The House by the Cemetery

The House by the Cemetery

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Movie Reviews of The House by the Cemetery

Movie Review: Eerie, unsettling, exciting and beautifully photographed
Summary: 5 Stars

HOUSE's transfer really shows off Fulci's ability to create a magnificent atmosphere, and is evident of his mastery of composition in the 'scope format.

The film is one of Fulci's best. It isn't as volcanic as THE BEYOND, but it's probably just as brilliant. It forsakes the Surrealist logic of the former film, it doesn't jump abstractly from one seemingly unconnected moment to the next, and is far more linear in its story telling. But that is not to say that HOUSE shirks the weird nightmare qualities: it just builds up to them a little mre slowly. By the end you'll still feel as though you've been taken into another strange world. The story itself isn't anything special; it plays on certain archetypes of the haunted house flick and the zombie in the cellar set piece. But what elevates this film above such popular classics as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the slightly overrated LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE and others is Fulci's total command of the formal aspects of cinema. The visuals and sounds are unlike anything else.

Almost every image in the film is beautiful and melancholy. At times the film has the oneiric quality of dreams and nightmares. Fulci composes his images as a painter would. The link between Fulci's cinema and painting is heightened by the motif of the ghosts in the painting, as the line between the corporeal (the physical world) and the ethereal (the world of ghosts associated with the painting)is blurred until it is obliterated in the haunting finish. Many people will find the atmosphere too depressing, but it enhances the film's power.

I must also comment on the music. It perfectly complemented the imagery, and is truly eerie. The acting is good, too, especially Ania Peroni as a weirdo babysitter. The close ups of her eyes are unsettling.

Overall, I would highly recommend this for people interested in Euro horror, because this is one of the finest examples. Also, people interested in formalism and poetic cinema combined with horror will also be impressed. It is not for all tastes. It won't satisfy gore hounds because there are only three or four scenes of pure horror. But it's still great.