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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential disc for fulci fans,, 11 April 2009
Finally grindhouse release Fulci's last truley great film on dvd, and as usual they have done an amazing job!
The film follows The maestro himself as he suspects he is having a mental breakdown and may be responsible for several murders, unaware he is under the hpynotic influence of a deranged psychotherapist.
If the brief synopsis makes this movie sound mad, well it is, with Explosions of gore, filler scenes from other movies and the now legendary glove puppet cat shredding fulci's brains in the openingthe film seems totally of the wall at times(but we eurohorror fans dig that!) That said the film actually plays rather well as a dissection of fulci as a director, with the overt uses of gore and accusations of mysogyny, and questions what sort of person makes these films and what kind of affect do they have on an audience. While on a purley technical aspect this film is pretty flawed and does not show anywhere near the level of flair from films like The beyond and house by the cemetary, it does serve as an excellent footnote to Fulci's career, and provides enough gore and madness to satisfy genre fans.
The Print is uncut and definately the best i have seen in the correct widescreen ratio and option of italian or english dub, and the disc is loaded with extras including interviews with the legend himself and a booklet with essays from antonella fulci, david schow and eli roth. Overall no self-respecting fulci fan should be without this disc in their collection!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A CLASSIC IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD, 25 Oct 2007
Working on his newest movie, director Lucio Fulci, (Lucio Fulci) begins to feel like his career as a horror-only film-maker has caught up with him, as he begins to witness horrible hallucinations that remind him of what he has shot throughout his career. Desperate to help him, friend Officer Gabrielli, (Jeoffrey Kennedy) suggests that he visit psychiatrist Professor Egon Schwarz, (David L. Thompson) who immediately recognizes his frail mind and begins to formulate a plan to corrupt him. As the hallucinations continue, he goes back to the doctor and agrees to undergo hypnosis. A vicious crime spree begins to sweep the city, and he is at the center of it all. Desperate to understand what's happening to him, he tries to get the movie finished and solve the mystery about the vicious killing going on that has him as the primary suspect.
The Good News: This here is actually a really entertaining and enjoyable film. One of it's best features is that there's a huge amount of blood and gore in the film. This one has a higher body count than what would normally be considered for a film of this kind, and these are just incredibly brutal and gory. There's some really brutal stabbings, a hand being loped off with a hatchet, being viciously run over with a car that opens up the chest, repeatedly stabbed in the head with a knife, thrown down a flight of stairs from a wheelchair and having the wheel run over the throat and a heaping amount of decapitations. This has at least half-a-dozen decapitations here, and several are pretty novel. Having it sliced off in a guillotine-style fashion between two pieces of furniture or being sliced off from being strangled with piano wire stand out as the big ones here, while there's several others in here just as great. This is one gory film, and it works in the right perspective. They come mainly from the hallucinations he witnesses in here, which themselves are quite exciting. They come from out of nowhere, are genuinely creepy and provide most of the best individual scenes in the film. The chase through the woods, the assault on the family in their home and the movie shoot in the cemetery, which is just plain fun in it's own right, are made all the better due to their no-nonsense cheese and feature a wide variety of different ways to make them entertaining. The cemetery scene, which is part of the movie made, is it's best scene, with a really great atmosphere, tons of chilling ideas and some great moments in it that are both creative and enjoyable. This is also a lot sleazier than might be expected, which is perfectly enjoyable. Along with several pretty nice nude scenes along the way, this also has a scene-stealing orgy scene done for the movie-within that is quite nice, and is a really enjoyable scene for those who love that kind of stuff. It's last big positive is that this is certainly a creative plot, one that wouldn't really be thought of for the time being. All-in-all, this was a highly enjoyable film.
The Bad News: There isn't a whole lot of flaws in this one. There's a pretty unorthodox way of getting to the main point of the film, as at times the fantasy-is-reality gimmick gets a little confusing. There's times near the end where it's hard to determine whether or not it's in the movie or just a hallucination. That really makes it a little hard to get on first-time viewing. The weak quality of the special effects is something else, since most of the time it's obvious that they're just prosthetics. That there is the main thing, as it feels way too cheap for most of the really great gore to be taken seriously. That there is the biggest flaw, and the main problems with the film.
The Final Verdict: This is a really impressive and really manages to get a lot right with only a few minor, inconsequential flaws. Highly recommended to hardcore Italian horror fans or fans of Fulci's work from the past, while it's hard to find those who won't enjoy this one.
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7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Cat in the bin, 23 Mar 2004
I was foaming at the mouth when I happened to stumble across the DVD version of this uncut video nasty. I hadn't heard about it but the gleaming word of "uncut" and the Italian gore-meister Lucio Fulci were enough to reel me in like a dead fish on a hook. Oh how very mislead I was...The story on the back cover sounds excellent - it is about Lucio Fulci (who plays himself) as a (wait for it) horror director. Over a long career his mind has become plagued and sickened with gruesome images that effect his every-day life so that he can't even say hello to the next door neighbour without his eyes superimposing blood on the guy's face. He fantasises about sadomasochistic encounters. All along it's meant to be as if there's a cat eating away at his brain, so the metaphor goes anyway. Eventually he goes to see a doctor, but the doctor hypnotises him and commits murders in Fulci's name. Sound good? Yes.
Is it good? No.
This film is unwatchable. Not because of gore (I love gore, and there isn't even much here anyway) but because it so indefensibly boring and banal. You'll be staring at the walls to avert your attention from this tedious piece of self-indulgent celluloid cheese. Hardcore (or hardgore) fans of Fulci will no doubt want to slaughter me for giving this one star, but I don't care because this film is crap from start to fin...well, I didn't even get to the finish and that's unusual for me. It's just so bad. I realise it's meant to be satirical (I sincerely HOPE so anyway) but believe me, this just doesn't work on screen. Badly directed, AWFUL acting, worse script and special effects that mice would feast on cos they're so cheesy. Even the severed head looks crap. Na, buy Lucio Fulci's self-indulgent piece of celluloid trash only if you're a hardcore dangerously obssessive fan. Otherwise, don't get it at all.
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