HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is not one of my favorite Fulci films. It drags pretty much the whole way through until about the last 15 minutes or so, and although there are a few cool gore scenes, and the ending is surprisingly "downbeat"- it just doesn't make up for the poor pacing of the rest of the film...
The story is about a guy and his wife and kid who move from New York to New England. The house the family is staying in is kinda creepy and has a history of strange "goings-on" - and it's also located right next to a cemetery (hence the title...). In typical horror film fashion, the longer the family stays, the more weird things happen, culminating in the explanation of what or who is causing the strange disturbances...
Faintly reminiscent of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR or perhaps THE SHINING - HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is decent enough in terms of atmosphere and the acting is what you'd expect from a film of this genre and era. The gore (when it FINALLY comes...) lives up to the Fulci standard. The main problem is that by the time anything interesting DID happen, I was already bored with the film. Not that all horror films have to be all blood, guts, tits, and ass (although I'd be happier if they were...), but if you don't show the "good stuff", then the plot, acting, and storyline in general better be pretty top-notch, or at least entertaining. HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY just wasn't to me. I'd recommend this one to hardcore Fulci fans or general Italian horror fans - but only after checking out some of Fulci's superior films such as THE BEYOND, ZOMBIE, THE GATES OF HELL, THE NEW YORK RIPPER and A CAT IN THE BRAIN, to name a few...a pretty generous 6/10 - and that's only because it ended on a high note...
The story is about a guy and his wife and kid who move from New York to New England. The house the family is staying in is kinda creepy and has a history of strange "goings-on" - and it's also located right next to a cemetery (hence the title...). In typical horror film fashion, the longer the family stays, the more weird things happen, culminating in the explanation of what or who is causing the strange disturbances...
Faintly reminiscent of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR or perhaps THE SHINING - HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is decent enough in terms of atmosphere and the acting is what you'd expect from a film of this genre and era. The gore (when it FINALLY comes...) lives up to the Fulci standard. The main problem is that by the time anything interesting DID happen, I was already bored with the film. Not that all horror films have to be all blood, guts, tits, and ass (although I'd be happier if they were...), but if you don't show the "good stuff", then the plot, acting, and storyline in general better be pretty top-notch, or at least entertaining. HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY just wasn't to me. I'd recommend this one to hardcore Fulci fans or general Italian horror fans - but only after checking out some of Fulci's superior films such as THE BEYOND, ZOMBIE, THE GATES OF HELL, THE NEW YORK RIPPER and A CAT IN THE BRAIN, to name a few...a pretty generous 6/10 - and that's only because it ended on a high note...