The House by the Cemetery

Here is an effort from the infamous director Luci Fulci, who is probably best known for his ultra-violent zombie movies. This is one of them, although strictly speaking it is a haunted house/zombie combination. The story has a family move into a new home where it turns out a zombie called Dr Freudstein (yes, really) lives in the cellar. And from this premise much bloody mayhem does ensue. The highlight of the movie overall is the practical effects work from Giannetto De Rossi which kick into gear during the various scenes of over-the-top bloody violence. It's a fairly run-of-the-mill film aside from this really but it is also notable for having a very effective, intense ending. Last and by all means least is the child actor playing the character called Bob - he has been dubbed with the most ridiculous and inane voice that you would be forgiven for hoping he will wind up being torn apart by the resident zombie. But will he?

The son of the researcher is a fair haired boy who is frightened repeatedly throughout the film and seems to spend his entire time banging on doors and calling for his mommy. The boy has the single most annoying child's voice ever heard on film and this alone makes him a character who needing killing off in the first minutes.

Not great but made worse by the kid.

For an hour i was thinking to myself 'this kid has one of the worst dubs in the history of cinema'. And then that scream happened. Now it's official. It's the worst voice dubbing in movie history. Why on earth someone thought it wise that when a boy of 7/8 screams he sounds like a prime scream queen i'll never know, truly one of the most ridiculous and startling things i've come across.

As for the rest of the movie, there are 3 brutally bloody scenes (one in particular towards the end is rather gross out) which explains why it was a video nasty in it's day. The story tries to set up a little mystery with possible suspects including the nanny and the dad but the choppy editing and scene placement make it hard to believe anything other than the supernatural. Not one of Fulci's best, it's still got enough good moments to warrant at least one viewing.

In New York, Dr. Norman Boyle (Paolo Malco) assumes the research about Dr. Freudstein of his colleague Dr. Petersen, who committed suicide after killing his mistress. Norman heads to Boston with his wife Lucy Boyle (Katherine MacColl) and their son Bobby (Giovanni Frezza) to live in an isolated house in the woods that belonged to Dr. Petersen. Bob befriends the girl Mae (Silvia Collatina) that only he can see and she warns him to leave the house. Soon his parents hire the mysterious babysitter Ann (Ania Pieroni) and creepy things happen in the house, When Bobby goes to the basement, his parents discover the secret of the house.

"Quella villa accanto al cimitero", a.k.a. "The House by the Cemetery", is a sinister horror movie by Lucio Fulci. The screenplay is confused with poor development of the characters, but the supernatural atmosphere is creepy and the camera-work is great. The metaphoric conclusion, with the soul of Bob following Mae and her mother, is excellent. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa do Cemitério" ("The House by the Cemetery")

Note: On 23 March 2016, I saw this movie again on DVD with the original language (Italian) and subtitles in Portuguese.

Probably the best Lucio Fulci movie! Still beats any hollywood horror movie 10-0. I have seen this about 4 times and it still keeps shocking me! Looking for good horror? Rent/buy this! (here in finland, you must buy films from other countries, everything is banned here... not so cool).