City of The Living Dead Movie Review 109

City of The Living Dead is a horror movie directed by Lucio Fulci. It stars Christopher George and Catriona MacColl. This movie is the first in a trilogy which included The Beyond and The House By The Cemetery which I have reviewed here.

The movie begins with a priest, Father Thomas who hangs himself in a cemetery in a place called Dunwich. He has opened the doors to Hell. In New York City, there is a seance happening and the psychic Mary(MacColl) sees the priest hanging himself and she sees the dead rising. She collapses and she seems dead. Her fellow medium tells the cops that she died of fright, which they cannot believe. Meanwhile, a reporter called Peter(George) is investigating the weird happenings . This leads him to the cemetery where he sees Mary being put in the ground. He stays at the graveside for a while and he thinks that he hears something. Mary is still alive and she has been buried alive. She is rescued from her grave.

Meanwhile, a woman called Sandra is chatting to her shrink, Gerry, and we find out that the ancestors of the people in Dunwich were Salem witch burners. So, Mary tells Peter about a city of the dead and she tells him that she isn't sure where it is yet only that it is called Dunwich. They decide to go an find it and try to stop the dead from coming back. As this is happening, we see that the priest has come back from the dead and he is attacking people.In Dunwich, people are dying and they suspect a local pervert and one of the locals kills him. They don't realise that the dead have come back and are killing more and more people in the town. Sandra and her shrink, find a dead body on her kitchen floor, but then it disappears. They decide to go to the local funeral home and see what is going on. They happen to meet Peter and Mary and the four of them investigate the funeral home. Mary tells them that it is All Souls Day and that the gates of Hell are open and the dead are coming back.Sandra gets killed.

The others continue on and they find the priest's grave. It is empty. Sandra comes back from the dead and she kills Peter. Mary and Gerry continue on and try to climb out of the tomb. They are surrounded by the dead. The priest returns and Gerry stabs him with a crucifix. He bursts into flames and so do the other dead.

 The ending of the movie is left open to interpretation so watch it and make up your own mind. I am giving this one a 7/10.