See also Biography Index (L) :: Filmography Index (L) :: Discography Index (L)

Fulci was born in Rome. He had a Catholic background and has referred to himself as Catholic.[4] Despite this Fulci is thought to have been Marxist and parts of his movies have been viewed as anti-Catholic.[5]

After studying medicine and being employed as an art critic[6] he opted for a film career, working in a wide variety of genres in Italy. In the early 1970s he moved into the thriller arena, directing giallo films that were both commercially successful and controversial in their depiction of violence and religion. The first film to gain him notoriety in his native country, Non si sevizia un paperino (Don`t Torture a Duckling) mixed scathing social commentary with the director`s soon-to-be-trademark graphic violence to stunning, hallucinatory effect.

In 1979, he achieved his international breakthrough with Zombi II, a violent zombie film that was marketed in European territories as a sequel to George Romero`s Dawn of the Dead (1978). He followed it up with several tales of horror and the supernatural, many also featuring zombies. His features during this time were described by some critics as being among the most violent and gory films ever made. City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981), The House by the Cemetery (1981), The Black Cat (1981), and The New York Ripper (1982) were some of his biggest hits, all of which featured extreme levels of on-screen blood and cruelty. Several of Fulci`s movies were censored by the film distributor to ensure an R rating (such as The Beyond, which was originally released in edited form as Seven Doors of Death) or were released unrated in order to avoid an X-rating (as with Zombi II and The House by the Cemetery), which would have greatly restricted the films` target audience to adults only. The unrated films often played worldwide in drive-ins and grindhouses to hordes of delighted teenagers and horror fanatics.

Many of Fulci`s movies were banned in Europe or released in heavily cut versions. Of the original 74 films on the infamous video nasty list in the United Kingdom, 3 belonged to Fulci: Zombi 2 (1979), The Beyond (1981), and The House by the Cemetery (1981).[7] After viewing Fulci`s New York Ripper, the British Board of Film classification not only refused the film a certificate but also ordered that all copies of the offending film be removed from the country.[8]
Some of Fulci`s fans have retroactively argued that at his peak, Fulci`s fame and popularity were on a par with that of Dario Argento, another famous Italian horror film director that Fulci had avoided working with and openly badmouthed. The two finally agreed to collaborate, but Fulci died before the project was finished and the film, M.D.C. - Maschera di Cera (The Wax Mask, 1997), was eventually directed by Sergio Stivaletti. [9].

Fulci`s films remained generally ignored and/or dismissed by the mainstream critical establishment, who regarded his work as pure exploitation. However, genre fans appreciated his films as being stylish exercises in extreme grue, and at least one of his splatter films, The Beyond, has "amassed a large and dedicated following".[10] His earlier, lesser-known giallo Don`t Torture a Duckling (1972), starring Barbara Bouchet, received some critical acclaim.[11]

After the mid-1980s, Fulci was far less successful. In 1988 he directed only part of Zombie 3, which was later finished by an uncredited Bruno Mattei.[12]. He moved onto TV production horror movies, some o