Fortunately this was redressed with the release of Contraband in an uncut form on DVD by American distributor Blue Underground in 2004. Zombi 2 was the most successful film in Fulci’s long and illustrious career, but the film that followed it sank without a trace into a murky distribution limbo. Its position has not been helped by substandard and patchwork distribution. Either way the result of this is that Contraband has steadily built itself a reputation as a cult curiosity in Fulci’s filmography. One can only assume that either the cycle didn’t interest Fulci from a written point of view, or that no suitable project came to his attention. With Fulci’s incredibly competent approach to a myriad of genres it seems almost inconceivable now that he didn’t direct a crime picture at the height of the genre’s popularity in 1970’s Italy. The films status as a departure for Fulci is indicated by the fact that it was made in between Zombi 2 (1979) and City of the Living Dead (1980), and at a time when the poliziotteschi cycle itself was on the decline. Contraband was Italian writer/director Lucio Fulci’s only entry into the bitter and cynical terrain of the poliziotteschi.

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