| Overall Grade: |
B |
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| Story: |
C |
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| Acting: |
C |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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A bloody good movie
by St. Michael (movies profile)
Nov 22, 2004
2
of
2 people found this review helpful
I saw this under its original title, "The Gates of Hell," in the '80's, and it scared the wee-wee outta me. If you've ever been up at three in the morning and thought you heard something -- something sinister and hungry, as we all have -- you'll be scared by this movie too.
Forget the acting, don't pay too much attention to what these people are saying, either, just sit back and squirm as some of the most horrific imagery ever put on film unrolls: A girl, while looking into the eyes of a demonic, ghoulish priest (he who caused the gates of hell to be opened in the FIRST place, the bastard), begins bleeding out HER eyes, and then urps up all her insides in technicolor splendor -- that's worth the price of admission right there, folks; zombies who rip the backs of peoples' heads off, causing their brains to fall out; and a scene in which everyone in the room is showered with maggots, and they're puking left and right -- now tell me, where else have you ever seen THAT?
In the other review on this page, the guy who wrote it refers to how scary it is to see these zombie/demon-things just blink into existence, like when this kid is running from them, terrified, and looks up on a fence and -- blink -- there's one crouched there, about to jump on him, and he's right, that's the main thing that stayed with me for days about this one. Who among us has never hallucinated, when afraid, that something was after us? That we could see, hear, maybe even feel? So yes, that is definitely the most frightening bit in this film.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the director, the Italian legend Lucio Fulci, who was also responsible for the classic "Zombie." Fulci was one of the true auteurs of Italian horror, and I more often than not enjoyed his films, and may he rest in peace. Just don't ever make the mistake of seeing "Zombi 3." Just..... don't.
I'd give this one a big thumbs-up, if I didn't want to cut off Ebert and Roeper's (the sycophants). |
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