Born in Rome in 1927, he first worked as an art critic while studying medicine, and became involved with movies after responding to an ad for admittance to an experimental film school.

His early jobs included assisting on and co-scripting documentaries in the 40s and comedies in the 50s. It wasn't until 1959 that Fulci made his directorial debut with a movie entitled I Ladri.

Not one to be pigeonholed, the director worked on all types of genres until concentrating on horror films by the early 70s. His works from that period until the late 80s became known for their raw and disturbing imagery: the decaying, raw undead in Zombie, the razor slicing a woman's nipple in New York Ripper, among them. He hired special effects people who were able to brilliantly realize his visions, and it's interesting to note that this Italian set many of these films entirely or partly in New York City.

Zombie is his best known film and was a huge international hit, clearly inspiring such similar undead fare as Hell of the Living Dead from director Bruno Mattei. For many people, Zombie represents the epitome of Fulci's work for both good and bad reasons. Some find it a tasteless move that Fulci titled his movie in such a way as to make people believe it was a legitimate sequel (in Europe) to Romero's Dawn of the Dead.

Besides the clunky marketing ploy and lack of character development, Zombie is widely regarded as a genre classic, due in large part to its excessive gore and bleak atmosphere. It was to be his first of several films dealing with the undead. They include City of the Living Dead and The Beyond , both in 1981. (The latter was rereleased and had a successful run as a midnight movie a few years ago.)

Fulci never did care much for his critics, and fans of his wouldn't have it any other way. He died in 1996 of complications from diabetes.

NOTABLE FULCI FILMS	YEAR
The Beyond	1981
The Black Cat	1981
City of the Living Dead	1981
Don't Torture a Duckling	1972
The House by the Cemetery	1981
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin	1971
Manhattan Baby	1982
New York Ripper	1982
The Psychic	1977
Zombie	1979