I had almost watched The Beyond before I realized that it was part of the "Gates of Hell" Trilogy which had lead me to City of the Living Dead to start with the first film.Holy gore this movie has some great kills and practical effects for it's time. The scene with Rose & Tommy where they are in his Jeep and Father Thomas comes is amazing. The movie jumps around quite a bit between the characters into the city which is a little confusing at times and the score is a bit repetitive but that is part of it's charm.I will say I am relatively new to Fulci. This movie isn't the best work I have seen from Fulci but it is a great starting point for the Gates of Hell Trilogy and I can't wait to watch the next two films.

***SPOILERS****This horror started when Father Thomas,Fabrizio Jovine, for reasons only known to himself decided to call it quits by stringing himself up at the local Dunwich Cemetery after visiting hours. Thus making it possible for the dead to rise out of their graves by opening up the very gates of hell itself. It's back in NYC during a boring seance that the medium of the seance Theresa, Mary Woodhouse, sees what's to come an world wide army of walking dead Zombies and suddenly went into convulsions and dropped dead, at the tender young age of 25, of a massive heart attack! Things get even better or worse when at Theresa's burial in Long Island reporter Peter Bell, Christopher George, hears noise coming from her partly buried coffin, the gravedigger took off on their coffee brake before finishing the job, and found her to be alive!From then on it's both touch and go to what's happening in the movie with a time limit set for "All Saints Day"-November 1-when the dead are to rise again and take over the entire earth. Were also entertained with a number of grossed out episodes with flesh eating worms and maggots and brains being ripped by member of the living dead just to show those still living that they mean business. This all boils down to the late Father Thomas who's actions of killing himself is the reason all this to be happening!. And it's up to Peter Bell and those still living to right that what was wrong by Father Thomas, by exorcising his evil spirit, to prevent any more damage.****SPOILERS**** Lots of blood and gore as well as brain matter keep you watching this mindless as well as brainless movie that to add to its already mass confusion has a number of sub-plots that have to do with a group of hard drinking members of the community of Dunwiich who are among the first victims of the Zombie invasion,. That together with Dunwich resident and village idiot the over sexed Bob,Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who in trying to hide from the rampaging Zombies takes refuse in the Ross' garage. And it's there where Bob ends up getting his skull drilled through and through by Mr. Ross who thought that he was molesting his teenage daughter who In fact invited him in! Were left up in the air in what exactly happened at the end of the movie by being given the impression that the gates of hell that were shut are to open very soon with the movie disintegrating cracking up or going fade to black before we ever get to see the ending credits!

I saw this film in the mid 80's back when VHS libraries rented out videos. Ten rupees rental man. City Of The Living Dead is widely considered one of Lucio Fulcis best outings. Lets face it, you can tell this is the work of genius Lucio Fulci because it has all his hallmark touches. Characters u don't give a damn about, story boring, the acting is bad. But the worst things of all are the plot and editing. Very little makes any sense, zombies teleport around randomly, and seem to like staring at their victims as much as attacking them. There's no story, dismal acting and the gore..well if you are OK watching a movie with nothing but gore then it's OK but personally I look for a bit more in horror than this. The gore is about the only thing done well.

Lucio Fulci made three films that have become dubbed the gates of hell trilogy. The Beyond and House By the Cemetery make up the other two thirds of this set of films. This one and The Beyond fit the theme as both films revolve around the gates of hell opening. I never thought The House By the Cemetery really fit the bill and that the film, Manhattan Baby kind of fit in with this theme better though neither really does. This one probably had the most coherent plot of the trio as something happens that unleashes the gates of hell and something most be done to close them again. In The Beyond, people keep dying here and there and by the time things begin to be figured out it is pretty much too late. While in House By the Cemetery, it kind of teases that there is simply a serial killer before ending in vague fashion, though not nearly as vague as this one does! So you get lots of kills, lots of gore and lots of questions, so in that way all three films do tie in together as they all have their confusing moments, good kills and nasty gore. This one and The Beyond having the best.The story has a priest who kills himself right from the get go and this is the catalyst that sets things in motion as the dead begin to rise from their graves to hunt and kill the living! Meanwhile, a woman apparently dies during a séance only to be found still alive as she is about to be buried in the cemetery. Best not to think about this film too much as it just ruins the fun. She and a reporter go on a quest to find the town the priest hanged himself in as they must put him to rest as he begins terrorizing the town killing the townsfolk and then turning them into the living dead where they have the ability to teleport and kill you unexpectedly! A psychiatrist will join the two as they must track down the priest's grave, but they do take a lot of side trips as it almost seems they are trying to get the last second win!The living dead in this one look rather good, much better than the zombies at the end of The Beyond. The gore though has some weaknesses as at times the blood looks like fruit punch. The best kill in the film belongs to a father and not the zombies as the film also features the most overprotective father in the history of cinema! No nudity in this one, but I do not really recall any in The Beyond either and only very briefly in House By the Cemetery, Fulci was more gore than nudity, though he did have that awesome scene in Zombie featuring the topless scuba diver.So all in all, it is a fun movie to watch if not particularly good. The film does drag a bit in spots as the deaths are not spread out as well as those in The Beyond, but it is better than Cemetery as that one gets kind of goofy. All three films have Catriona MacColl in them and this one and House have Giovanni Lombardo Radice along with other Fulci staples in it. The acting is about as well as can be expected for a film of this type. Overall, I would say that this one has good gore, kills and atmosphere to offer while some of the things within are a bit goofy too. Still, the gates of hell trilogy starts off with a bang and this one is probably the most hellish of the bunch for various reasons!