A Casa do Cemitério

In some ways, you get a sense Fulci was trying hard to make this more "respectable" than some of his other movies. The camerawork is careful, creating atmosphere as well as a sense of polish. The makeup and gore effects (except for the ridiculous bat scene) are also well-crafted, and the Dr. Freudstein character is fairly creepy to see. Also, there are fewer splatter scenes, and they come more out of the story than any gratuitous attempts to add gore. However, the story (which has shades of THE SHINING) is pretty slow-moving, so after a while you wish Fulci *would* throw in some gratuitous splatter! And like many of Fulci's other movies, a lot of things are simply not explained. (I will admit I got a good laugh at the sudden burst of "explanation" by one character at the end, which comes out of nowhere!) Quite frankly, viewers who have heard about Fulci but not seen any of his other movies will be wondering at the end of the movie why he's received so much fuss. So only for Fulci fans, or people with more than a passing interest in Italian horror movies.

In New York, Dr. Norman Boyle (Paolo Malco) assumes the research about Dr. Freudstein of his colleague Dr. Petersen, who committed suicide after killing his mistress. Norman heads to Boston with his wife Lucy Boyle (Katherine MacColl) and their son Bobby (Giovanni Frezza) to live in an isolated house in the woods that belonged to Dr. Petersen. Bob befriends the girl Mae (Silvia Collatina) that only he can see and she warns him to leave the house. Soon his parents hire the mysterious babysitter Ann (Ania Pieroni) and creepy things happen in the house, When Bobby goes to the basement, his parents discover the secret of the house.

"Quella villa accanto al cimitero", a.k.a. "The House by the Cemetery", is a sinister horror movie by Lucio Fulci. The screenplay is confused with poor development of the characters, but the supernatural atmosphere is creepy and the camera-work is great. The metaphoric conclusion, with the soul of Bob following Mae and her mother, is excellent. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa do Cemitério" ("The House by the Cemetery")

Note: On 23 March 2016, I saw this movie again on DVD with the original language (Italian) and subtitles in Portuguese.

By this point in his career Lucio Fulci was cranking out gorefest after gorefest. This film is no different. With a great opening involving two lovers in an abandoned house we are introduced to the great score by Walter Rizzati that plays through out the film. After the credit sequence we are introduced to the Boyle family. Mother Lucy (Catriona MacColl in I believe her third Fulci film after THE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BEYOND), father Norman (Paulo Malco) and son Bob (Giovanni Frezza) are going to be moving to a new home with New England. Only problem is the previous owner murdered his mistress and then committed suicide.

The first half of the movie is good and quite restrained if you will for Fulci. It is introducing characters, infusing creepiness and at times visually impressive while not exactly going for the gore. But, to me it is the second half where it does amp up the gore, bring on the great, gruesome kills and really the tension at times is almost chaotic in the basement (especially when Bob goes down there) of their new house that brings this film up on the rating scale for me. I mean that is what I am expecting from a Fulci movie.

If gobs of gore isn't your thing you should probably stay away, but if you are a fan of Fulci or like a mix of gore and tension in your films I recommend this 1981 horror flick for you.

Two final notes: Mr. Fulci himself portrays Dr. Mueller and whomever did the voice over work for Bob does in fact have a slightly annoying whiny voice. So just be prepared for that.

The son of the researcher is a fair haired boy who is frightened repeatedly throughout the film and seems to spend his entire time banging on doors and calling for his mommy. The boy has the single most annoying child's voice ever heard on film and this alone makes him a character who needing killing off in the first minutes.

Not great but made worse by the kid.

Probably the best Lucio Fulci movie! Still beats any hollywood horror movie 10-0. I have seen this about 4 times and it still keeps shocking me! Looking for good horror? Rent/buy this! (here in finland, you must buy films from other countries, everything is banned here... not so cool).