.
- Early casting choices included Zombi 2 star Tisa Farrow as Mary Woodhouse and Robert Kerman as Mr. Ross; Catriona MacColl and Venantino Venantini were cast in those parts instead.
