The House by the Cemetery review
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. For those who know me you know about my love for horror films so once a month I’m going to review and discuss a scary flick. We’ll look at the classics, some new films, and I want your suggestions on what I should review. I’ll do my best to cover all the different genres within the genre – slashers, ghosts, monsters, etc.
SPOILER ALERT! – These will be reviews so if you haven’t seen the movie you’ll want to watch it first before you read this. Let’s do this.
THE house by the cemetery review
We finally (and admittedly weakly) close the doors on the Gates of Hell trilogy with The House by the Cemetery. While I enjoyed City of the Living Dead, and thought The Beyond was even better, House by the Cemetery just didn’t have the gusto I was looking for.
The story begins in a similar fashion to its predecessors in that we see a previous story this time of a woman and her boyfriend in an empty house. As she screams in terror after seeing his dead body, an unseen assailant stabs her in the back of the head with the blade exiting through her mouth. Great gory start at least! Jump ahead to the Boyle family leaving New York to move to said house in a picturesque New England town. But as we know, the house has terrible secrets!!! The main character is the son named Bob who for a lack of a better description, is a knock off of Danny Torrance from The Shining. He befriends a ghostly young girl named Mae who warns him to stay away from the house and begins to encounter her more and more as the film goes on. His family should listen. The family finds a locked basement which leads the father getting attacked by a bat that is a nasty, bloody scene done well with practical effects but goes on too long. More deaths occur – including the babysitter getting her throat slit in multiple places then decapitated - until the father finally learns that the man he took over for (who committed suicide) was obsessed with a former doctor named Freudstein (yes, that’s apparently what they came up with) Freudstein committed awful experiments on people and is the monster in the basement. The room is a torture chamber filled with bodies of victims and current experiments he is conducting. Freudstein is basically a zombie and needs to kill to continue living. He ends up killing Bob’s mom and dad while Bob is able to escape with the help of Mrs. Freudstein and Mae. The film does end with a beautiful image of a ghostly world where they all walk away with one more shot of the house.
The plot and story are all over the place. The story of the father and his research along with the mad scientist never really makes any sense. Odd moments like the parents leaving their young child unattended in a parked car on the street, the babysitter cleaning up an enormous blood stain without the mother really seeming interested, odd characters that don’t add to the story, and unfortunately poor dubbing. This can always be an issue in a foreign film, but this film falls victim to it in a big way. I want to look past that and see strong performances from the two child actors, but it’s awfully tough here. Other characters’ reactions and pacing aren’t conveyed properly, and it really throws the viewer off. Catriona MacColl has been the star in all three of these Fulci films and is the only decent performance in this movie.
However, it being a Lucio Fulci movie, there are some redeeming values. Simple premises like a quaint New England town, a spooky house, and ghostly children are done VERY well. His ambience and setting are always well received. I won’t lie, I’d love to stay a few days at that spooky house! Then there is the gore! Toned down a bit in this entry though. Minus the aforementioned knife in the head, the bat, and throat slitting scene, it’s fairly tame. When Freudstein gets stabbed I do love the worms and maggots that ooze out of him! I believe Fulci wanted to borrow from H.P. Lovecraft here and that tone and setting are present.
There are some great camera shots and compositions as well. Twice there is a nice, rising crane shot in the kitchen and then a really well done shot showing the actor climb some stairs, dolly in tight, then follows them down and into another room. Very smooth, nicely paced shots in this chaotic story. Using the camera to create some tension as well. Nice shadows and the outdoor composition shots of the house and cemetery are great.
We’ve survived the Gates of Hell! I’ve really enjoyed watching three of Lucio Fulci’s films and love what he is about. His haunting, atmospheric imagery and cinematography shine through regardless of story or dialogue. You have to remember these are Italian films – not American so you need to be open and watch with a different lens. No, the story and dialogue may not be great, but go with it. Enjoy his colors and visuals. When I think of a spooky haunted house, I’ll add his work to my references. Thanks for coming with me and enjoying the work of a great Italian horror filmmaker.
Enjoy the trailer - The House by the Cemetery Trailer (Lucio Fulci, 1980) - YouTube