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The House By The Cemetery

The House By The Cemetery

List Price: $19.98
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: house by the cemetery
Review: I was expecting a bad quality DVD for the price,but hey it was a great surprise to find a excellent print.It is in widescreen and is totally uncut,the more gore the better as far as im concerned.I give this 4 stars as for the price its a bargain,if it had 5.1 surround it would of got 5 stars no problem.If you love horror then i recommend this dvd with no hesitation,as they dont make films like this anymore.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A pleasant surprise
Review: Considering Diamond Entertainment's reputation for low-end releases and Amazon's bargain basement price for this DVD, I was fully expecting a poor quality disc. However, I'm pleased to report that this was actually a great buy! The picture and sound transfer are very good, the film is in its original widescreen format and, most important of all, it's uncut! Granted, there is a lack of extras (you get a one page bio on Lucio Fulci and that's about it), but I'm more than pleased with the film itself and that's what matters most to me.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: House By the Cemetary
Review: I would actually give this movie a 2 1/2 stars. Out of all the recent Italian Horror movies that my friend has bought recently, this is by far the best one yet. It does have the suspence that a good horror should have. The makeup isn't bad either. I would also say that parents need to review the movie for themselves, prior to letting their children watch it, as it is very grusome, and gory. The movie portrays a couple of movies and gave them thier start. One of those movies would be "The Sixth Sense". By the time the movie comes to an end, you are cheering for the little boy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another Great Fulci Movie!
Review: Thank you Fulci again for another great movie. Truely one of the best.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Amazingly Gory, but good fun!
Review: After a fantastic start which has definite echos of 'The Shining', this film ups the gore content leaving you feel quite sick by the end. As ever, Fulci treats us to a multitude of strong gore scenes, inculding the most ridiculous bat attack ever filmed! Not as good as 'Zombie' but better than 'The Black Cat' or 'The Beyond' (which I don't particularly like), House has soem great performances, some cheesy, but hey, what where you expecting? If you are ven slightly interested in the 'golden era' of Fulci horror then you wil want to check this movie out, i doubt that you will be disappointed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Four for Gore says this Fulci Fanatic
Review: The great thing about Lucio Fulci movies on DVD is that you can skip right to the gore without the annoying need to fast forward or rewind those worn out ol' vhs tapes found at your local video store. I assume that if you're searching this movie on amazon, you know about Fulci or you've heard about him from one of your horror-movie buddies and you want to know what all the fuss is about.

Let me fill you in. House by the Cemetary is not Fulci's goriest movie, but it is his most atmospherically directed. Don't get me wrong, there is some good gore, but if you haven't ever seen a Fulci movie before and want to know what all the goreheads are raving about, start with Zombie, The Beyond, or even City of the Living Dead. House by the Cemetary is a good second or third Fulci movie to check out if you dig him.

The plot (as if you care) is this: a family moves into a house by a cemetary (who'd a thunk it!) though the cemetary really never comes into play in the movie. Go figure. The son of the family keeps seeing a red-haired little girl who warns him of imminent danger. The house is full of giant bats and weird noises, and a killer lurks in the basement. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Here's the rundown on the gore (yep, I knew this was what you were really interested in): first scene of the movie, a young woman is stabbed in the head. Later on, another woman is impaled by some kind of metal pole. Cue the capitation. A throat gets ripped out. A bat gets knived in gooey fashion. This, more or less, is the extent of it. For a Fulci film, this is pretty conservative.

Despite his penchant for gore, Fulci has a nice creepy vibe flowing through HBTC, starting early on with the image of the girl standing by a window in an old picture. The woods and tombstones around the house add a nice air of eerie atmosphere. The performances are ok, but the dubbing for the blonde kid is ridiculously annoying.

Some of you may wonder what the deal is with Fulci. For instance, ine one scene Fulci implies that something is going on between the father of the family and the new nanny by cutting between their two eyes peering at one another; however, nothing SEEMS to be going on between them. These sort of weird "what's this all about" camera tricks and moments pop up through the film, but remember this is a Fulci flick. Weirdness is the order of the day, and forget about it.

Despite himself, Fulci has a nice nightmarish quality to his work that, no matter how silly it seems, can seep into your dreams.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: House By The Cemetery Delivers!!
Review: This was the first Lucio Fulci film I've had the pleasure of viewing! I look forward to seeing his other works! The House by the Cemetery hits on all points of a horror movie! It's creepy, eerie and has some awesome killing scenes and GORE!! They don't call Lucio "The godfather of gore" for nothing! The acting? Well, sub-par at best. Plot? Interesting, but not deep. The dubbing well it's pretty bad but who cares it's a great horror film.

The Boyle family move from their cramped New York apartment into an old mansion near Boston so that the father can do some needed research. The new tenants, unbeknownst to them, have a god awful secret living in their basement. A certain Dr. Freudstein has been housed below since 1879 and has kept himself alive by murdering inhabitants of the mansion and using their cells to keep his body going. Gore, horror, and great special effects makes a visit to the House by the Cemetery a killer stay! A knife through the skull, nice throat ripping and slashing, decapatation, and some maggot spewing make for a "pleasurable" movie for the avid horror fan.

We all know horror movies aren't supposed to be deep with Academy Award winning acting. If we wanted that we wouldn't be watching this type of film. I can't compare this film to Fulci's other works because I haven't seen any others, but to me this was impressive and one I would recommend to fans of the genre!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's Dr Freudstein!
Review: I picked up this little gem for about 5 bucks from a local used DVD shop. I would recommend this to fans of older horror movies. True, the dubbing does suck and the acting is questionable, but the last 15 minutes of this movie almost make up for it. Dr. Freudstein is truly one of the most twisted and interesting villians I've yet seen in a horror movie and its easy to see Rob Zombie's inspiration for his Dr. Death character in House of 1000 Corpses. Not to mention, there's a few scenes near the end that push the gore envelope to the max! Love the maggot-stew gushing out of Freudsteins wounds... Truly twisted!! They don't make gore effects like this anymore, i hate CGI gore!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Thats it I'm taping your zoom.
Review: Lucio Fulci is one oddly inconsistent filmmaker. I've only seen 4 of his films, though arguably his 4 most famous ones, which were made pretty much one after another. Yet they vary wildly in quality on extremely basic levels. While 'Zombie' is not the height of cinematic sophistication, it is essentially competent. It's not scary by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't really take it as a joke. Then with 'City of the Living Dead' Fulci apparently forgot everything he knew, and made a film that isn't half as professional as was 'Zombie'.(Though it still was an entertaining film, certainly) Then he makes 'The Beyond', which is not w/o a few rough edges and some hokiness at times, but still a genuinely stylish and atmospheric film most of the time. And then we get 'The House by the Cemetery' and are back in 'City of the Living Dead' territory, competency wise. As with that film, 'House...' is entertaining, and worth a look for people who enjoy cheap horror films. But it ain't good, by any stretch of the imagination.

This film contains an odd mishmash of genres mixing haunted house with slasher with a dash of zombie film. I won't bother with the plot too much- a family moves into the house which has a murderous zombie-dude, Dr. Freudstein, in the cellar, who has to kill in order to live on and on.(Why or how this is is never addressed. Not that it matters.) Also, the kid in the family, Bob, has telepathic abilities, and has a little girl friend who no one else can see. That's about it. They sit around, and occasionally Freudstein tries to stab them up, and often succeeds. I don't mind the sitting around- I thought that the atmosphere and tone of 'The Beyond' was the better part of the film. However, the setting isn't all that interesting visually, and the score is hokey and overwrought, particularly when compared Frizzi's or Goblin's better work. So, the film tends to come out as more uneventful than atmospheric.
(However, I've only seen a crappy cheapass version, rather than the Anchor Bay one. Thus, the print and transfer were terrible, and I presume it would be at least somewhat more interesting visually with a decent print. Still, I doubt if it would be anywhere near being a genuinely good horror film.)

The film is less gory than the other films I've seen from him, but it's still got a fair amount. Freudstein mostly likes to work the throat, to quite gruesome effect. Their are some conceptually cool effects that don't really pan out in execution. Towards the beginning of the film, Freudstein stabs someone through the back of the head, with such force that the blade comes out her mouth. Cool idea, lame execution. Later, Freudstein is cut, and starts to bleed maggots. Once again, the effect ain't ideal, but the concept is neat enough that it doesn't matter too much. Finally, while Freudstein's mannerisms are quite effective, his makeup pretty much sucks.

Still, the film does have a few effectively atmospheric moments, as did 'City...' The best part would be when the father of the family finds a tape that the previous tenant recorded. As he plays it the camera ominously pans about the house, moving into the cellar which is then filled with creepy mutilated corpses.(Which mysteriously appear again later) The rather inexplicable ending is pretty cool too, though I won't go into specifics.

And yeah, Bob is plenty obnoxious, but I've seen other kids in movies that are equally obnoxious. And yeah, the bat attack is extremely weak, but the bat attack in 'Suspiria' was lame too, as was the Bug attack scene in 'Phantasm' but I almost never hear anyone complain about those scenes. One lame horror scene doesn't kill a movie. There's also some hilarious Foley work, particularly when a head is rolling down a staircase. Sounds like a damn bowling ball.Still, this movie is entertaining, and I just like watching Fulci's work. I actually enjoy his leisurely pacing, even when there isn't all that much atmosphere, and his distinctive visual tics. (Random zooms and close-ups, Focusing near then far in the same shot and vice versa, eye shots etc.) So, it gets my recommendation, if not exactly the heartiest one ever.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An Ok Fulci film but not one of his better films
Review: This was the first Fulci movie I saw that had no zombies in it. The movie was hard to follow, you never find out what the hell is going on until the end, and even then you are never given a full explaination. The basic story is a creepy old house where in the basement creepy Dr. Fruinstein lives and has to kill victums in order to regenerate his cells. Don't ask me what the hell that means cause that is one of the lines at the end of the movie to try explaining what is going on. All in all, I enjoyed it and is watchable again. It is not gory, I mean for Fulci, the gore is pretty average. Compared to some of Fulci's other films it is mild. If you want to see lots of the red stuff and and body parts, see Fulci's The Beyond. In my personal opinion, Fulci's greatest movie is Zombie. If you are a Fulci fan, House By The Cemetery is decent enough. If you are not a Fulci fan, you will not like this movie.


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