Una notte al cimitero

Given the macabre subject matter (accompanied by a heavy-metal soundtrack), I knew I would be less enthused about watching this Bava effort. Still, the opening is not too bad, with even an effective empty coach ride shot in slow-motion and set against a misty backdrop that actually evokes the director's father's BLACK Sunday (1960; which Lamberto would himself remake 30 years later!). However, the teen protagonists of the film under review do not exactly set the screen on fire: after robbing a grocery store just for kicks, they head for a weekend of mindless fun but lose their way and end up smack in the middle of a cemetery! After abandoning the van in a river, they have to continue on foot – occasionally, a shady figure that is clearly observing them makes itself felt.

Anyway, they find a spot where to spend the night but one of the kids decides he cannot sleep in such a morbid atmosphere and, wandering about, stumbles on an inn! He wakes his pals and they go in, where the one-eyed and incessantly cackling bartender proves to be the same man we had seen spying the group. After they unwisely attempt a wise-cracking approach a' la AN American WEREWOLF IN London (1981; which they even refer to!), the teenagers notice a pot full of money and, asking about it, are told that those are the as-yet-uncollected funds of a wager coming to anybody making it though the night spent in the maze of catacombs underneath the inn. More out of sheer greed than a sense of adventure, the group accept to undertake this proposition.

From here on in, the tone is necessarily claustrophobic, heavy-handed (involving some flat EVIL DEAD-style attempts at gallows humor) and repetitive (since the characters often find themselves in a room already 'visited'). In the end, when the time is almost up (and after having encountered a variety of ghouls), one girl suggests that they follow their instincts rather than logic. The latter makes for a nice surreal touch but it arrives too late to save the film – especially when it transpires to not even have the courage of its convictions (interestingly, albeit unoriginally, the plot seems to be leading to a revelation in which the whole journey proves to be an acceptance of their own death by the protagonists – since we are shown their van being unaccountably found overturned by the Police – but, when the group finally emerge from the inn with their pockets filled with the bounty they had just won, these are taken by the oblivious law enforcers as merely additional loot, to the initial and long-forgotten petty crime, they will need to account for! Ultimately, for a much more artistically valid look at "A Night At The Cemetery" (the film's original Italian title), I would recommend Jean Rollin's THE IRON ROSE (1973)...

Made for cable-TV, a cheesy synopsis and director Bava who had just delivered his very weak "Demons 2" sequel...There were more than enough omens to warn me that this "Graveyard Disturbance" would be a waste of time and not worth purchasing. Yet, I'm a fan of most of the man's work and even a mediocre Italian horror film is still better than an over-hyped American one, so I gave it a look anyway. Since this is a TV-production, you can't really compare it with Lamberto Bava's more serious horror films and that also explains the lack of gore and controversy (aspects that are normally well-present in Bava-films). The story is light-headed, simple and cliché, introducing five rebel-teenagers who strand at a ghostly cemetery after a fleeing from their daily shoplifting routines. They meet a spooky looking bartender who offers them a bet they can't refuse. They're promised a pricey reward when they manage to spend the night in the eerie catacombs underneath the cemetery. The script (partly written by Lamberto Bava himself) is really weak and the dialogues are pitiful. The film is only made endurable by a few ingenious sequences (like the freak-family's dinner party inside the crypt), some atmospheric set pieces and professional make-up effects. The zombies look good and the giant eyeball scene is the only slightly suspenseful moment in the entire film. Bava also obviously attempted to insert humor and parody in his screenplay but this was far from effective (I didn't laugh, at least). I'm not even going to waste words on the acting performances as they are truly amateurish. Most cast-members are nonetheless Bava regulars who acted remarkably better in "Foto di Goia" and "Demons". Overall, Graveyard Disturbance is worth a peek in case you've already seen every other Italian horror film or when you're really bored.

If you could try to act poorly in a movie, you couldn't pull of a better job than the actors from Graveyard Disturbance.

What a dumb and useless film.

The scene where the "undead" zombie tries to touch the breasts of the female "undead" zombie and she slaps him across the face literally made my day.

How on earth can you take this movie seriously? How can anyone take this movie seriously?

The individual performance of the "teens lost in the woods" actors is by far the worst I've ever seen in my life, if you would try to act this poorly you couldn't possibly do it.

It's as if they intentionally went on a mission to create the worst move in cinema history.

Starring Beatrice Ring (of Fulci's great bad good awful brilliant Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 (Mattei remix) and Lino Salmonne of Fulci's just plain awful Sweet House of Horrors, Graveyard Distrubance is an Italian TV horror movie by Lamberto Bava, who is not exactly Mr Quality Control himself either.

Just like Fulci's TV horror movie House of Clocks, a bunch of annoying teenage thieves high tail it out of town and find themselves somewhere far more sinister. This time it's a cemetery with it's own pub (run by an eternally laughing Lino, complete with flashing eyeball).

Lino bets our annoying eighties teenagers, with their custom painted van (including an Inferno reference!), walkmans etc that they won't be able to stay the night in the crypt. They're all up for that, and so it's down the crypt they go so they can run around scared and lost for the remainder of the film.

Made at the same time as Dinner with a Vampire (and similar, too), Lamberto forgoes gore and gives us weirdness instead, what with the surreal zombies, bizarre dinner party, other zombies, and various haunted house things we're used to as the masses of people who love watching late eighties Italian films.

If you set your sights really really low (where they should probably be anyway), this one is not too bad. It's now classic either though, but it's much better that The Ogre, which Bava also made around this time.

Lamberto Bava had quite a wide recognition for the *Demoni* saga, and this has become his most prestigious work in 80s horror cinema. After finishing the second part of this saga, Lamberto Bava decided to start a new film saga titled Brivido Giallo. "Una Notte Al Cimitero" was the first film to begin this saga, and the most obvious difference this saga would have from "Demoni" is that it would consist of films made for television. Bava had worked on television projects before, so this wasn't going to be anything new. What is noticeable with this first installment is that Bava seemed to follow the same path as Claudio Fragasso, Bruno Mattei, or Lucio Fulci in their decline. A Night at the Cemetery is not a horror film that takes itself seriously, unlike Demoni or other Bava productions. It's more of a B-movie that parodies the clichés of horror films from that era. Right from the start, it signals the kind of film it is by introducing the van of the five young people with very recognizable 80s icons. The five teenagers cling quite closely to the traditional 80s horror cliché. They are a group of rebellious and naive young people who make mistakes instead of wise decisions. Mistakes that favor the script so that they can be subjected to the nightmare they must face. It's David, supposedly the leader and mastermind of the group, who ends up dragging the whole group into a night of torture. But it turns out he's the worst leader a group of young people could have, because his decisions and jokes make the rest of the group seem somewhat sensible. David's greed in wanting to win the cemetery's treasure is what starts everything, and from there, the film becomes a Goonies-style adventure story disguised as a horror comedy. Lamberto Bava had stated that his intention was to make something lighter compared to *Demoni*, and that's what he achieved. His intention wasn't to make a serious horror film, but rather a self-parody of the genre that made him famous. The film has many humorous situations that are clearly intentional. All of that is combined with good, macabre set design and atmosphere. The production isn't high-budget, but it's quite decent. The catacombs, the tombs, the skeletons, the tunnels-the whole setting is spectacular. Simon Boswell also does a good job of providing macabre music for the atmosphere. The monsters' makeup is good, and these creatures are a grotesque spectacle designed primarily to frighten the characters. All of that mixed with humor makes the film a ride worthy of an amusement park attraction. It must be admitted that everything the characters experience here is very similar to a ride on one of those classic ghost trains that were popular in amusement parks. That would be the film's great strength, and to be honest, the film is bad. But not bad in the sense of being one of the worst things cinema has ever produced, but rather one of those bad movies that are made that way on purpose, just for fun. The humor, the incompetence of the protagonists, and the absurd situations make "Una Notte Al Cimiterio" a fun show. He has a clear sense of humor and is aware of it. That's why it doesn't disappoint in delivering promising laughs as long as it's not taken seriously. When we discover who the macabre waiter really is, it seems the film is going to conclude in a promising way. But unfortunately, they lost their way in the final minutes. The final boss is indeed a disappointment because the way they defeat him leaves the viewer saying, "What just happened?" The Grim Reaper doesn't even bother to explain his true intentions and ends up being one of the worst final bosses you can see in a movie. The film ends abruptly, leaving much to be desired. It feels like this mind-blowing journey should have ended in a more fun way, and not in such an absurd manner. Like a movie so bad it's good, it was going well until it all fell apart in the last few minutes. The film only becomes a complete disappointment if you make the mistake of viewing it as a serious horror film. Many made that mistake because of the good taste that Demoni 2 had left, and that's why, when it was first shown in Spain at the Sitges Film Festival, many in the audience booed. The most accurate way to view it is as what it really is: a B-movie that's only meant to be fun and not to be taken seriously. It's also worth considering that Italian horror cinema already has a certain reputation in the world of B-movies. "Una Notte Al Cimitero" wasn't a very promising start for the Brivido Giallo saga and is merely a B-movie with the sole purpose of entertaining. While it may not be taken seriously due to its absurd situations, it's an entertaining spectacle that younger viewers or fans of B-movies can enjoy. My final rating for this movie is a 5/10.