New Yorker Liza Merril inherits an old hotel in Louisiana and invests her savings to reopen the place, unaware that the hotel houses the body of a dead painter murdered decades earlier, and that the location is about to become a gateway to Hell.
Practical Effects
Fulci's effects team were clearly unwell and we thank them.
Direction
Plot coherence? Abandoned. Atmosphere? MAXIMUM.
Score
Fabio Frizzi's synths that ooze dread.
Director
Lucio Fulci
Catriona MacColl
Liza Merril
David Warbeck
John McCabe
Cinzia Monreale
Emily
Antoine Saint-John
Schweick
Veronica Lazăr
Martha
Larry Ray
Larry
Al Cliver
Dr. Harris
Michele Mirabella
Martin Avery
Giampaolo Saccarola
Arthur
Laura De Marchi
Mary-Ann
Calogero Azzaretto
Zombie at Hospital (uncredited)
Ottaviano Dell'Acqua
Zombie at Hospital (uncredited)
Roberto Dell'Acqua
Glass-Smashing Zombie (uncredited)
Lucio Fulci
Town Clerk (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Banned as a 'video nasty' in the UK, which only cemented its legend. The British moral panic basically printed Fulci's paychecks.
The infamous tarantula scene used real spiders—and yes, they were actually biting that poor actor's face. Method acting, Fulci-style.
IT
