After Dario Argento and Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci was probably the most important Italian horror filmmakers of the 20th century. His career began in the 1950s as a scriptwriter and assistant director. In 1959, he directed his first feature film, RAGAZZI DEL JUKE-BOX. He was originally at home in the comedy genre and moved on rather late, directing a couple of spy thrillers and spaghetti westerns in the 1960s. The collaboration with director Riccardo Freda in the 1969 thriller A DOPPIA FACCIA marked his debut in the horror genre. UNA LUCERTOLA CON LA PELLE DI DONNA (LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN) was to be his first giallo as a solo director and set the standards for his later films. In 1979 Fulci directed GLI ULTIMI ZOMBI, a blatant rip-off of George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD. This film started the golden era of the Italian gore film and got Fulci his (admittedly maligned) reputation. Several gory projects followed, most notably QUELLA VILLA ACCANTO AL CIMITERO and L'ALDILA. Fulci continued making horror films after 1983 but frequently left out extreme scenes of gore. His career petered out in the late 1980s, his last directorial effort dating back to 1991. Shortly before his death, he cowrote LA MASCHERA DI CERA (1997), an atmospheric horror film, directed by Sergio Stivaletti, Dario Argento's special effects wizard. Diabetic Fulci died that same year after forgetting to take his insulin injection one night. He is best remembered for his films of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Official site (maintained by his daughter): www.luciofulci.org