You don't have to wait until All Saints' Day for a 4K remastered Blu-ray of THE GATES OF HELL thanks to Scorpion Releasing.

When Father Thomas (Fabrizio Javone, THE PSYCHIC) hangs himself, the sacrilegious act causes the gates of hell to open beneath the Dunwich cemetery. Psychic Mary (Catriona MacColl, THE BEYOND) witnesses this event during a mediumistic trance at a séance in New York and apparently dies of shock but wakes up to find herself entombed in a buried coffin. Fortunately, meddling reporter Peter Bell (Christopher George, PIECES) comes to her rescue, nearly killing her in the process, and the pair hit the road in search of Dunwich to shut the gates of hell before All Saints' Day when the dead will walk the earth; but strange things are already beginning to happen in the town – built over the ruins of the original Salem and whose residents are descendants of witch-burners – since Father Thomas killed himself. Two necking teenagers (future Italian horror director Michele Soavi and Fulci's favorite victim Daniela Doria) have disappeared – well, we know they didn't really disappear since we are shown their fates in graphic detail – and slow-witted Bob (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK) is the likely suspect since local psychiatrist Gerry's (Alida Valli's son Carlo De Mejo, THE OTHER HELL) social worker girlfriend Emily (Antonella Interleghi, NEW YORK RIPPER) has also turned up dead from shock after visiting Bob; and the bigoted and frightened townsfolk (among them SEVEN DEATHS IN A CAT'S EYE's Venantino Venantini and RE-ANIMATOR's Robert Sampson as the local sheriff) are looking for a scapegoat. Emily's little brother John-John (Luca Venantini, EXTERMINATORS OF THE YEAR 3000) is seeing ghoulish, brain-squishing apparitions of his sister, and painter Sandra (Swedish model Janet Agren) is being terrorized by the corpse of an elderly woman that keeps popping up in odd places in her house. Peter and Mary hook up with Gerry and Sandra and compare notes under a shower of maggots and determine that the dead seem to have risen a little early but the best option still seems to be checking out the cemetery (or under it) as the likely location for the gates of hell.

Lucio Fulci follow-up to his hugely successful unofficial sequel to DAWN OF THE DEAD titled ZOMBI 2 (or ZOMBIE to American viewers and ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS to the Brits), CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD – released stateside as THE GATES OF HELL – was not as successful but has developed a following since and has come to be regarded by some as the better film. Produced on a lower budget, largely on location in Savannah, Georgia – which also hosted Antonio Margheriti's CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE (released statesides as CANNIBALS IN THE STREET and INVASION OF THE FLESH HUNTERS) – CITY feels more episodic, taking a leisurely approach to its race against time story with gory and suspenseful asides that are nonetheless effective thanks to the production design of Massimo Antonello Geleng (THE CHURCH), show-stopping gore including a woman mesmerized into vomiting up her intestines and a power drill through the head seen spinning on both sides, some gore-geous photography by Sergio Salvati who makes use of lavender and blue gels in the style of Dario Argento's INFERNO, and a gritty hybrid orchestral/Mellotron tape-looped choral voices that may (along with the partial mausoleum setting and spectral Father Thomas) have been influenced by the look and feel of Don Coscarelli's PHANTASM. Although slumming in one of a handful of American and European horror films before his early death, George is most engaging here and seems the least hindered by the banally-scripted dialogue while MacColl (in the first of three collaborations with Fulci) gets put through her paces in true scream-queen fashion. Secondary protagonists De Mejo and Agren are not as well-developed but are given center stage in a couple suspenseful set-pieces before meeting up with the other two. The zombies are a very different kind of beast from those of ZOMBIE, as reproachful specters teleporting to terrify and kill (sometimes for revenge), and there is something especially frightening about the way human characters are compelled after initial frights to look in certain directions where the zombies will then pop up again and move in for the kill. The cast also includes a quick appearance by Luciano Rossi (SO SWEET, SO DEAD's necrophilic mortician's assistant), James Sampson (who summoned up a supernatural zombie menace in Claudio Fragasso's later AFTER DEATH), Martin Sorrentino (MANHATTAN BABY's unfortunate building super), and a pair of gravediggers played by adult film actor Michael Gaunt (INTRUSION) and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST's Perry Pirkanen.

Released theatrically uncut and unrated by Motion Picture Marketing as THE GATES OF HELL, and then on a cropped big box VHS from Paragon (and a letterboxed sell-through tape from Creature Features) – laserdisc aficianados could have gone for a Japanese two-disc set featuring the English version on one disc, the Italian version on another, and a filmstrip form a 35mm print – CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD received a more respectable treatment from Anchor Bay in 2000 with an anamorphic widescreen transfer and a nice 5.1 remix. The image was a little dark, but that proved to be a better choice when Arrow Video put out DVD and Blu-ray in 2010 using an HD master prepared in 2004 for the Italian DVD. While that master already suffered from scanner noise and too much DNR, the Arrow release compounded things by brightening the image, sapping not only some of the shadow detail but also some of the color saturation in the gel lighting. Blue Underground utilized the same master for their 2010 Blu-ray, and the superior black levels and slightly richer colors made it the better choice until a new transfer came along. Arrow Video made up for the earlier release last year with a new 4K scan of the original camera negative that garnered generally favorable reviews. Earlier this year, Code Red released a "grindhouse" Blu-ray featuring a scan from an American 35mm print in a double bill with PSYCHO FROM TEXAS while Scorpion Releasing announced that they were also putting out a 4K-mastered Blu-ray.

Scorpion uses the same 4K scan as Arrow, and their "exclusive color grading" has resulted in quite a beauty of a release. While the Arrow release did have a slight yellow cast over the entire image, here skin tones look a bit more natural (although George looks a bit more pink-cheeked in some close-ups). Detail is superior the earlier DVDs and Blue Underground's Blu-ray, revealing textures not only in hair and costumes but also in the settings, giving the arid Dunwich a more weathered feel and enhancing one's appreciation of the craftsmanship of the Italian sound stage sets. The zombie make-up which once seemed slapped together with oil paints and gunk now look effectively putrescent. The new grading and overall superior resolution greatly aid one's assessment of the overall atmosphere, also calling attention to compositional elements one may not have noticed before (although it was present in earlier transfers, I never noticed zombie Emily's reflection in the bar window glass and just assumed the terrified customers were reacting to something offscreen), while Father Thomas's blue-gelled apparitions seem more threatening than ever before. Viewers who picked this one up for the gore may want to give it another look and absorb the technical and artistic craftsmanship that went into creating the film's irrational nightmare world. Audio options include English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 stereo, and 2.0 mono tracks as well as an Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track. The newly remixed tracks also call attention not only to sound design but also instrumentation evident on the stereo soundtrack CDs but once buried in the mono film mixes, adding another layer of elegance to the production. Optional English SDH and English subtitles for the Italian track are also included. Although the cover uses the GATES OF HELL title, the title on the transfer remains CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Jay Slater recorded a commentary with actress MacColl for the old British Vipco DVD, a track that was ported over to the Arrow release along with a new track with actor Radice. Despite the presence of virtually all the other extras from the more recent Arrow edition, neither track is featured here; however, Scorpion Releasing has an exclusive in translating the audio commentary by cinematographer Sergio Salvati and camera operator Roberto Forges Davanzati, moderated by film professor Paolo Albiero recorded for the 2004 NoShame DVD. Although some of Fulci's earlier gialli had horror elements, Albiero regards CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD as Fulci's second horror film, and the more deliberate in Fulci's deploying of horror compared to ZOMBIE, indulging more in the irrational and sensorial than the more straightforward latter film (also interpreting Father Thomas' suicide as the "denial of the certainty of faith"). Rather than focusing on the cinematography, Salvati and Davanzati discuss the whole of the film, from their warm working relationship with Fulci – and his more volatile ones with actors – to the Savannah locations, the contributions of colleagues like Geleng and special effects artist Gino de Rossi (not Giannetto de Rossi who was replaced here by make-up artist Franco Ruffini), and Rosario Prestopino (DEMONS) who worked uncredited here as an early credit. Also included new audio commentary by film historian Troy Howarth and Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson who offer up both production anecdotes/factoids and analysis, noting Fulci's preference for the early musical and Toto/Franco & Ciccio comedies, and that his late turn as a horror specialist was intended to be a means of riding out the rest of his career after the unexpected hit with ZOMBIE. They reveal that adult film star Robert Kerman (EATEN ALIVE) was originally up for a role – although I'm not sure I believe the claim that CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST co-star Perry Pirkanen is the same person as porn star Jesse Adams (whose oeuvre can be sampled with a handful of Vinegar Syndrome releases) – as well as noting that the plot contrivance of burying Mary right away without embalming may be explained by a bit of set decoration suggesting that she is Jewish (and the revelation that the cemetery location is the Mount Zion Cemetery).

From the Arrow Blu-ray comes "We Are the Apocalypse" (53:02), an interview with screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti (CAT O'NINE TAILS) also contrasts Fulci on ZOMBIE on which he followed the script and applied his knowledge to technical innovations with CITY on which Fulci had more creative input. He sheds light on the comments by Howarth about Fulci and the horror genre, revealing that Franco moved onto CONTRABAND after ZOMBIE disappeared from Italian cinemas but then, upon learning of the film's overseas success, expected producers to be coming to him for more. Instead, he ended up going to National Cinematografica's Mino Loy and Loy's former partner Luciano Martino at Dania Film for the follow-up originally titled "The Fear" which eventually became CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD. He offers up a frank assessment of Fulci's failings with producers including THE BEYOND's Fabrizio de Angelis, and is of the opinion that only CAT IN THE BRAIN out of his later projects would have been a new direction for the filmmaker. In "Through Your Eyes" (37:03), actress MacColl recalls first meeting Fulci, being convinced by her agent to take the job since no one would see it, it paid, and she would get to go to America and Italy, and that she had no idea it would result in a trilogy of films with Fulci. She relates some fond memories of the cast, getting the Key to the City from the mayor in Savannah, and some of the more difficult scenes involving the coffin and the maggots. In "Dust in the Wind" (13:16), camera operator Davanzati recalls meeting Salvati through the cinematographer's wife with whom he studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Once more, he speaks warmly of Fulci but also of his conflicts with George on the film, as well as creating wind and fog by throwing cement and talcum powder through a giant plane propeller, as well as the shooting at De Paolis studios for the maggot shower.

In "The Art of Dreaming" (45:52), production designer Geleng recalls being a fan of Fulci before meeting him, enjoying his comedies but being particularly impressed with his treatment of the Middle Ages in BEATRICE CENCI, and taking time to rattle off the admittedly impressive roster of other Italian production designers who worked with Fulci including regular Massimo Lentini (NEW YORK RIPPER), and how his own admiration and respect for Fulci had him doing some uncredited location scouting for Fulci's later film VOICES FROM BEYOND. He discusses some of his set constructions for the film including a coffin large enough to be able to film inside and the underground tomb set with skeletal limbs dangling from the earthen ceiling. In "Tales of Friendship" (30:51), cinematographer Salvati recalls first working with Fulci when called to shoot second unit for WHITE FANG. Although Fulci told him to fuck off upon their first meeting during the screening of the footage, the director would then contact him weeks later to shoot the comedy DRACULA IN THE PROVINCES (although their western FOUR OF THE APOCALYPSE was released first). Of CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, he discusses the filters to drain some of the color from the Savannah locations as well as Fulci's decisiveness about the lighting effects he wanted to achieve, the importance stressed by Fulci on the film's close-ups of faces, and his use of the zoom lens.

In "I Walked with a Zombie" (22:51), actor Radice recalls returning from Savannah to Rome after doing location shooting for CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE only to be hired to CITY OFT EH LIVING DEAD, replacing Soavi who was originally cast as Bob, and having the guts to stand up to Fulci and turn down the hunchback appliance they wanted him to wear for his character. In "The Horror Family" (19:16), actors Venantino Venantini and his son Luca separately recall their working relationships with Fulci, with Luca recalling as a child being coached to treat acting with the nightmarish zombies as a game and offering up his interpretation of the film's ending. In "They Call Him 'Bombardone'" (26:57), special effects technician Gino De Rossi discusses the appliances he created for the film's gore sequences as well as the shooting of the maggot shower sequence (he also recalls being blamed for a prank involving the fly larvae played on Fulci, the culprit of which is identified by Davanzati as being actor George).