Wildside Cinema

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.

Macabre (Macabro – 1980)
R2 / PAL DVD
Masters of Giallo / 2009
Directed by Lamberto Bava
Written by Antonio Avati, Pupi Avati, Lamberto Bava, Roberto Gandus
Cast: Bernice Sterges, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse
Review by Phillip Escott

When you’re the son of a legend, expectations are usually of the highest order. When your father is a certain Mario Bava, the shadow you walk in is cast far and wide; when it comes time to fill shoes, the pressure could cause claustrophobia and induce ulcers! So you can imagine what must have been running through Lamberto Bava’s mind when he decided to direct his own feature. Luckily, he proved himself a notable talent in his own right with this grimy slice of 80’s exploitation.

Ripped straight from the headlines, Macabre tells a story so outlandish that it has to be true. Jane Baker (Sterges), is about to have a VERY unfortunate day. While having a routine meeting with her piece on the side, her bat-shit daughter drowns
her younger brother in the tub. Upon hearing of the tragedy, from her daughter! She and her love haul ass to the hospital. On-route they are involved in a car crash that sees the love of her life decapitated and Jane rendered, understandably, insane. Upon her release a year later she shacks herself up in a rented room (the room in which the illicit meetings took place) and holds dear the head of her ex-lover in her fridge! Things are gonna get freaky… real freaky-naughty.

So, the son of a horror legend kicks off his filmmaking career with a melodrama about a clinically insane woman unable to overcome the loss of her lover – odd choice, but it pays off and actually contains many of his fathers favorite staples; the decay of innocence being the most prominent. It also features a balls-to-the-wall performance from the leading lady, willingly dropping her dress to get down and dirty with the decayed head of her ex – heady (ouch) stuff indeed and it’s a testament to her acting prowess that it doesn’t come off as too stagy or over dramatic and as the film progresses she genuinely looks more and more psychotic.

Macabre may have a snails pace after the opening, but the slow build up to the break down is worth the wait, plus Bava throws a ton of nudity the audience way to keep them awake, the film still has the power to turn stomachs. As for the ending proper however, prepare your palm ready for a big ol’ forehead slap. What were they thinking? Bava also lays off any camera wizardry and keeps and visual flare to a minimum, opting to let the story do the wowing. For his debut it was clearly the best option and it fits the mood of the film overall. Fans of Lamberto Bava’s later output will find this essential viewing and fans of Italian exploitation should also check this as it shows what levels of absurdity the industry had got itself into by the 80’s! A warped, but ultimately refreshing watch!

Lamberto Bava’s debut still remains his most powerful, sure it doesn’t have the popcorn factor that his Demons films have, but it sure as hell shows what a mature filmmaker he can be when he applies himself. Masters of Giallo have given the film a very praise-worthy DVD release with some interesting extras and decent presentation that rivals previous worldwide releases.