The House by the Cemetery

The House by the Cemetery, or Quella villa accanto al cimitero (1981), lives up to Lucio Fulci's reputation for gore, and exhibits his fetish for showing eyes. The story is very muddled and hard to follow, but is about a professor who goes to continue some historical research started by a colleague who recently committed suicide. He and his family move into a house next to a cemetery, and he discovers that his colleague had been looking into the identity of a Dr. Freudstein, who had supposedly been dead for a long time.

People start disappearing, the family discovers a creepy basement under their house, and a gravestone for Dr. Freudstein in the hall floor, but never for a moment suspect that the good Dr. is still alive and living in the basement, and killing and carving people to sustain his life.

NUDITY REPORT

In the only exposure in the film, Daniela Doria exposes her breasts then dies horribly before the opening credits.

DVD info from Amazon.

Widescreen, but no features

It is every bit as lame as it sounds, and much of the film -- the part in the basement -- is way too dark. Still, it is a much better film than The Black Cat. If you are curious about Fulci's work, this is the one to rent. (Or you can buy a DVD for less than seven dollars!!!)

The Critics Vote

no major reviews
nominated for best film at Fantasporto in 1983

The People Vote ...

With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it surprisingly high at 6.6

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C -, a genre film with little or no crossover appeal..