HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY |
||||||||
|
"What do you say to a widow whose husband had another woman, then, after he slaughtered that woman, went and hanged himself?""er... Hey, what's new?" Without question, there is a lot of "bad to be had" in a Lucio Fulci movie. It's not just the wooden acting of the stars (who worked with Lucio again and again) and it's not even his poor direction - in how he wanted his actors to behave. There are also bad to the point of being funny quick cuts. When a character is confronted with being caught in a lie, they not only freeze in their tracks until it's obvious that they are guilty as sin, Fulci would further exacerbate the issue by cutting to extreme close-ups of the actor's eyes bouncing left to right in their sockets. Then he would cut to the person watching this happen, then back to the guilty party, then back again to the person witnessing this, then finally - mercifully - the guilty character would say something like, "Why no, honey, that woman and I have never met."and the torture would stop. There was also the way his characters would never fight back. If someone was coming at them with a knife, for example, the intended victim would stand there, putting up no resistance, and scream at the appropriate moment, until dead. There is no subtlety to be found in a Fulci flick. Everything the man did is over the top. Lucio made over 50 movies in his lifetime and only a handful of them are Horror movies. Yet it's the Horror films that are most recalled in people's minds - and for good reason. Yes, the acting is heavy handed but so is the horror. Lucio was known for gore and plenty of it. Cameras would swing into close-ups of blood, guts, dismemberment, and maggots. Such things sickened Lucio and he thought that if it bothered him then it would really turn your stomach - especially on a massive theater screen. Like Lucio's best Horror movies, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY starts out with a nude scene. A delectable honey is putting her clothes back on and calling for her boyfriend. That's a lost cause in this movie. In one scene after another you will see people yelling their damn fool heads off calling for someone who never answers. They just keep yapping until the varmint of the picture kills them. After the honey gets hers, we switch to a girl looking through the window of a house in a black and white photograph. A blonde haired child, looking for all the world like Klaus Kinski probably looked as a babe, stares at the girl and, though his Mother Lucy, (Catriona MacColl: THE GATES OF HELL, THE BEYOND) is yelling her fool head off for him, he ignores her to stare at the photo. His name is Bob (Giovanni Frezza: MANHATTAN BABY, DEMONS) and, in the English dubbed versions of this movie, he has a terribly irritating whiny voice that will drive you out of your tree. How we hope that Bob will soon die. And he just might, for the girl in the photo - Bob's Mother cannot see the girl, only Bob can - tells him not to come to the house she is in. Ahh, but parents aren't going to listen to some whiny kid, so off they go, to live in the house that is in the black and white photo. But first they must purchase their house. You know, the one by the cemetery? The real estate agent seems to recognize the hubby, Norman (Paolo Malco: THE SINFUL NUNS OF SAINT VALENTINES, PSYCHO RIPPER, THE OGRE), "Of course, you've been here before, haven't you Doctor?" she says. Norman looks instantly guilty. He's been caught! Then, after holding the worst poker
face you ever saw, tries to cover by saying, "Heh! You must be mistaken! I've never been here before." Now who in the hell would buy a house next to a cemetery?Well, besides you guys I mean. So off they go to live in a house whose last occupant, Hubby's former boss, mentor, partner, best friend, etc. up and killed his mistress and then himself inside. "Why, it looks just like that house in the photograph you took that is hanging back in our apartment in New York!" Says on-the-nose Lucy. Dr. Norman, freezes, yea like unto a deer in yon headlamp! He's been caught! Then, after
holding the worst poker face you ever saw, tries to cover by saying "Ah... there's lots of houses like this one around here." Yeah, sure there are. Then there is the matter of the surly baby-sitter, HA! Now you would think I just gave away a spoiler, right? Wrong! Recall what I wrote about Fulci and subtlety? We first see Ann as a realistic mannequin in a window. Her head falls off in a manner most gory, scaring Mae the little girl ghost (Silvia Collatina: ALLIGATORS). Later when we see the real Ann, Lucio's jump cuts bounce back and forth between the decapitation of the mannequin, and Ann, and the mannequin, and Ann, and the damn mannequin's bloody decapitated head - AND ANN: CHRIST! I mean, if you are still going to argue about Fulci ever having a "light touch", then this is subtlety applied with a sledgehammer, yes? Dr. Norman and Ann meet! Their eyes lock! Extreme Eye
|
GET SOME CLOTHES ON | |
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY (Gallons of Giallo!) |
||
THE BEYOND MOVIE REVIEW |
THE GATES OF HELL MOVIE REVIEW |
ZOMBIE MOVIE REVIEW |
FEO AMANTE'S HORROR THRILLERCreated by:E.C.McMullen Jr. FOLLOW ME @ |
Amazon |
ECMJr |
Feo Blog |
IMDb |
Stage32 |
Twitter X |
YouTube |
Zazzle Shop |