Lucio Fulci: Beyond the Gates

Chas Balun

Lucio Fulci is, depending on to whom you talk, either a derivative hack or one of the finest directors of the latter half of the twentieth century. (To be fair, the same can be said of David Lean.) I'm a longtime fan, over a quarter of a century now, and I've always thought of Fulci kind of in the middle; cheesy, but fun. I'm guessing that the folks who put this book together would consider me somewhat lukewarm, and worthy of spitting. These are the extreme militant Orthodox branch of the Cult of Fulci, headed up by Chas Balun, one of the guys who was on the bleeding edge of the horror-film fanzine way back when.

This book is, essentially, an extended eulogy. Written not long after Fulci's 1996 death, it contains as prefaces and afterwards testimonies from a number of other "name" fans (at least, to those in the world of underground horror) framing Balun's extended essay. The whole thing is, as is to be expected from a book on the master of low-budget horror, made on a shoestring budget, but the pictures are still excellent (and the quality's at least passable), the emotion is communicated well, and the tribute is about as fitting as one could write. As with all Irish-style wakes, it gets a little sappy now and again (did Balun really have a straight face when writing that Fulci had "gone on to the Beyond"?), but if you're a Fulci fan, readnig this is kind of like reminiscing with some of your and the man's mutual friends.