If you had asked me before what Lucio Fulci’s greatest success with poker was I would have probably thought of poor old Dagmar Lassander in The House By The Cemetery getting it through the neck with one. I would never have thought about connecting the great director (1927 – 1996) with a hand of cards. This is all about to change now though as the writer, director, of over almost 60 great films ranging from comedy, western, sci-fi and horror is being remembered by a deck of playing cards. These are being brought to us by the team behind Camden’s legendary Psychotronic store (now operating online) and Gods and Monsters Records and follow hot on the heels of their rapidly sold out video nasty top trump cards. The only real problem on playing with these is keeping a straight poker face as you revel at the high quality artistic delights on offer
“The 52 cards comprise of plastic-coated, poker-grade (and sized) cards, featuring: 36 ‘pip’ cards adorned with artwork from throughout Fulci’s career; 16 face cards with actors and characters associated with the director and his films, as well as two jokers and a cover card, exclusive to this edition. The cards are housed in a brushed metal case, featuring a holographic image from an iconic scene from one of the Maestro’s films. Lucio Fulci Poker Cards and strictly limited edition of 300 worldwide, all of which will be individually numbered.”
The cover art that we have so far seen illustrated shows that it is not just going to be his eye popping splatter films featured but other genres too and that’s great as attention is normally rewarded to his grizzliest films whilst others are forgotten to a large extent. Naturally we anticipate there being a splinter through an eyeball, a shark and zombie having a ruck and a poor reanimated girl having her head and brains blown away.
The cards have been approved by Fabio Frizzi who called them ‘A delightful production…a wonderful release for all Lucio Fulci fans’ and were he still alive I am sure David Hess would have partaken in a hand or two with his old pal Ricky in that House By The Edge Of The Park’. He would probably also said “if you don’t get these you’re a bit of a twot”.
Speaking of which if you want a set you best be sharp as they are naturally limited to just 300 and as we have seen with the nasty cards (of which a second set is anticipated) they flew off the shelves and are now doing the rounds at exorbitant prices on auction sites.
Priced at £20.00, pre-orders are being taken now at the link below for the exclusive early bird price of £15!
(Pete Woods)
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