Nicknamed the ‘Godfather of Gore’ for his gratuitously gory scenes of violence, Lucio Fulci, together with horror directors Mario Bava and Dario Argento, would go on to define the Italian Giallo sub-genre in the 1970s. Typified by bloody violence, shadowy leather-clad killers, and for Argento and Bava particularly, surreal camera work paired with ingenious use of saturated colour, Fulci preferred an altogether different approach with more brutal, realistic scenes of horror. 

Born on 17th June 1927 in Trastavere, Rome, Fulci was born into a far-left, anti-fascist Sicilian family that would nurture his early passions of art, music, sailing, and of course, film. Despite calls from his mother to become a lawyer, Fulci preferred the idea of medical school, a place he would likely learn the inner-workings of the human anatomy, useful knowledge for his future career in Giallo film.