Director: Lucio Fulci
Year: 1981
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: ...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà; Seven Doors of Death
Genre: Supernatural; Zombie
Plot:
After inheriting a Louisiana hotel, a woman gets discouraged by the increasing number of accidents and weird deaths happening around the locale, and after learning that the house was constructed over one of the Seven Doorways to Hell, she races to get away from the hotel before others are harmed.
Review:
This is among the greatest movies ever made. What makes it so good is the atmosphere here, which is absolutely perfect for creating an air of dread. The hotel where it all takes place is a spectacular setting with the different rooms and their layout, to the manner in which they're designed, as well as the secrets hidden around and underneath the building. This is all fantastic and leads to a lot of fun here based on the setup given. Even small little scenes, such as the back-story explanation of the house, complete with hallucinations of events that occurred before, to the dream-like confrontation where she vanishes into the night, are just more examples of how utterly creepy and atmospheric this is as the idea of what happened in the past and the tragedy that unfolded there affecting the series of incidents and encounters that take place come together perfectly.
That becomes all the more impressive since this even manages to help out from the rather fun sequences that work this dread into the film. The first attacks, from the glaring eyes appearing in the window to the zombie appearing in the drained bathtub, are simply perfect. Other stand-outs, as the sequence in the basement with the crumbling, moss-covered structure, water-covered surroundings and a fantastic ending to it all, is fantastic while more fun can be had at the hospital morgue which is set-up with the creepiness of the dead bodies mixed with the sterile location, and then the chilling chase with the acid following the one survivor around the room. The other stand-out scene is the resolution for the blind prophet, where the zombies appear following a walk-through of the house, followed by a rousing battle between a dog and zombies, which is a really outstanding scene all around.
It also ends on a high note with one of the most rousing and enjoyable encounters with zombies in the hospital, where there’s nothing but fun to be had. With tons of zombies in a desolate, creepy location providing tons of action and gore, there’s not a whole lot wrong, and it just works beautifully. That it’s such a long encounter filled with close encounter after close encounter and a sense of desperation makes for an utterly thrilling time. The zombies here look spectacular with the rotting and distorted appearance, tattered clothes, and dripping blood living up to the traditional European standard of excellence that allows them to be quite memorable. This one is absolutely filled with some utterly graphic and revolting gore makes the film as enjoyable as it is, starting right from the beginning and actually gets better as the rest of the film allows for a variety of interesting and incredibly creative violent demises. These parts make this one of the best films ever made in any genre.
There’s only one real flaw to this one that brings it down. That issue is the utterly confusing and hard-to-understand conclusion, which makes no real sense. From the hospital sequence, it goes into the underworld with no explanation of how it occurred, or rather, the point of it all, and it comes off as just incredibly confusing. A strange remark about the location being under the hotel rather than the hospital is weird, and rather than offer up any real clues or rules as to why it happens just ends without rhyme or reason, leading to a real headache-inducing scene to try to explain what happened. It’s also a little sad to see a zombie film without them going berserk and ripping a person to shreds since they’re main presence is kept until the hospital massacre, but it’s not detrimental to the film at all, compared to the ending at least.
Overview: *****/5
An absolutely beautiful entry with tons of positives to like about it and not much at all wrong, it all ends up making this one simply spectacular all around. This is highly recommended to all fans of European horror or of anyone from the crew or cast, while anyone with a passing interest in the genre or horror overall should give it a look, as only those truly hung up by the flaws should heed caution here.
This review is part of our ongoing series of reviews for Italian Horror Month, every November on the site:
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