Fulci for Fake

A 2019 documentary on the horror legend (at least in some circles), Lucio Fulci. Framed as a remembrance by the filmmaker, played by actor Nicola Nocella (even opening up this thesis w/him dressed like Fulci), he begins interviewing surviving crew members & Fulci's daughters (one of which worked w/her father & suffered a tragic horse throwing accident leaving her paralyzed) as they skim over Fulci's career providing insights (buttressed by set photos) about what made the man tick but the lack of film clips (maybe the production was denied access?) smothers the film's thrust since director Simone Scafidi pretty much, like Zelig, inserts Nocella into his doc which becomes an overreaching head scratcher that never really cracks Fulci's shell which could've won me over since I'm not a fan of the man's work but a good overview might've turned me around.

Being a longtime fan of Fulci, I was looking forward to a comprehensive documentary on his life and films. I didn't expect a narrator to insert himself into each scene with uninteresting reaction shots. The scene with him on the floor shirtless guzzling Jack Daniels looking at Fulci posters had me questioning my investment in watching the film and I checked out of it shortly after. Shame, a missed opportunity especially given the access to his daughter's perspective.

This was a documentary that I watched while working since it was streaming on Shudder. I like to watch things like this late in my day since it is like listening to a podcast. I'll admit, this wasn't the best one to try to do this since it is in Italian and I don't speak the language, so I needed to pay more attention to the subtitles. That won't be held against this though.

What we get here is interesting. The title threw me off, but having completed this, it makes sense. This is set as Nicola Nocella is going to be playing Lucio Fulci in an upcoming biopic so he is interviewing people that know this director. He is trying to get as much insight as he can for the role. This includes his daughters Camilla and Antonella Fulci. Actors and behind the scenes people like Paolo Malco, Sergio Salvati, Fabio Frizzi and Michele Soavi are also interviewed. We get a good cross section, including people who are academics to help look at the career overall. It helped me as a fan of Fulci to learn that he struggled until getting into horror and then went back as the budgets for his movies dried up. It is a shame though with the talent that he had.

This is a well-made documentary as well. We moved through his early life and career. Getting into his horror career with things like Zombie and moving into more of his more violent gialli. I liked that posters and clips are spliced in here. It also does well in showing that tragedy in Fulci's life affecting the movies that he was making. I'd recommend this to fans of this director as it is an interesting look into his life.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

There are some amazing interviews with insights into the life of one of Italy's most original directors. Unfortunately, it is edited with some embarrassing dramatisations of an actor who interprets an 'in-and-out-of-character' version of Fulci. We are even supposed to believe he is conducting the interviews when it is obvious that he was edited into them in a second moment.

It would be great to have a new cut of the film without these parts, maintaining only the interviews which are truly well directed.

That´s the question this documentary inside a fake biopic asks. Does it delivers? well, maybe Fulci big fans will be no surprised, but for the casual horror fan, there are a lot of new stuff here about Fulci´s private life, and you can that translated into is most know work. The interviews are amazing and emotive, and the fake biopìc with the actor doing of Fulci outside the documentary gives a more original aproach to the movie.