The House by the Cemetery (Quella Villa Accanto al Cimitero – 1981)
R2 / PAL DVD
Masters of Giallo / 2009
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Written by Lucio Fulci, Dardano Sacchetti, Giorgio Mariuzzo, Elisa Livia Briganti
Cast: Katherine MacColl, Paolo Malco, Giovanni Frezza, Ania Pieroni, Dagmar Lassander
Review by Phillip Escott

Home is where the entrails are! Lucio Fulci’s intestine splattered homage to the works of H. P. Lovecraft is as intriguing, and as shocking, now as it was nearly 30 years ago. Norman Boyle (Malco) has been assigned the task of finding out what led the titular home’s previous inhabitant, Dr. Fruedstein, to murder his family, before killing himself – or so they believe. In typical horror movie fashion, the family have gotten more than they bargained for in this quaint country home, as the murderous Fruedstein is still roaming the house; hidden in the basement and longing for fresh blood!

Horror fans may be a little disappointed in House by the Cemetery on initial viewing, it’s a slow burner and doesn’t constantly bombard the audience with his trademark gore from start to finish: a la his more notorious outings. I however, rate this as one of his greatest achievements. It’s a film that gets better with age and stands up to repeat viewings – the dubbing for the son, Bob, will forever remain weird however. Gore-hounds can breathe a sigh of relief though, as when House by the Cemetery unleashes its fury, it does so in exceptional style – it’s taken until 2009 for the British censors to pass it uncut! Expect graphic throat slashings, maggot-spewing stomach wounds and ‘that’ poker scene; all remaining shockingly brutal, even by today’s standards.

What really elevates the film is its atmosphere. Fulci has captured the dream-like essence of Lovecraft’s work perfectly, much like he did with City of the Living Dead – that building, its surroundings and the prolonged sense of dread could only have come from Lovecraft. He may have watched Kubrick’s The Shining one too many times before shooting, but he has accomplished what could possibly be his first ‘serious’ horror movie, not to mention his most restrained. Placing the viewer in the child’s view point helps the audience ‘buy’ into the film, we believe the visions that Bob has of a Mae, we believe the warnings she relays and we feel the frustration as he is constantly ignored by his parents who are caught up in their own business; the father with his research and his mother with the move. This is what marks House by the Cemetery out from his other horror films from this period; we have a character that we can relate to and follow; not to mention care for once he’s under threat. The finale is all the more devastating for it.

Slow but daunting, House by the Cemetery remains one of Fulci’s most underrated titles to date. Masters of Giallo have given the first, uncut, DVD release in Britain a lovely package; boasting an all-new featurette that runs just over 17 minutes and will serve as a tidy intro to new comers of Fulci, while bringing a teary reminder to the hardened fans. They’ve also commissioned new cover art – Shock! Horror! – which stays true to the original, yet also true to the video nasty art that it riffs; if you don’t like it you can reverse the cover for the original artwork – Redemption take note: if you want to create your own covers, this is how it’s done! All in all, this is an essential purchase for horror and exploitation fans and Fulci fans who didn’t enjoy it first time around owe it to themselves to re-visit.