Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

A Disappointing Continuation

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Blistering performances.

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is part of Lucio Fulci's infamous 7 Gates Trilogy next to THE BEYOND and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD. Of the three parts I found this to be the weakest entry as it succumbs to be more or less a simple slasher film. By far the worst part of the film are the two child actors (Giovanni Frezza and Silvia Collatina), both butt-ugly, creepy and annoying at the same time. Both could have easily been edited out completely without hurting the "story" (or better, plot) at all, instead they are given way too much screen time. The character of Dr. Freudstein is creepy and well done, the murders are bloody and should satisfy gore hounds out there, although the effects are really dated. Honestly, some editing would have done this film some good, the ending is good, the atmosphere is really good (Fulci is a master in that field), but as I said, those kids should have gone.

"The House by the Cemetery" is directed by famed splatter master Lucio Fulci, and it pretty much reverts to Lucio's type. Which of course is often enough for fan's of Fulci's work. Plot is irrelevant, but basically a family moves into a creepy house in New England and discover a flesh eating ghoul is in residence down in the basement. The ghoul needs to continue its bizarre medical habits to remain, well, a ghoul! Cue screams, serious bloody gore, bad dubbing and incoherent narrative. Visually, as you would expect from Fulci and cinematographer Sergio Salvati, it has inspired moments, the whole irreverence of it draped in Grand Guignol textures. The ghouls lair is a place of nightmares, while the appearance of a scary bat and doll further add to the weirdness. Yet it undoubtedly is a hack job by Fulci, where he clutches from some famous American horror movies and just inserts a bloody killing at regular intervals. The whole film serves only to shed some blood for the gore hounds delight, regardless of if it actually matters to what was left on the writing table.The film tries to weave a web of unease and mystery around the secret in the cellar, and for a while it really works. The camera work and the general look of the locations is pretty good, with a sense of brooding Gothic mystery hanging over the poor family. The house itself looks particularly impressive in most of the external shots. However the story rapidly unravels as the film proceeds to throw countless red herrings into the mix and then either completely abandons them (people claiming to have seen Norman at the house in the past, the things that Bob's mysterious playmate Mae tells him about the house's former occupants), or blatantly contradicts itself (most notably the Boyles babysitter, Ann, who's behavior suddenly swings from one style to the total opposites with no explanation). But if you can put the irregularities of the script to one side, you should enjoy the ride on a purely shallow level. Lots of scenes are drenched in great atmosphere, such as those involving the enigmatic Mae, and especially the last portion of the film when we get to see exactly what has been going on in the depths of the cellar. If you like cheesy and quite gory/violent horror films then you will like this.Overall rating: 6 out of 10.

The House by the Cemetery is a classic. Apparently. Now, let me start by saying that I'm a big fan of 'so bad they're good' movies. Normally, these are horror films, preferably made in the seventies and eighties (think Dario Agento's Demons 1 and 2). So, I like to think I approached The House by the Cemetery in the right frame of mind. I knew it would be old fashioned. I knew it would be dubbed and I knew it would have pretty awful dialogue.Yet still I failed to see what all the hype was about. Yes, it scores points for being nicely gory, but that's about it. Currently, we movie-buffs like to pour scorn on Hollywood's obsession with remaking every vaguely famous film from yesteryear. However, in my opinion, this is one film that's crying out for a remake.It was too old fashioned, even for me. I know this is really trivial, but I just couldn't bring myself to get past the incredibly bad haircuts, fashion sense and seriously awful dubbing to actually enjoy this film. I know I should have been able to look past that, but I couldn't. About the scariest thing about this film is the main child. He's seriously weird-looking and, not only that, but they chose to dub his voice with that of an adult trying to sound like a child. It only made it weirder.Too many beards. Too little action.If anyone can please explain to me what I'm missing, drop me a line.I would give it 2/10, but the levels of gore (and scene with the bat on a string which made me laugh), I'll up the overall mark to 4/10.

When a New York family moves to a small town where they found the perfect place to stay, it's a nice looking mansion. However the child has a special psychic gift of seeing a girl that warns him not to move into the house but he didn't listen, the house had terrible things that occurred once by a sick mad doctor named Freudstein who conducted horrible atrocious experiments on people. Now the family has moved in, weird supernatural occurrences keep popping up and the guests are starting to disappear one by one in a bloody way. Ghastly, spooky and gory as hell haunted house/zombie thriller from Italy's horror maestro Lucio Fulci is one of his greatest hits yet! it's also his scariest besides "The Beyond". Sure the plot lacks coherence but the dark atmosphere, a pulse pounding score, and graphic sequences of violence & gore such as skull-stabbing and a demonic bat being mutilated by scissors. The film contains that H.P. Lovecraft-like feel that Fulci would sometimes throw into his supernatural movies as this movie is a prime example, it mixes both the haunted house and zombie movie genre into one movie and it's a clever idea. Lucio Fulci makes a nice cameo appearance in this movie so look for him, this is one of my all time favorite horror movies and a must see for fans of the genre but not for the squeamish or those easily frightened. My rating: 8/10 Similar movies recommended: "The Shining", "Pet Semetary", "House (1986)", "The Others", "City of the Living Dead", "Re-Animator", "Poltergeist", "Dawn of the Dead (1978)", "Making Contact (a.k.a. Joey)", "The Ring (Japanese and American)", "The Amityville Horror (1979)", "Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror", "Versus", "Demons 1 & 2", "Cemetery Man", "House on Haunted Hill (1958 and 1999)", "The Orphanage", "The Devil's Backbone", "Burnt Offerings", "Phantasm", "Suspiria", "Phenomena", "Inferno", "Night of the Living Dead (1968)", "Day of the Dead", "Blood Diner", "Maniac", "The New York Ripper", "The Innocents", "Silent Hill", "Bride of Re-Animator", "Beyond Re-Animator", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (a.k.a. Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue)", "Hellraiser 1 & 2", "Beyond The Door", "Shock", "Tenebre", "An American Werewolf in London", "From Beyond", "Dead Alive (a.k.a. Braindead)", "Evil Dead 1 & 2", "The Sentinel (1976)", "Final Destination Series", "The Changeling", "The Legend of Hell House", "House of 1000 Corpses", "Mirrors (2008)", "1408", "The Grudge", "Ju-On: The Grudge", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Event Horizon", "Stir of Echoes", "Cannibal Apocalypse", "Return of the Living Dead 3", "Beetlejuice", "In The Mouth of Madness", "The Toxic Avenger", "The Gate", "The Fog (1980)" and "The Beyond".