House by the Cemetery (1982)

[slayrrr666]

“House by the Cemetery” is a pretty good Fulci film.

**SPOILERS**

The Boyle’s, mother Lucy, (Katherine MacColl) father Norman, (Paolo Malco) and son Bob, (Giovanni Frezza) move from their cramped New York apartment to a cozy house out in New England. While Lucy and Norman sign the papers, Mae Freudstein, (Silvia Collatina) whose family owns the house, warns Bob to tell his family to leave the house and go back, as the house is supposedly cursed. They also receive a baby sitter, Ann, (Ania Pieroni) who moves in with them. As they get settled in and adjust to the new scenery, Norman leaves to conduct research on a Dr. Freudstein, (Giovanni De Nava) who left a certain scar on the medical community for his various experiments. Lucy doesn’t like this as she thinks the house may be haunted after a string of strange events. Inside the basement of the house, where they hear the source of the noises, Norman is attacked, forcing them to consider moving. As things take longer than expected to get done, Norman takes things into his own hands and discovers that the legend of Dr. Freudstein is real.

The Good News: Unlike similar Fulci movies, this one isn’t an overt gorefest. Instead, it relies on a lot of creepy images and ideas to get it’s point across. The initial scenes of the family getting settled into the house are some pretty good freaky moments. An all-time favorite is the strange noises heard late at night and then investigating those noises. That is easily the best scare in the film, as the tension that mounts from that is really unnerving. After being awaken and going through the house to check on his son, he continues going through his house as he keeps hearing these strange creaking sounds throughout the house. It was great as it built up a great level of suspense through the movie, as we aren’t sure what’s causing them. Another great example is the way that Dr. Freudstein is hidden. It is concealed very well, showing only a small portion of his appearance being shown a little at a time. Usually, all we get is an arm or a quick shot of his hand or his leg, and all these images combine together in our mind, since he won’t show us the complete form, and what we imagine is much more grotesque. Keeping the villain hidden for most of the movie is a great tool for building suspense. Even the large interior of the house builds some suspense as it’s sharp corners, high roofs and big rooms that also drive home a lot of suspense scenes. Still, one of the best scenes involve anything at the end of the movie. The last third of the movie is some of the best scenes in the film. As usual with Fulci films, there is some gore involved. A down-right lethal decapitation scene is probably one of the best deaths, although it’s opening kill is pretty brutal as well. It’s not a blood-feast, though, which is something that the fans may get after this film about.

The Bad News: There is really two faults I found with this movie: the film is one of the most confusing films I’ve seen. There are subplots that go nowhere half-way through, ideas and concepts are completely dropped, and still other ideas aren’t explained at all. There are some ideas that are left a mystery to some and are left completely unknown. The mysteries are never given evidence to draw your own conclusions as well, so you basically have to string together pieces from the film to understand it all. Also, for Fulci’s reputation as a gore master, this is not as bloody as his other films. He does trade it in for more suspense, but he also could’ve used some more gore, especially in the first half.

The Final Verdict: Because it trades in gore for suspense, this is a hit or miss among Fulci fans. The suspense does pull it up, but a lack of gore and a maddeningly slow first half of the film are reasons for concern among Fulci fans. Give it a shot if you like his movies, but definitely don’t start here: there’s far better ones to introduce you to his work.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Brief Nudity

[LivingDeadGirl]

I watched this one a few days ago...my first Fulci film. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was a bit confused by it. And like Slayrr said the first half kinda dragged a bit, but I thought it was pretty good. The first killing was great. Looking forward to seeing mor of Fulci's movies.

[slayrrr666]

Thanks, LDG. A better one is Zombi 2, but I also like The Beyond and City of the Living Dead myself. As those are true zombie films, they are pretty classic films.

[Bartwald]

I love the film and you all already know it. It may lack in gore but the bat-to-the-hand scene makes up for it all!

Great atmosphere, fine acting from the adults and terrible from Frezza, a chilling ending: stuff you can't get from just ANY horror director.

[slayrrr666]

Couldn't put it better, Bart. Very unerrated movie in the Fulci cannon.

[LivingDeadGirl]

admin said:

It may lack in gore but the bat-to-the-hand scene makes up for it all!

Oh man...that scene actually made me cringe. And it just kept going forever. I was like, please just end the agony...and go get a shot. ;D

[slayrrr666]

To me, the one I love is the scene where he kills the babysitter. Seeing the slow walk he took through his eyes and the look of terror on her face was great. And the set-up was brialliant. One of the most chilling moments in the movie. That bat scene is good, but I like the baby-sitter's death myself.

[Bartwald]

Now, what about the white-haired boy, Giovanni Frezza? You saw him for the very first time, right, Livingdeadgirl? Were you as much shocked by his tErRiBLe aCtiNg as I was back in the day? ;D

[slayrrr666]

It was the dub job for me that annoyed me more than anything about him. Don't know what it was about it, but I was petrified of seeing him on screen the first time I saw it since I knew I would have to hear that god-awful dub job. That's the one for me that really got me. Not so much the acting (you have to give a little wriggle room for a kid appearing in a movie for the first time in a Fulci film) but more the dubbing.

[LivingDeadGirl]

admin said:

Now, what about the white-haired boy, Giovanni Frezza? You saw him for the very first time, right, Livingdeadgirl? Were you as much shocked by his tErRiBLe aCtiNg as I was back in the day? ;D

Yeah, that was the first time I'd seen him...never heard of him before. His acting was a little...uninspired I guess. Like slayrrr said, he's just a kid though. But, that said, I've seen much better performances from child actors.

And slayrrr, you're right about the dubbing. It drove me insane. Awful...

[slayrrr666]

Yeah, I agree. That dub job was really bad.

But you also have to remember this about Fulci: he never really cared what his actors were doing, as long as the setpieces looked good. He often forsaked their performances while focusing more on the look of the film more than nything. So, I give him a little more wriggle room than most. It's his second feature, so he had no experience before hand, and then being asked to carry the load as a lead? Sounds like a tough job for anyone, no matter what the age.

[LivingDeadGirl]

slayrrr666 said:

But you also have to remember this about Fulci: he never really cared what his actors were doing, as long as the setpieces looked good.

Well, the set pieces did look pretty good. That basement really gave me the creeps..
And that part at the end where the boy was trying to get out through that little hole....geez, I was cringing. Something about that just got to me. See, it's the little stupid things that freak me out. ;D I kept expecting Freudstein to come up and rip the boys head off his body...or rip the body from the head I guess it would be. I watched that part through my fingers...

[slayrrr666]

Yeah, if you get to see more Fulci films, you'll realize that set part logic of his. An actor doing good in a Fulci film is just merely a stroke of luck, but the set pieces look outstanding. One of the more spine-tingling endings as well, that basement escape. After he knocked off the mom, I thought for sure he would get the boy as well. But after thinking about it later, I knew that would never happen, but I wanted it anyway.

[LivingDeadGirl]

You wanted him to get killed??

[slayrrr666]

Yeah, but after thinking about it afterward, I realized it would never happen. Too integral for the story.