The House by the Cemetery (2010)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Perfect cast and a good story

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fresh and Exciting

This is a beautifully shot film, the camera work was very good. The movie plot is simple and easy to understand. This is a good paranormal, zombie movie with a simple plot, evil surgeon comes back from the dead and kills all who enter the house by the cemetery. I like how the movie moves quick too. The dead girl play with Bobby was kind of corny and hard to believe at times but the cast acted quite well.

"The House by the Cemetery" is directed by famed splatter master Lucio Fulci, and it pretty much reverts to Lucio's type. Which of course is often enough for fan's of Fulci's work. Plot is irrelevant, but basically a family moves into a creepy house in New England and discover a flesh eating ghoul is in residence down in the basement. The ghoul needs to continue its bizarre medical habits to remain, well, a ghoul! Cue screams, serious bloody gore, bad dubbing and incoherent narrative. Visually, as you would expect from Fulci and cinematographer Sergio Salvati, it has inspired moments, the whole irreverence of it draped in Grand Guignol textures. The ghouls lair is a place of nightmares, while the appearance of a scary bat and doll further add to the weirdness. Yet it undoubtedly is a hack job by Fulci, where he clutches from some famous American horror movies and just inserts a bloody killing at regular intervals. The whole film serves only to shed some blood for the gore hounds delight, regardless of if it actually matters to what was left on the writing table.The film tries to weave a web of unease and mystery around the secret in the cellar, and for a while it really works. The camera work and the general look of the locations is pretty good, with a sense of brooding Gothic mystery hanging over the poor family. The house itself looks particularly impressive in most of the external shots. However the story rapidly unravels as the film proceeds to throw countless red herrings into the mix and then either completely abandons them (people claiming to have seen Norman at the house in the past, the things that Bob's mysterious playmate Mae tells him about the house's former occupants), or blatantly contradicts itself (most notably the Boyles babysitter, Ann, who's behavior suddenly swings from one style to the total opposites with no explanation). But if you can put the irregularities of the script to one side, you should enjoy the ride on a purely shallow level. Lots of scenes are drenched in great atmosphere, such as those involving the enigmatic Mae, and especially the last portion of the film when we get to see exactly what has been going on in the depths of the cellar. If you like cheesy and quite gory/violent horror films then you will like this.Overall rating: 6 out of 10.

I thought this was an enjoyable movie from Fulci pretty low on the gore part if you want to compare it to City of the Living Dead. I hear people say there was little budget and also little time to film this movie that's perhaps while the movie feels so rushed in certain places and also quite incomplete. There is quite some holes in the plot and while the ending was more satisfying than the movie I mentioned before there were still a few questions I had and things I would have liked the director would have elaborated on. Especially the killer is not given much of a background. And next to the killer there was the babysitter who looked mysterious and creepy but eventually had nothing to do with the evil, wasn't even that vital to the plot. Best parts were when little girl May is involved. Especially that scene where she notices were she sees in a symbolic what is going to happen to the babysitter. Nice chemistry between the kids. Visually good and appropriate horror atmosphere.

One thing that jumps out at me when watching movies like this one, Italian Horror films have the best music. Haunting melodies that engross the viewer and pull you into the film. House By The Cemetery is no exception. This story of the Haunted Freudstein House is made all the more memorable and creepy thanks to the music. Some of the acting is a bit stilted here, possibly due to the horrible dubbing of the children. Little Bob may be voiced by the worst dubbing actor in cinema history. It actually hurts the film. I suggest watching the original Italian language version if possible. A bunch of standout gore scenes and a thick atmosphere really help to make this one a classic, and the story is pretty good, keeping interest until the end. The ending itself is a bit of a head scratcher, but I am sure there is some deep, metaphysical meaning that I just don't get. Overall, a good film, and a great addition to any Horror collection.