The House by the Cemetery (2010)

That was an excellent one.

Excellent but underrated film

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

"The House by the Cemetery" is directed by famed splatter master Lucio Fulci, and it pretty much reverts to Lucio's type. Which of course is often enough for fan's of Fulci's work. Plot is irrelevant, but basically a family moves into a creepy house in New England and discover a flesh eating ghoul is in residence down in the basement. The ghoul needs to continue its bizarre medical habits to remain, well, a ghoul! Cue screams, serious bloody gore, bad dubbing and incoherent narrative. Visually, as you would expect from Fulci and cinematographer Sergio Salvati, it has inspired moments, the whole irreverence of it draped in Grand Guignol textures. The ghouls lair is a place of nightmares, while the appearance of a scary bat and doll further add to the weirdness. Yet it undoubtedly is a hack job by Fulci, where he clutches from some famous American horror movies and just inserts a bloody killing at regular intervals. The whole film serves only to shed some blood for the gore hounds delight, regardless of if it actually matters to what was left on the writing table.The film tries to weave a web of unease and mystery around the secret in the cellar, and for a while it really works. The camera work and the general look of the locations is pretty good, with a sense of brooding Gothic mystery hanging over the poor family. The house itself looks particularly impressive in most of the external shots. However the story rapidly unravels as the film proceeds to throw countless red herrings into the mix and then either completely abandons them (people claiming to have seen Norman at the house in the past, the things that Bob's mysterious playmate Mae tells him about the house's former occupants), or blatantly contradicts itself (most notably the Boyles babysitter, Ann, who's behavior suddenly swings from one style to the total opposites with no explanation). But if you can put the irregularities of the script to one side, you should enjoy the ride on a purely shallow level. Lots of scenes are drenched in great atmosphere, such as those involving the enigmatic Mae, and especially the last portion of the film when we get to see exactly what has been going on in the depths of the cellar. If you like cheesy and quite gory/violent horror films then you will like this.Overall rating: 6 out of 10.

Goreful, Zombie/Slasher/Haunted House Movie from Acclaimed Italian Auteur Lucio Fulci that is Ripe with Full-Blown Fulci Flourishes.It is a Horror Feast for Famished Fans of this Type and is Loudly Lauded with Endless Praise and every Frame has been Studied and Analyzed Ad Nauseum, Savouring Morsel after Mosel from a Master of Mayhem that Serves Up what He Promises to the Devotees.What it is for those Not Initiated into the Cult is a Sleek and Sick Study in Human Excretion, Blood and Guts to be Exact. But it also has Supernatural Elements and other Creepy Considerations.The Cinematography is Outstanding as are the Cobweb Draped Sets and it has a Surreal Appeal and is Above Average in the Genre. The Acting is Typical B-Grade Screaming and looking justifiably Terrified at the Goings On, Crying, Sweating, and Eyes Wide Open.Speaking of Eyes, there is an Over-Abundance of Peeper Close-Ups and is only Eclipsed by the Over-Over-Abundance of Character Names being said Over-Over and Over again to the Point of Irritating Distraction. Steve, Steve, Steve, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob , Anne, Anne, Anne...Sheesh!If You can sit through that "Fingers on the blackboard" Irritant and find it Tolerable, this is a Must Watch for Horror and Cult Movie Enthusiasts. Fulci, along with Mario Bava, and Dario Argento has an Enormous Fan Base and Following. This is as good as any to see what the Fuss Over Fulci is all about.

When you see my score of 3, keep in mind that I am not a particular fan of hack 'em up gore films. And clearly, "The House By The Cemetery" is a film of this genre. To me, this film is no better than the typical hack and slash film.The film begins with a family moving into the old Freudstein house. Some awful things happened there years ago but exactly what and why, who knows. Throughout the film there is a lot of foreboding as well as the little boy seeing an apparently invisible or dead friend. Ultimately, it all ends in a messy bloodbath in which a one-armed man rips the crap out of most everyone though who and why really aren't explained....he's just some freak that likes to hack people apart.The bottom line is that if you are looking for death, blood and mayhem, director Lucio Faldi has created a film for you. But, if you want more than lots of fake blood and gore, you too will feel bored by the whole thing.

When a New York family moves to a small town where they found the perfect place to stay, it's a nice looking mansion. However the child has a special psychic gift of seeing a girl that warns him not to move into the house but he didn't listen, the house had terrible things that occurred once by a sick mad doctor named Freudstein who conducted horrible atrocious experiments on people. Now the family has moved in, weird supernatural occurrences keep popping up and the guests are starting to disappear one by one in a bloody way. Ghastly, spooky and gory as hell haunted house/zombie thriller from Italy's horror maestro Lucio Fulci is one of his greatest hits yet! it's also his scariest besides "The Beyond". Sure the plot lacks coherence but the dark atmosphere, a pulse pounding score, and graphic sequences of violence & gore such as skull-stabbing and a demonic bat being mutilated by scissors. The film contains that H.P. Lovecraft-like feel that Fulci would sometimes throw into his supernatural movies as this movie is a prime example, it mixes both the haunted house and zombie movie genre into one movie and it's a clever idea. Lucio Fulci makes a nice cameo appearance in this movie so look for him, this is one of my all time favorite horror movies and a must see for fans of the genre but not for the squeamish or those easily frightened. My rating: 8/10 Similar movies recommended: "The Shining", "Pet Semetary", "House (1986)", "The Others", "City of the Living Dead", "Re-Animator", "Poltergeist", "Dawn of the Dead (1978)", "Making Contact (a.k.a. Joey)", "The Ring (Japanese and American)", "The Amityville Horror (1979)", "Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror", "Versus", "Demons 1 & 2", "Cemetery Man", "House on Haunted Hill (1958 and 1999)", "The Orphanage", "The Devil's Backbone", "Burnt Offerings", "Phantasm", "Suspiria", "Phenomena", "Inferno", "Night of the Living Dead (1968)", "Day of the Dead", "Blood Diner", "Maniac", "The New York Ripper", "The Innocents", "Silent Hill", "Bride of Re-Animator", "Beyond Re-Animator", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (a.k.a. Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue)", "Hellraiser 1 & 2", "Beyond The Door", "Shock", "Tenebre", "An American Werewolf in London", "From Beyond", "Dead Alive (a.k.a. Braindead)", "Evil Dead 1 & 2", "The Sentinel (1976)", "Final Destination Series", "The Changeling", "The Legend of Hell House", "House of 1000 Corpses", "Mirrors (2008)", "1408", "The Grudge", "Ju-On: The Grudge", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Event Horizon", "Stir of Echoes", "Cannibal Apocalypse", "Return of the Living Dead 3", "Beetlejuice", "In The Mouth of Madness", "The Toxic Avenger", "The Gate", "The Fog (1980)" and "The Beyond".