The House by the Cemetery
The House by the Cemetery | |
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Italian | Quella villa accanto al cimitero |
Directed by | Lucio Fulci |
Screenplay by |
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Story by | Elisa Livia Briganti[1] |
Produced by | Fabrizio De Angelis[2] |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Sergio Salvati[1] |
Edited by | Vincenzo Tomassi[3] |
Music by |
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Production company | Fulvia Film[1] |
Distributed by | Medusa Distribuzione |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes £ 600 million |
Box office | £1.408 billion |
The House by the Cemetery (Italian: Quella villa accanto al cimitero) is a 1981 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film stars Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina and Dagmar Lassander. Its plot revolves around a series of murders committed by a ghoulish and demonic serial killer taking place in a New England home that happens to be hiding a gruesome secret within its basement walls.
It is the third and final film in Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy.[6]
Plot
A woman looks for her boyfriend in an abandoned house. After discovering his body stabbed with scissors, she is killed with a
Meanwhile, Bob Boyle and his parents, Norman and Lucy, move into a house in New York City. Norman's ex-colleague, Dr. Peterson, who murdered his mistress before committing suicide, was the previous owner. The Boyles are to stay there while Norman researches old houses. As his mother packs, Bob notices a girl in a house's photograph. In New Whitby, Boston, Bob waits in his parents' car while they collect the house keys. The girl from the photograph, Mae Freudstein, appears across the street and warns him to stay away. Only Bob can see her. In the real estate office, Mrs. Laura Gittleson is annoyed when her colleague hands the couple "the Freudstein keys." She insists it is called "Oak Mansion" and promises to find the Boyles a babysitter.
Oak Mansion is in a poor state of repair. The cellar door is locked and nailed shut. Someone arrives and introduces herself as Ann, the babysitter. That night, Norman hears noises and finds Ann unblocking the cellar door. The next day, Norman goes to the library to peruse Peterson's materials. The chief librarian, Mr. Wheatley, appears to recognize him, but Norman claims he is mistaken. The assistant librarian then informs Norman that Peterson conducted private research at the house. He studied records of area disappearances and other demographic data.
Mae shows Bob a
Lucy finds Ann cleaning a bloodstain on the kitchen floor the next morning. Ann eludes Lucy's questions about the stain. Meanwhile, Norman discovers that Freudstein was a Victorian surgeon who conducted illegal experiments. Norman must travel to New York to research Freudstein. On the way, he visits the library and finds an audio cassette of Peterson's. It documents Peterson's madness. Norman destroys the cassette by dropping it into a furnace pipe.
Ann goes to the cellar looking for Bob and hears childlike sobbing. Freudstein then decapitates her. Bob sees Ann's head and exits screaming. Lucy returns to find Bob crying in his room but refuses to believe his account about Ann. That evening, Bob returns to the cellar looking for Ann but gets locked in. Lucy hears Bob's cries and tries to open the cellar door. Norman returns and hacks the door with a hatchet when she cannot open it. A rotting hand of Dr. Freudstein appears and restrains Bob against the door as the hatchet chops through it. The axe eventually breaks through the door and severs the ghoul's hand. He staggers back down the stairs.
Norman and Lucy get into the cellar, which contains several mutilated bodies (including Ann, Mrs. Gittleson, and the couple who died earlier), surgical equipment, and a
Cast
- Catriona MacColl as Lucy Boyle (credited as Katherine MacColl)
- Paolo Malco as Dr. Norman Boyle
- Ania Pieroni as Ann (babysitter)
- Giovanni Frezza as Bob Boyle
- Silvia Collatina as Mae Freudstein
- Dagmar Lassander as Laura Gittleson
- Giovanni De Nava as Dr. Freudstein
- Daniela Doria as the first female victim
- Gianpaolo Saccarola as Daniel Douglas
- Carlo De Mejo as Mr. Wheatley
- Kenneth A. Olsen as Harold (credited as John Olson)
- Elmer Johnsson as the Cemetery Caretaker
- Ranieri Ferrara as a victim
- Teresa Rossi Passante as Mary Freudstein
- Lucio Fulci as Professor Mueller (uncredited)
Production
Fulci later claimed that after making
The House by the Cemetery was shot on location in New York City,
Release
The Italian ratings board asked for a brief six-second cut in The House by the Cemetery where Dagmar Lassander's character Laura Gittleson is murdered; ironically, Fulci obliged only because of his dissatisfaction with the effects in certain shots.[9] The film opened in Turin on 14 August 1981, and was distributed in Italy by Medusa Distribuzione.[4][2][1][10] The film grossed a total of 1,407,981,297 lire in Italy, making it Fulci's most financially successful horror film of the 1980s.[4][9] Prior to the film's theatrical release in France, it was shown at the Festival International du film fantastique et de science-fiction in Paris alongside Fulci's earlier film The Black Cat.[11] It was released in France on 24 March 1982 and in the United States on 1 March 1984.[2] The American trailer was narrated by the noted monologuist Brother Theodore.
The film was released in the United Kingdom on 15 October 1982 where it was distributed by Eagle Films.
It was re-released by Blue Underground on Blu-ray and DVD on 25 October 2011 with a new 2K transfer. [13]
Critical reception
From contemporary reviews, Julian Petley of
From retrospective reviews, film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 45%, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 4.50/10.[18] Time Out called the film "a hack-work of almost awesome incoherence".[19] AllMovie praised the film, complimenting its atmosphere.[20]
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e "Quella villa accanto al cimitero (1981)" (in Italian). Archvio del cinema italiano. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Curti 2019, p. 85.
- ^ Muir 2012, p. 251.
- ^ a b c Curti 2019, p. 84.
- ^ Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 50, no. 588. p. 20.
- ^ Squires, John (5 October 2023). "'The House by the Cemetery' – Watch Trailer for Arrow Video's Gorgeous 4K Restoration of Lucio Fulci Classic". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d Curti 2019, p. 86.
- ^ a b c d e Curti 2019, p. 89.
- ^ a b c Curti 2019, p. 91.
- ^ Mannika, Eleanor. "The House by the Cemetery". AllMovie. Archived from the original on 30 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Curti 2019, p. 92.
- ^ Tribbey, Ralph (5 April 2001). "DVD NEWS BRIEFS: Anchor Bay in May; Aguilera on DVD; Koch's VaultKoch's Vault". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2001. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
- ^ "'The House by the Cemetery' Announced for Blu-ray". highdefdigest.com. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ Grassi, Giovanna (18 September 1981). "Shinin' italiano". Corriere della Sera (in Italian).
- ^ Vigano, Aldo (18 August 1981). "Nella horror story anche i bambini". La Stampa (in Italian).
- ^ Ross, Philippe (January 1982). "La maison pres du cimitere". La Revue du cinéma (in French). No. 368. p. 53.
- ^ a b Gans, Christophe (January 1982). "La maison pres du cimetiere". L'Ecran fantastique (in French). No. 22. p. 8.
- ^ "The House By The Cemetery (Quella villa accanto al cimitero) (1981) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Flixster. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ Milne, Tom, ed. (1991). The Time Out Film Guide (Second ed.). Penguin Books. p. 304.
- Allmovie. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
Sources
- Curti, Roberto (2019). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1980-1989. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476672434.
- Muir, John Kenneth (2012). Horror Films of the 1980s. Vol. 1. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-47298-7.
External links
- The House by the Cemetery at IMDb