As a twenty-three-year devotee of Dario Argento, I have only seen a small fraction of the films directed by Lucio Fulci. I first became aware of his work on June 6, 1982 when I saw the trailer for THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY before a theatrical double dose of POLTERGEIST. It looked very disturbing and completely off-limits to my 13 year-old mentality, but I was intrigued nonetheless. Having seen the creepy BURNT OFFERINGS the previous year, I wondered exactly what this movie might look like.
In the years to come I caught up with a really terrible copy of ZOMBIE on VHS, and I saw THE BEYOND at an Exhumed Films screening on November 13, 1998 in Mount Ephraim, NJ. DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING, THE BLACK CAT, THE GATES OF HELL, A CAT IN THE BRAIN, THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (my favorite – I love that gatefold laserdisc!), and the crazy NEW YORK RIPPER all followed some time after that on special edition DVDs, long after I became a full-fledged horror fan.
Now that Fulci's films are more readily available on DVD it is easier than ever to catch up with his work. Massachusetts denizen and long-time Fulci aficionado Mike Baronas has put together a new limited-pressing DVD filled with exclusive interviews of many of the cast and crew of Fulci's best-known splatterfests. PAURA, LUCIO FULCI REMEMBERED, VOLUME ONE sprang from Baronas' mind a few years after he had secured an interview with Fulci at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors show in January 1996. Unfortunately, a massive snow storm wreaked havoc that weekend and precluded Baronas from meeting his idol (I recall that weekend vividly and being caught in a whiteout on the way back from an early afternoon dismissal from work). Baronas then set upon a mission to pay tribute to the man whose work he so dearly loves. I feel the same frustration about Stanley Kubrick, my personal favorite director, whom I wrote to multiple times after seeing THE SHINING but never heard from. I have thought many times what it would be like to speak with him about his enthusiasm for cinema.
Like most of us, Baronas grew up on a steady diet of horror films during the late 1970's when independent television stations showed all that cool stuff that gave us nightmares as kids. In the 80's he rented countless horror films on tape. Writing for several publications over the subsequent years and working for the Media Blasters DVD company, Baronas and fellow Fulci fan/Media Blasters employee Kit Gavin took multiple trips to Rome and interviewed many people who worked with Fulci. These interviews ended up as supplemental material on the DVDs of Fulci's films, but the one final question that was asked, "What is your fondest memory of Lucio Fulci?" provided the basis for the responses of those interviewed who appear on this new DVD. If you are a Fulci fan, owning this DVD is a no-brainer. Likewise, anyone who loves Dario Argento's work must own Michele Soavi's excellent documentary on him. That being said, I would encourage those of you who may not be the world's biggest Fulci fans to obtain the DVD anyway for the simple reason that it was not only made by a true fan who honestly loves and admires his subject, but it is also a great way to get to know Fulci's work through those who worked with him. The discussions are short – some are a mere two minutes, and some are about five minutes. But we hear from a large number of people and mercifully there is a "Play All" function on the disc. The DVD is nicely separated into three sections: Accomplices (19 interviews), Peers (14 interviews), and Victims (55 interviews). It's great to see people like Fabio Frizzi who contributed such wonderful minimalist music to Fulci's films; screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti; makeup man Carlo Rambaldi; directors Bruno Mattei, Luigi Cozzi, Lamberto Bava, Michele Soavi, and performers such as Veronica Lazar, Barbara Cupisti, Corinne Clery, Catriona Maccoll, John Steiner (who sells insurance in California! "Yes, it was me – I sold them all. I sold them all!! I SOLD THEM ALL!"), and John Morghen to name just a few. There is some background noise prevalent on some of the discussions (glasses clanging in a restaurant, for example), but this is a minor quibble and most of the responses are in Italian and are clearly subtitled. The whole project is done as a labor of love that I cannot help but forgive such shortcomings. I was very impressed with (and jealous of!) Baronas' and Gavin's ability to not only get in contact with all of these people in Italy, but to actually sit down and talk with them. The fact that Gavin speaks Italian made all of this possible.
The DVD insert is also nicely done. I must give kudos to Baronas for one more thing: reminding me of that inimitable experience of walking into the horror section of a video store in the mid-1980's and seeing all of that impressive artwork on the covers of the video boxes. That was truly incredible. I think of Video Gallery in South Plainfield, NJ and the DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE and SEASON OF THE WITCH boxes on the shelves. Video One in Edison, NJ was amazing: POSSESSION with Isabelle Adjani; NEXT OF KIN from New Zealand; LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH, etc.
Baronas is currently working on a new book about Fulci which I am truly eager to see. In the meantime, the DVD can be ordered at Paura Productions. Hopefully, there will be a volume two. Next, I would love to see them take a tour of the locations where Fulci filmed these movies. THAT would truly be sweet!
