The House of Clocks

More engaging than I expected after watching the earlier Sodoma's Ghost but the whole thing is still a bit ridiculous. It was also made-for-tv and so that's not surprising. I really enjoyed the beginning where the rich, lavish lifestyle of the mansion owners was juxtaposed with the lives of the thieves. However, it began and to drag somewhere in the middle, and the ending just started to go over the top and became ridiculous. Overall not bad as long as you know what Fulci's 80s output is like.

Two guys and a girl decide they are going to rob an isolated mansion owned by an eccentric old couple. Naturally, things get weird as the house is filled with clocks and the trio become trapped in the place. When it comes to Lucio Fulci's '80s horror films, I've only got a handful left that I haven't seen so I've been doling them out slowly over the years. This was one of his TV films, which is surprising as it is pretty dang gory. The story isn't any great shakes, but it moves at a considerable clip and never drags during its 80 minutes. And the film is well shot and the location is impressive. Look for Al Cliver as the couple's handyman.

I'm a big fan of Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci, but in spite of that; I put off seeing this made-for-Italian-TV movie, as I feared it wouldn't be very good compared to earlier Fulci offerings. Now that I've seen it, however, I am happy to report that with this film; Fulci doesn't disappoint! While it lacks the grandiose of Fulci's excellent Zombie Flesh-Eaters and the intrigue of his early Giallo offerings, House of Clocks still shows Fulci's talent for making horror movies, in spite of the conditions under which it was made. The plot certainly is intriguing enough, and it follows an old couple that live in a house full of the man's 'children'; namely, a bunch of clocks. The trouble starts when a troupe of pot-smoking crooks, who see the house as an easy target, decide to break in and rob it...only to find that after murdering the inhabitants; the 'children' start running backwards, and our protagonists may only have a matter of time before they meet their own gory demise...

Speaking of gore, Fulci is famous for it; and this film certainly has it; but from some of the scenes, you do get the overwhelming impression that the gore is only there to satisfy his fans. Not that that's a bad thing. Like many Italian horror films, this one suffers from poor dubbing, worse acting and lots of incoherence in the script. It's easy to forgive the film for these negative aspects however as it breathes a great atmosphere and there's some absolutely great horror shots, that are sure to delight fans. That's the thing about Fulci – people see the gore and then write him off as a hack, when this isn't the case at all. This film does pretty much write itself off by the end, however, as, for some reason, Fulci has opted to tack on one of those endings that just sucks all the credibility out of the film; and on the whole it means that you will leave the film with a very sour taste in your mouth. Really, I recommend turning it off at about the 70-minute mark. Still, while the ending ruins it and it suffers from lots of imperfections; this is still a very nice horror film, and one that is very enjoyable too!

Fulci made this for Italian television, however, it still has fair amounts of gore for tv. This one doesn't need gore though because it has a great story. It's about three "seedy" criminals who decide to knock off an old couple in a home invasion. Suddenly the clocks start to go backwards, so does the time, and sooner or later we see them back again... only the couple wasn't a nice old couple to begin with, they were pretty seedy also.

The only reason why this film is getting excellent review in most books is the fact that Lucio Fulci made it. If his name wasn't on it, everyone will hate it. The film is boring, flat, and low on any suspense. Don't get me wrong, I love his films, but this one is just plain dull. Two guys and a girl (one of them kills a cat) drives to a old couples home (the couple has their son & wife dead in the basement). The 2 guys and a girl kills the boring couple and their gardener (Al Cliver, who looks very ill in this film). Suddenly, the clock goes backwards and they are terrorized for an hour (more like the audience is terrorized!). Some gore might make some die hard fans happy, but this film is just flat. The photography is dark, and I could see why this film never got U.S. sales. I had to buy a Japanese video print just to see it, and it really wasn't worth the effort. Go and rent ZOMBIE (aka ZOMBIE 2) again!