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House by the Cemetery

House by the Cemetery

List Price: $4.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Surprising Gem
Review: I love horror movies, and have a soft spot for low budget horror films made during the late 70s and into the 80s. Lucio Fulci was one of the masters of the low-budget, fast-make gore films. I had never seen this one before, but I had seen Zombie 2, his unofficial sequel to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, so I kind of new what to expect. I was not disappointed.

Lots of atmosphere, lots of blood and gore, and a story that was downright eerie. The music had a haunting, melancholy flavor that was very appropriate for the story line. The players, including the two principal children costars, were more than adequate. Of course you're going to see weak plot points (for instance, where'd all the blood go when the baby sitter was decapitated and just moments later two principal characters walk onto the scene, and it's a dry and dusty floor; in reality, they'd be slipping and sliding like a panicked cat on ice), but then again, you can get the same kind of weak plot points in a John Carpenter film, and I don't seem to mind them either. You just expect it to happen in this kind of movie. Look past the weaknesses, and what you've got in "House by the Cemetery" is almost a homage to the great Hammer Films of the 60s and 70s. You've got a gothic ghost story, with a Ghoul that feeds on warm living flesh to stay alive, like a vampire. The scene in the basement, when we see where the "good Doctor Freudstein" does his butchering with dirty surgical tools on a steel table top, made me think of the recent remake of "House On Haunted Hill"; some tricks of the trade never change.

Surprisingly, for such a low cost DVD, it was presented wonderfully, in Wide Screen format, with restored sound and music. It includes a short Bio on Fulci, and nice scene access, should you decide you want to see some finely done vivisectioning over and over again.

If you like horror and you like gore to the extent you find yourself leaping up and laughing at the over-the-top-splatter, then you'll love this film. Great Buy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY
Review: This classic was directed in 1981 by Lucio Fulci and has become over the years a memorable horror movie. The film is genuinley scary at points, and slower at points, but I definitely have to admit that it was very freaky. The gore was really high in this movie, the killings were plain out crazy, which only made it freekier, thanx to the special effects which only made it more realistic. Anyway, I bought the version produced by DIAMOND ENTERTAINMENT DVD, It was 6.99, It was okay, no real extras except the director's Biography, the sound quality was week and un-restored (just like the VHS) and the image quality was pretty weak, lacking real strong colors, it seemed faded at points, definitely not restored much, but the 2.35:1 widescreen format was nice...can't wait to buy the Anchor Bay DVD of it, I heard the transfer is amazing and I heard the sound quality was better, too. Also, there is another version from EC entertainment with a nice transfer too (not as good as Anchor Bay's) but it did have a load of extras, but i'll stick with anchor bay, I'd rather have a top notch looking movie that was restored very well and you can tell it's dvd, then a decent transfer with lots of extras, plus, the Anchor Bay DVD has some extras, trailers, tv spots, bios, still gallerie...
GET THE ANCHOR BAY DVD if you like this movie, if you've never seen it, buy the 6.99 bargain shelf one first, see if you like it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: For Fulci Fans Only
Review: House by the cemetery is not a solid horror film by all means, and really will end up only on the shelves of Fulci or Italian Exploitation Devotees (most likely one and the same) such as myself. The casual horror-goer has much to be put off by, which I will get into in a moment.

First, I feel I should summarize a bit on the best period of Fucli's filmmaking, which spanned Zombi 2 to House by the Cemetery. Zombi 2 starts the 'series' off with a bang, delivering shocks and style and the best zombies ever to appear on celluloid (fx maestro Giannetto Di Rossi never even topped himself). The film was a more traditional zombie film in the sense that it took place in the Carribean and keeps with the feel, if not the facts, of vodun zombies. The second film, which is the first of his 'zombie trilogy', was City of the Living Dead. Here, Fulci shifts gears from the table he set in Zombi 2 and starts a series that is more united and share several character traits. The Gates of Hell have opened and the dead have begun to walk the earth. The story is scattered, as Fulci is just beginning to master the themes he would use so well in the Beyond, a dream-like masterpiece. Another Gate opens, and strange occurances, culminating with a zombie invasion, centre around an old hotel which was the site of an execution of a warlock many years earlier. Fulci's last Date with the Dead in the series was House by the Cemetery.

The film starts off with a rousing opening sequence, preparing the viewer for an onslaught that never arrives until almost 85 minutes later. While most of the previous films mentioned have little narrative structure and make barely an ounce of sense, there is even less to be found here. Yet before, where Fulci made up for this with stylish set pieces and mayhem, outside of the opening and the finale, there is little to keep your attention. The plot is nonexistent, as are the characters, and many 'surreal' sequences are plain absurd. The entire middle of the movie is non-stop talking head, during which nothing gets explained anyway, with only a few moments of the good stuff.

The casual horror fan (ie, the one that thought House of 1000 Corpses was the be all end all) will be chased away by the atrocious dubbing, though common with our beloved Italian Flicks, seems particularly bad here, most likely due to the boy cast as Bob, who seems as out of place as the man-child in Burial Ground. He appears almost too foreign...I can't quite place it. Italian Splatter fans will find the redeeming values, and Fulci fans will enjoy it as the last film in a great run.

In short, first-time Fulci viewers are safer to start with Zombi 2 and then peek at the Beyond. This and City of the Living Dead are most likely for the veterans to appreciate.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Another Name For This Film
Review: This isn't a review of sorts. Just to tell people who might not know there is another name for this movie its called ZOMBIE HELL HOUSE. I found this on a 4 movie zombie disc set which i picked up for under $10. Its put out by brentwood home video. Thought I would share this with everyone intersted.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: You May Have Just Mortgaged.....YOUR LIFE!!!!
Review: Well, we're back in Fulci land. Putting this up with Zombie, City, and The Beyond, this is probably my least favorite. That's not to say it's not fun, just the lesser in comparison to the others. This time the threat hides in a basement instead of the island of Matool or the town of Dunwich. There's no gates of hell to worry about or book of Enoch(or Eibon for that matter). This time we got that wacky Dr. Freudstein up to his old rejuvenation-through-death-and-dismemberment shenanigans. The usual Fulci tomfoolery happens: Scenes that are supposed to be scary, but end up being hilarious. I'm thinking of the bat scene in particular. Unnecessary closeups of eyes and a pointless psychic child. So, this Freudstein ventures out of the cellar now and again to slaughter people that venture into the house. He moves like molasses in January, but manages to get his victims anyway. Though he's on a homicidal rampage, he never comes upstairs to kill the family that lives in the house, he just waits for them to come downstairs in the final ten minutes of the film. The funniest scene has a terribly annoying kid trapped by the cellar door as Freudstein slowly creeps up the stairs after him. Mom breaks the door key and a knife trying to open the door as the kid screams, making you wonder how the doctor ever gets out of the cellar if this door is such a hassle. The doctor pushes the kid's head against the door as Dad tries to chop the door down with an axe, barely missing the kid's head each time. Dad must not be too concerned coz he stops between axe swings to explain to Mom, who is in the cellar and what he's doing down there. This scene is priceless and worth the price of the dvd alone. As with all Fulci films, this ends on kind of a downer, though not as much as his previous films. This is typical Fulci-ya love it or ya hate it, just don't take it to seriously or you lose all the fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Way cool!! Fulci did it again!
Review: The house by the cementery is a horror movie of mine taste!
It contains lots of blood and gore, and it is pretty scary to.
If you are afraid of basements and darkness, you wount get any sleep in the last two months.
The story is well made and fx are very good. The acting may not be perfect and the people in the film are realy stupid.
After two have get killed in the house and there are dryed blood on the kitchenfloor next morning, they just klean it up and dont get suspicius.When you se the film for the first time you will think like "Who is it that cryes like a five year old kid down from the besement?" "Who is Dr.Freudstein??" "Who are is this little girl that play with the boy???" and you abslolutely will wounder "Who is the killer?" well..why don't you find out?

I recomand this mountion picture on DvD cause it is uncut and in Wide-screen and the sound are refreshed.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: More Fulci junk
Review: The Boyle family, father/doctor Norman, soccor mom Lucy, and 7 year old Bob (what a name for a kid, huh), are moving from New York City to the Boston suburbs so Dr. Dad can do some scientific reaserch. They move into a house with a strange history (is there any other kind?). Appearently one Dr. Fruedstein (almost sounds like Frankenstein, right?) used to run weird experiments in the basement some fifty years ago. Now people start dying very (VERY) bloody deaths. The movie never makes a lot of sense. For example, what is that thing in the basement? Is it one of Fruedstein's zombies? Is it Fruedstein himself? Or something else entirely? My theory is it's the doctor. Also the boy having an imaginary friend that warns Bob of danger is way too "Shinning"ish. The ending is horrid, it dosn't end so much as stops. Also I really have no idea what happened at the end. It is that dense. The editing is horribly obvious and ubtrusive; not so much like an eye blink but having your jerked into the next scene. You'd think they edited the film with an axe. But that is the Fulci touch, it's in all his movies. The acting is terrible, but it's hard to blame the actors on that one, it was dubbed from Italian to English. But the diologue is terrible. There is only one saving grace here, it is the gore. Gino De Rossi is the Italian Tom Savaini. If he could pare the effects with some good movies, he would be excellent. The Italian gore makes the American gore look like Disney. There are eye violence are cringing; there are also super bloody stabings and shootings. It's a gore hounds delight, assuming the viewer can overlook the horrid story and editing, and nonscense narritive. All in all, I would avoid this movie, unless it comes on cable somewhere.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Third best Fulci film?
Review: For starters I genuinely enjoy Fulci's films and am a fan of senseless gore movies, so if your an average horror fan you should maybe deduct one star of my rating.

Anyhow, I've seen most of Fulci's film's, The Beyond being my favourite and the Anchorbay DVD of Beyond rocks, but House by the cemetary was one that I had not seen. I decided to buy the film as it was offten ranked as his third greatest (#1 Beyond, #2 Zombi but I like City of the Living Dead a little better than House as third) and also as it starred the super cute Fulci regular Catriona (Katherine) MacColl. I got the Diamond DVD as it was afordable and another guy in his review here said that he had being informed that although the Daimond version was rated 'R', it was actually the uncut version. And although a VERY graphic throat slashing scene remained intact and the rest of the film seemed uncut, I later read somewhere that a version 3 minutes longer was soon to be released. Whether or not the Diamond DVD here is the uncut version I cannot say.

House by the Cemetary basicly centres on a family moving into a house inhabited by a evil doctor who uses his victims fresh body parts to stay alive. It is filmed in typical Fulci style that critics consider full of continuety errors, while fans feel that this makes the films dream/nightmare like. I am fairly in between, I always believed that Fulcis camera technique is certainly artistic but he obviously can't tell a straight story and while this works brilliantly in the Beyond, it just makes some of his work very boring to sit through like Zombi. House had a genuinely eerie ambiance and Fulci does create a creepy atmosphere successfully but not to the extent of his master piece the Beyond.

Being Fulci, there is some great gore in this film. Theres a great throat slashing scene (mentioned above) which is an excellent effect and a knife in the back of the head scene, but there is also a very weak bat attack scene, the bat ten times more phoney than the fake spiders in the Beyond. There was not as much of Fulci's trademark gore in House as some of his other flicks, but once again the Diamond version is 84 minutes and I read somewhere that the uncut running time is 87 minutes, but this is the only version I've seen so I cannont coment.

If your a fulci fan then you will really enjoy this film but if you are new to his work then maybe check out the Beyond first or rent House before you buy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lucio Fulci, The Maestro,The legend,The Godfather of Horror
Review: Yes I have been a Fulci fan since my mom took me to see Zombie in 1980. With house by the Cemmetery Fulci once again proved that he would not be out done by any other horror film director.This movie is awesome and you don't have to a Fulci fan to appreciate his work.Just buy the movie put it in and hit the play button and you will witness what a true horror film really is.There is great gore in this film and the acting is a little stiff but this just adds to fun you'll have from watching a Lucio Fulci horror film and I dare you to sit through the last fifteen minutes of this movie and watch Dr. Fruedstein with his gruesome face and his maggot spewing body stalk the family in basement of the house. This has to be one of the most intense, terrifying moments I have ever seen in a horror film.Oh,and I almost forgot to mention when Dr. Fruedstein is injured he cries like a little 5 year old kid. Buy a Fulci horror film on DVD your collection won't complete without him

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Made quick and cheap. Fulci could have done better!!!
Review: This is somewhere between ultra-bad and barely passable.

Lucio Fulci is known as a "hit or miss" director. Out of his fifty plus works some are great, others are outstanding, some are mediocre and the remaining, pure rubbish. Unfortunately this is one of Fulci's pure rubbish ones that is further spoiled immensely by Anchor Bay Entertainment's display cover of the secret monster than this film builds up too. Normally Anchor Bay is quite good and their DVD sets are super but this one has pretty much broken the golden rule of not giving certain things away on the sleeve - Bah!

Anyway the film itself is pure rubbish from start to finish and is about a family that move into a haunted house with a sinister presence at work, killing people off. The family try to figure out what is going on and their kid is having visions of a ghost that is trying to warn them of some danger. There is also a subplot involving a strange doctor that once lived in the house and who conducted experiments into prolonging life. Sounds good, but the execution is poor, slow and never really satisfying except for the ending which is not all that bad and helps earn it that one star.

In short, Fulci churned this one out quickly and for the money. He made several other films that same year. If Fulci had given this film a bit more of his precious time and attention we would have had an ace picture on our hands - a five star horror, but It feels rushed and contrived and much of the story is slow with lots of meaningless time filler stuff. In fact, and I hate to say it!, this horror film is one that deserves a remake... but no one can be blamed for that except Fulci who could have done it so much better instead of cashing in on the moment.


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