The House of Clocks (1989)
"La casa nel tempo" (original title)

Three lowlife punks are trapped in a posh villa while trying to rob it and become at the mercy of the murderous owners whom have the power to stop and reverse time via their mystical clocks.

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Gianfranco Clerici (screenplay), Lucio Fulci (story),

Stars:

Keith Van Hoven, Karina Huff, Paolo Paoloni

Cast

Cast overview:
Keith Van Hoven	...	Tony
Karina Huff	...	Sandra
Paolo Paoloni	...	Vittorio Corsini
Bettine Milne	...	Sara Corsini (as Bettina Milne)
Peter Hintz	...	Paul
Al Cliver	...	Peter
Carla Cassola	...	Maria
Paolo Bernardi	...	The Nephew
Francesca DeRose	...	The Niece
Massimo Sarchielli	...	Storekeeper

Storyline

A gang of vicious young punks break into the house of an elderly couple, terrorize, and then murder them. Suddenly, the clocks in the house begin to run backwards, and the dead come back for revenge!

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Plot Keywords:

clock | villa | time | murder | blood | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Also Known As:

The House of Clocks

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dania Film, Reteitalia

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was originally intended for Italian television and shot in spherical widescreen for subsequent sales to foreign theatrical markets. It was then ruled to be too gory even for Italian TV viewing and released instead to cinemas and video.

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Connections

Followed by House of Lost Souls (1989)

User Reviews

My personal favorite of Lucio Fulci's last films

Lucio Fulci made this film for Italian TV - as part of a series called Houses of Doom and including four films, of wich he did two (this one and "La Dolce Casa degli Orrori") and Umberto Lenzi the others ("La Casa delle Anime Erranti" and "La Casa dei Sortilegi"). An old couple lives in a big house that is filled with clocks, which are the old man's hobby. But the couple is everything else than nice: Within the first minutes, the missus kills her household lady in an extremely violent way. Three young delinquents break into the couple's home and kill them, but as soon as the old man is dead, the clocks stop ticking and then start going backwards. Trouble brewing for the three youngsters...

Fulci tells a surprisingly surrealist story here and manages to establish a thrilling atmosphere right from the beginning. As soon as the clocks go backwards, the film gets more and more absurd, giving Fulci enough opportunities to imply some humoresque moments. Even though this is a made for cable production, there are plenty of gore effects, and they are all nasty and "typically Fulci", if I may write so.

Of all the films Fulci made after 1982, this one is my personal favorite. Main reason is the startling story that is neither common nor standard, but very original. Highly recommended, not only for fans of gory horror (but certainly not for the squeamish).