Opening the gates of Fulci
I was first introduced to the films of Lucio Fulci way back in the winter of ‘23. December 2023 I started watching old godzilla films and a little known genre called Giallo. Fulci has a few contributions to that whacky genre but thats a discussion for another day. I want to focus on his more gory zombie contributions to the silver screen. I recently dipped back into his works by watching a couple of his zombie films. This was inspired by the Italian death metal band Fulci who were my real first introduction to the director.
Fulci the band are a death metal outfit from italy and as you can imagine they are inspired by the director. Each album they release is based on one of his films. Initially I didn’t know this I just enjoyed the bouncing groovy death metal riffs,blast beats and guttural cookie monster growls . It wasn’t until their release of their recent Duck Face Killings, based on his Giallo film The New York Ripper, that I actually decided to go back and watch the films that inspired the albums. Would I enjoy them as much as the music?
First up was zombi 2. This was Fulci’s first zombie film. What’s that? Why call it zombi 2? Well The first Zombi was a re-edit of Romero’s famous Dawn of the Dead by Dario Argento. It was titled Zombi for the european market. Fulci then made Zombi 2 or if you are from the UK its called Zombie Flesh Eaters or just zombie in the US. Not going to lie I feel like a conspiracy theorist in front of a cork board with string criss crossing all over the place. So back to the film. I think to fully enjoy this you have to be a fan of the retro VHS horror type stuff. You have to love grindhouse style cinema or cheesy horrors. In saying that I still really enjoyed it in between the really silly bits where a character basically just lies down and dies to further the plot or add some sort of terror to the scene. Once you get over that then its a joyride of gore and action. After watching it I kept seeing it mentioned that the sound design was really well done and when I thought back to it I remembered that it actually was. Honestly the soundtrack was great as well as the foley sounds of squishy bits that accompanied the consumption of human flesh. A long drawn out death was made bearable because the sound was just on point.
The album by Fulci(band) based on Zombi 2 is called Tropical Sun and it is a filthy slab of death metal that grooves hard. It contains samples from the film which is a lovely touch as now I can add a picture to the music and have a chuckle at the silliness of what I saw. It also adds to the overall atmosphere of the album. Overall this is your meat and potatoes death metal seasoned with a bit of slam. It does what it says on the tin so don’t expect a genre classic that will change the way you view death metal but it is a good place to jump into the genre. I also need to mention the album cover which could easily be a poster for the film as well as being a brutal cover for a brutal album.
Next up is city of the living dead. This film takes the zombie trope and filters it through a lovecraftian lense. Basically the town of Dunwich is cursed; which if you are up on your Lovecraft lore goes without saying. The curse being that the dead are coming back to life. These zombies have more of a ghostly demonic vibe about them. The film manages to straddle silly and serious fairly well and being that its a Fulci film it has its fair share of gore. The soundtrack is also a banger with some truly unhinged foley to aid in making you uncomfortable. Honestly while watching this I couldn’t help but think it would make a great investigation for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. It hits all the right beats for a game like that. Now since zombi 2 had some deep lore I should mention that this one also has a story behind it. So from what I read online they either lost the final scene in the magic film lab or Fulci, a known weird dude, decided to change the ending on a whim. I say this because the ending is weird as hell and doesn’t really make sense but who cares because I have an album to listen to.
So how does the album based on the film sound. Hmmmm its ok. Not my favourite of theirs. I think its their weakest album which is fine since it was their first release. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t filled with absolute ignorant riffs and blast beats to batter your ears with but I much prefer when Fulci has more slam elements in their music. I also think there was less groove in this album and more straightforward death metal song structure. I listened to the remaster which was cool and I personally couldn’t tell the difference between it and the original. Im sure Audiophiles will hate that statement. I much prefer my death metal to have that 90s and early 2000s sound so any kind of re-mastering with modern tech just doesn’t really do it for me. The final track on the album is a sort of industrial synth ditty that was actually very cool. This is something the band experimented with in their later album Exhumed Information which a collaboration with TV-crimes. The first half of the album is classic fulci death metal while the back end is a horror synth soundtrack. Fulci are not afraid to get weird with it like their namesake so they are able to keep it fresh on occasion.
Now that I have seen most of the films that Fulci(band) have based their albums on I can comfortably say that I enjoy both equally. I have watched a bunch of Fulci’s films and for the most part you have to accept that they are weird and make very little sense most of the time. There is gore and weirdness which can be off putting if you aren’t ready for it. His soundtracks are always on point which is something I like and will always score points with me. Visually and sonically he is really good at what he does. As for the band I prefer their later albums and I am always happy to see them live if I can. Are they a genre defining death metal band? No not really but they aren’t afraid to do weird things which is on brand for them and they can write a decent riff so you can’t complain. I like both of the Fulci’s in small doses is what I am getting at.