Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy

[Dr. Briggs]

City of the Living Dead
The Beyond
The House by the Cemetary (Or Zombi 2?)

I haven't seen this "loose trilogy" yet, though I'm foaming at the mouth to do so.

I have heard mixed things about these films; some say they're unbearably suspenseful, other say they're mostly cheezy, but nobody says anything I would truly consider "bad" X). Does anyone here have any input concerning them? I'd ask you not to spoil much, but hey, with their popularity I'd say these movies are long overdue for a thread

[Dr. Briggs]

Boy, what a letdown X_X

I'd heard some less than positive stuff about these films but I never would have expected some of the awkwardness I saw in City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery.

Now, the ones I've seen aren't awful films; they're interesting, but not all that effective. A sense of horror isn't maintained consistantly, a whole lot of the editing is sub-par, and the tone... the tone starts uneasy but that's about as scary as it gets... uneasy >.< . Everything ends up as pretty darn underwhelming and anticlimactic to boot.

City of the Living Dead has some good foreshadowing but no terrifying zombie invasion like one would expect considering the premise, and the actors/characters have little personality to hold the action up. House by the Cemetery has more bang for less buck; more atmosphere, action, suspense and writing... but after the whole thing is over one starts to wonder just... "what the deal was".

To me, House by The Cemetery is the better of the ones I've seen, and I'm curious to check out The Beyond based on the better parts of both films. From what I've seen so far, Fulci's work seems unique, but rough around the edges.

City of the Living Dead - 5/10
House by the Cemetery - 6 or 6.5/10

[Dr. Briggs]

Watched The Beyond not long ago, and I have to say it is the best of the three. There is some great imagery and a good share of very scary moments. On the downside however, there were still some problems with maintaining the atmosphere and IMO a good bit of that had to do with a less-than-scary score. Some of the scare scenes are truly unsettling, but the cues in the background do little to highlight things (Also, they can sometimes "go on too long").

I'd give The Beyond a 6.5 or 7/10

[mytee]

Ive seen them (we used to watch them at slumber parties in 7th and 8th grade ) I have them now I enjoy them the same way I do Rene Cardona Jr ripped from the headline exploitation films and the cannibal movies of the 70's guess I have Mytee bizarre tastes

[Oldman]

I watched them also and enjoy them also I like the Blind Dead Collection
Tombs of The Blind Dead
Return of the Evil Dead
The Ghost Galleon
Night of the Seagulls

[mytee]

I havent seen them but Im sure if my daughter finds them on Netflix they'll get added

[Oldman]

Mario Bava also has some good horror films.

[mytee]

yes some of the kill scenes in Twitch of The Death Nerve inspired kill scenes in other movies -on the list -our list is like 200 movies long

[Oldman]

Coffin Joe films are good if you like older foreign films
and I am a DVD movie collector you can check my list out if you want http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/OldMan56

[Dr. Briggs]

Seen some Coffin Joe and some Bava, both were pretty solid IMO. I was curious about the Blind Dead films at first, but whilst researching them I barely found any unironically good reviews. What are the good points of the Blind Dead movies?

[Oldman]

They are not the best films, but it gives you a little taste of Spanish horror movies during the 70's when the Italian horror was at it's peek.