Lucio Fulci (born June 17, 1927 in Rome, Italy - died March 13, 1996 in Rome, Italy (diabetes-related illness)) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor.

After studying medicine, he opted for a film career, working in a wide variety of genres in Italy. In the early 1970s he moved into the thriller arena, directing giallo films that were both commercially successful and controversial in their depiction of violence and religion.

In 1979 he achieved his international breakthrough with Zombi II, an excessively bloody zombie film made to cash in on the popularity of Dawn of the Dead, released in Italy as Zombi (it is not connected in any meaningful way to the George Romero series). He followed up with several classic tales of horror and the supernatural, many also featuring zombies, which are widely regarded as some of the goriest films ever made. At his peak his fame and popularity was on a par with that of his Italian contemporary Dario Argento. His films remained generally dismissed by the mainstream, who regarded his work as pure exploitation, but he was immediately embraced by horror fans, and later much of his work began to be re-appraised as pioneering works of art.

The period from the mid-1980s onwards was less successful for Fulci, suffering from personal and health problems, and marking a decline in the quality of his work. His death in 1996 is clouded in mystery: he did not take his insulin to treat his diabetes and died that night. Some suggest this was a deliberate suicide.

Filmography: (not complete)

• Aenigma (1987)
• Manhattan Baby (1982)
• The New York Ripper (1982)
• The House by the Cemetery (1981)
• The Beyond (1981)
• City of the Living Dead (1980)
• Zombi II (1979)
  • aka Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)
  • aka Zombie (1979)
• Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)
• A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)
• Beatrice Cenci (1969)
  • aka The Conspiracy of Torture
• One on Top of the Other (1969)
• The Thieves (1959)