Search - House by the Cemetery on DVD

Third best Fulci film?

Roule Duke | the Green Inferno | 03/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For starters I genuinely enjoy Fulci's films and am a fan of senseless gore movies, so if your an average horror fan you should maybe deduct one star of my rating.Anyhow, I've seen most of Fulci's film's, The Beyond being my favourite and the Anchorbay DVD of Beyond rocks, but House by the cemetary was one that I had not seen. I decided to buy the film as it was offten ranked as his third greatest (#1 Beyond, #2 Zombi but I like City of the Living Dead a little better than House as third) and also as it starred the super cute Fulci regular Catriona (Katherine) MacColl. I got the Diamond DVD as it was afordable and another guy in his review here said that he had being informed that although the Daimond version was rated 'R', it was actually the uncut version. And although a VERY graphic throat slashing scene remained intact and the rest of the film seemed uncut, I later read somewhere that a version 3 minutes longer was soon to be released. Whether or not the Diamond DVD here is the uncut version I cannot say.House by the Cemetary basicly centres on a family moving into a house inhabited by a evil doctor who uses his victims fresh body parts to stay alive. It is filmed in typical Fulci style that critics consider full of continuety errors, while fans feel that this makes the films dream/nightmare like. I am fairly in between, I always believed that Fulcis camera technique is certainly artistic but he obviously can't tell a straight story and while this works brilliantly in the Beyond, it just makes some of his work very boring to sit through like Zombi. House had a genuinely eerie ambiance and Fulci does create a creepy atmosphere successfully but not to the extent of his master piece the Beyond.Being Fulci, there is some great gore in this film. Theres a great throat slashing scene (mentioned above) which is an excellent effect and a knife in the back of the head scene, but there is also a very weak bat attack scene, the bat ten times more phoney than the fake spiders in the Beyond. There was not as much of Fulci's trademark gore in House as some of his other flicks, but once again the Diamond version is 84 minutes and I read somewhere that the uncut running time is 87 minutes, but this is the only version I've seen so I cannont coment.If your a fulci fan then you will really enjoy this film but if you are new to his work then maybe check out the Beyond first or rent House before you buy."

Don't go in the basement....!!!!

Brian | Chicago, Illinois | 05/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have long been a Fulci fanatic and this film, "House By The Cemetery," delivers the goods in spades.

The story is simple, if not altogether derivative. A young family moves from their cramped New York apartment into a spacious New England mansion. What sets this place apart from their previous abode, however, is the presence of the home's original owner, the detestable Dr. Freudstein. It would seem that he has been hiding in the home's shuttered basement for the last 100 years, picking off stray dwellers of the house and using their fluids and various other organs to sustain his own decomposing body. Sound far-fetched? Well, it should. But don't let that deter you. This is not "Rebecca From Sunnybrook Farm" or "Meet John Doe" we're talking about. It's a horror film with all the trademark gore and over-the-top violence we've come to expect from Lucio Fulci. Not high art by any stretch, but certainly never boring either. Definitely worth a purchase, especially if, like me, you happen to be a fan of this stuff.

The Anchor Bay DVD is absolutely first-rate with a pristine transfer and some cool theatrical/T.V. trailers."

It?s all relative?

walkingd | Walnut Creek, CA USA | 12/13/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My rating reflects my affinity for "B" movies. The three stars are "B" movie stars, not "normal" movie stars. I am being a little generous since this is only my first review, and there was a very little bit of skin during the opening credits. If I could I'd give it 2 ½ stars, but I rounded up. If you aren't into 70's and 80's "B" movies, if you only watch "good" movies, then you can consider this movie a zero.The DVD video quality is very good, and as others have mentioned, it is in wide screen format. The audio quality is clean; however, there is poor volume control. At times the characters are so quiet, they can not be heard; at other times the volume goes high and well past the pain threshold. I understand this was most likely done for effect, but it is so badly done I almost wonder if it wasn't caused by an error in the transfer process, which appears to have come directly from laser disc. As the price would suggest, there are no frills or extras with this DVD. The movie is adequately dubbed.There are the expected plot problems; in fact, the plot gets down right confused at points. In my opinion, Fulci failed to fully utilize the creepy Librarian character. While the gore is pretty cheesy, it was ample, and managed to make me squirm more than once. The "Bat scene" was a laugh riot, and there is some hilarious dialogue in the film. The husband is tasked with consoling his nervous wife saying things like, "This is New England, everybody has a tomb in their house". Lucio Fulci nailed my childhood fears of the basement, and I believe many people will appreciate this as well. I wish there had been more development on how Dr. Freudstein used his victim's to stay alive. Any demonstration is notably absent though it is mentioned on the back cover, as well as once in the last 10 minutes of the movie. This is not Lucio Fulci best work, but it had its moments, and in between the obligatory confusion, managed to scare me. If you're a fan of the genre, then by all means, rent it. If you are a hard core Fulci fan, and already own better titles like Zombie, then you can't beet the price of adding it to your collection."

Way cool!! Fulci did it again!

Martin.Larsson | Sweden | 06/06/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The house by the cementery is a horror movie of mine taste!
It contains lots of blood and gore, and it is pretty scary to.
If you are afraid of basements and darkness, you wount get any sleep in the last two months.
The story is well made and fx are very good. The acting may not be perfect and the people in the film are realy stupid.
After two have get killed in the house and there are dryed blood on the kitchenfloor next morning, they just klean it up and dont get suspicius.When you se the film for the first time you will think like "Who is it that cryes like a five year old kid down from the besement?" "Who is Dr.Freudstein??" "Who are is this little girl that play with the boy???" and you abslolutely will wounder "Who is the killer?" well..why don't you find out?I recomand this mountion picture on DvD cause it is uncut and in Wide-screen and the sound are refreshed."