News / / 11.11.13

Fabio Frizzi

Union Chapel, London | October 31st

For decades the films of Lucio Fulci have been celebrated worldwide as crucial steps in expanding the horror genre. Alongside directors like Dario Argento and Mario Bava, Fulci had thrived in a period where the Italians were considered by many to be at the apex in horror filmmaking – his notoriety was evident when Zombi 2 (Zombie Flesh Eaters) was released in the U.K. in 1979 only to be banned, branded as a “video nasty” due to its unacceptable, excessive amounts of gore and violence.

A fast-growing cult status, though, was not simply due to shocking visuals and gut-wrenching special effects. As audiences grimaced at Fulci’s images, Fabio Frizzi haunted them with pioneering electronic scores and symphonic scares in a working relationship that lasted 15 years. As we lament the loss of that marriage between sound and vision that had made the likes of Frizzi and Fulci so culturally renowned we welcome the former to London tonight on what is, amazingly, his first ever London performance. There couldn’t have been a more suitable date than Halloween.

On entry the majesty of the Union Chapel is overwhelming – the immense, octagonal central hall decorated with stained glass reaches to the very tip of its ageing steeple and is a picture of ecclesiastical perfection. The audience inhabiting it tonight though are a collection of the most profoundly mismatched individuals; it is a testimony to the master’s influential status that he has brought such a bizarre assortment together tonight. Classical music connoisseurs are sipping on wine at the bar and lounge, metalheads donning Cannibal Corpse t-shirts are consuming John Carpenter vinyls like fried brains at the merch stall, and the costumed walking dead creep about the venue’s “haunted corridor”. Crack takes a seat at one of the pews as the hordes suck up the insatiable suspense.

As Frizzi and his consorts assemble the stage in darkness we cast our eyes to the screen above as a montage of Fulci’s career plays out. It is a touching sentiment to the sadly departed director that provides a tender introduction to the evening, but the emotional weight of the images are soon transformed by the blossoming sound of Frizzi’s twelve-piece band. He sits at the front with a loving grin and conducts keyboardists, guitarists, percussionists and a string quartet, and we are taken on the most vivid and magical of journeys.

In fifteen-minute symphonies we are taken on a two-hour exploration of Fulci’s films. Frizzi’s sensational scores are beautifully brought to life as key scenes are played out on the screens above. We re-live the infamous power-drill-to-the-skull of City of the Living Dead through the overwhelming orchestral aura, we re-tread the sand-covered, fairy-tale adventure of the Western Four of the Apocalypse, and are reminded of the scope of the composer yet again with the sound of Sette Note in Nero – re-used by Quentin Tarantino in 2003 for Kill Bill. The biggest applause comes for the moaning death-thumps and sensational, synthesised overtures of the Zombi 2 theme. The score plays out in full, enveloping the legendary underwater zombie vs. shark sequence, and the gruesome splinter eye-gouge, received in a climax of winces and screams.

The night draws a breathtaking climax with the addition of a choir for Frizzi’s greatest work: the intense, almost religious sonic storm of The Beyond is a soaring peak to end a night that had jaws dropping from the word go. Frizzi had arrived to an audience unmatched in excitement. He left them in a state of unbridled euphoria.

– – – – – – – – – –

facebook.com/fabio.frizzi

Words: James Balmont

CONNECT TO CRACK