La casa nel tempo

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).