The House By The Cemetery (1981) ***
Lucio Fulci's The House By The Cemetery (1981) has always instilled in me a feeling of frustration. Frustration at the fact that, with a little more fine-tuning, I think it could have been a much better film. As it is, though there is a supernatural quality to the film, it lacks the ghoulish atmosphere of better Fulci films like The City Of The Living Dead (1980) (review) and The Beyond (1981) and uses enough of the same themes and situations, in less satisfying ways, that it feels more like recycling, as opposed to trademarks. The acting also isn't great (save for Catriona MacColl)—the reactions too slow or nonexistent—Fulci is known to linger uncomfortably long on takes but in House it feels particularly awkward.
Fulci made three films released in 1981 and only one of them, The Beyond, is truly noteworthy (one of his best). The other one, The Black Cat (review) is, like House, enjoyable overall but nothing special. There are some great gore gags in THBTC though there's also some pretty goofy-looking makeup, both via Maurizio Trani (Gianetto De Rossi is strangely credited, but did not work on the film). House has a bleak ending (typical of Fulci at the time) but after all the unintentional (?) humor that came before it just feels odd, not to mention that the film as a whole comes off as a bit of a half-baked Lovecraft/The Shining (1980) (review) rip-off that lacks true suspense.
Then there is, of course, Bob. Oh boy, Bob. I can't believe it took me this long to mention him, honestly. The character, played by Giovani Frezza, is the single biggest reason that I don't love THBTC. A child in peril should be a trope that elicits empathy in an audience, but with the excruciatingly obnoxious (and terribly unconvincing) dubbing of the character, combined with the actor's wild overacting, you can't help but want him to not survive all the trauma he's put through at the hands of the movie's monster. It wouldn't be so bad if he weren't such a central part of House.
Thankfully the film is under an hour and a half, so it doesn't outstay its welcome. I know it may sound as if I'm trashing the film quite a bit, but there are qualities that I like: the aforementioned gore plus solid cinematography from Sergio Salvati—though not as good as any of his preceding work with Fulci (this film was coincidentally the last of their eight pairings). There's also a weirdly inappropriate but awesomely frenetic, proggy score by Walter Rizzati. And hey, what can I say—I have a soft spot for Fulci. (Why else would I keep revisiting these films?) Long live "The Godfather of Gore".
You can find my Lucio Fulci Feature Films Ranked list here.
Fulci made three films released in 1981 and only one of them, The Beyond, is truly noteworthy (one of his best). The other one, The Black Cat (review) is, like House, enjoyable overall but nothing special. There are some great gore gags in THBTC though there's also some pretty goofy-looking makeup, both via Maurizio Trani (Gianetto De Rossi is strangely credited, but did not work on the film). House has a bleak ending (typical of Fulci at the time) but after all the unintentional (?) humor that came before it just feels odd, not to mention that the film as a whole comes off as a bit of a half-baked Lovecraft/The Shining (1980) (review) rip-off that lacks true suspense.
Then there is, of course, Bob. Oh boy, Bob. I can't believe it took me this long to mention him, honestly. The character, played by Giovani Frezza, is the single biggest reason that I don't love THBTC. A child in peril should be a trope that elicits empathy in an audience, but with the excruciatingly obnoxious (and terribly unconvincing) dubbing of the character, combined with the actor's wild overacting, you can't help but want him to not survive all the trauma he's put through at the hands of the movie's monster. It wouldn't be so bad if he weren't such a central part of House.
Thankfully the film is under an hour and a half, so it doesn't outstay its welcome. I know it may sound as if I'm trashing the film quite a bit, but there are qualities that I like: the aforementioned gore plus solid cinematography from Sergio Salvati—though not as good as any of his preceding work with Fulci (this film was coincidentally the last of their eight pairings). There's also a weirdly inappropriate but awesomely frenetic, proggy score by Walter Rizzati. And hey, what can I say—I have a soft spot for Fulci. (Why else would I keep revisiting these films?) Long live "The Godfather of Gore".
You can find my Lucio Fulci Feature Films Ranked list here.
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