"HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY"
Staring: Catriona MacColl - Paolo Malco
Anija Pieroni - Dagmar Lassander Directed by: Lucio Fulci
Diamond Entertainment - Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Rattings:
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Hello kiddies. This little Drive-In gem,"The House by the Cemetery", opens up with a shot of....? You Guessed it. A House by the Cemetery. From the first shot alone, the director Lucio Flucci, sets the mood for a typical 80's style horror gem.

He pans the camera from a shot overlooking the cemetery to a house or more like ,"The Munsters Mansion," with some very cool retro horror music playing in the background. Great opening shot by the director to set the mood to this eerie tale. Once inside this creepy house we are introduced to an attractive young blonde who hears someone entering the house and thinks it's her beau steve. "Steve...Steve...", she shouts as she makes her way through this house in search of Steve. When she finally gets to her Steve, he is pierced to a door by a pair of scissors covered in lots and lots of blood. She screams in terror and in that instant a butcher knife enters through the back of her skull and protrudes out of her mouth. Her blood filled body is then dragged across the floor into the depths of the house never to be seen of heard from again.

In the next scene, we are in New York. Here we meet Bobby. A blue eyed kid, with a blonde dutch boy haircut. Bobby at first turns out to be annoying but the end you can't help but laugh at his facial expressions along with some really bad overdubbing of his voice, like something out of a Godzilla movie. Bobby turns out to be the most amusing part of this movie by the end.

Bobby is having a vision of a young girl in a painting in his room of a house, and the little girl is warning him not to go into the house. Through this vision he sees a dummy who strikes a remarkable resemblance to Susan Dey of The Patridge Family. While in this psychic trance the head of the dummy comes off and blood begins to protrude from the dummy's neck. Bobby is very afraid and horrified. While I on the other hand think it's very funny and amusing.

Mom then enters the room and comforts Bobby. "There is no girl in the painting, It's just a bad dream", she exclaims. Meanwhile her husband Norman arrives home to tell the family that they have to go to Boston to do some research in....you guessed it,"The House by the Cemetery". Upon arrival at the house Mom gasps at first glance. This is the same exact house in the painting in Bobby's room. Could this be? or Could it just be a coincidence? You decide. She doesn't want to stay but Norman insists. "Think of it as a vacation", she says. Mom agrees and begins to clean up the old dark place. While straightening up the house mom turns around to find a girl who looks just like susan dey standing in front of her. "I'm Ann, the babysitter", she tells mom. It's the girl in Bobby's vision. Everything is beginning to fall into place now. Mom takes the babysitter to meet Bobby. Bobby at first glanced is shocked to see this vision face to face. Ann takes little Bobby out to play. And what better place to play then in the cemetery. Bobby runs away from the babysitter and the little girl in Bobby's vision is now beside him. They stumble upon a large tombstone that says the name Frudenstein almost like Frankenstein but not exactly. "No one is buried there", the girl tells bobby. She then begins to tell the evil tale of Frudenstein who was evil and eventually hung himself in the house. Just then the babysitter is there and the little girl vanishes. Ann Takes Bobby back into the dark old house. Back in the house mom is still scrubbing away when she lifts a rug and discovers the tomb of Frudenstein buried right into the floor. Just then she begins to hears moans and groans in the house and things begin to move by themselves.

Norman calms her down and mom begins to pop pills. The town folk in town begin to snub them as well even the real estate agent who showed them the house doesn't say hello to her and mom is just falling apart. Back at the house our real estate agent enters. No one is home and she begins to call out to them. Deeper and deeper she goes into the house. In a gruesome violent death she is then grabbed from behind and a large fireplace stick slices her neck. In this DVD Uncut Version our killer takes it to the limit and begins to cut away at this woman as she screams in agony. Blood is everywhere and the killing is very brutal and yet laughable. Her body is then dragged across the floor and taken into the cellar just like the girl in the beginning of this flick. Norman begins to do some research on the house. He finds a tape left by Frudenstein and in that tape he is warning that the house is evil and it is taking over him. Dad rushes home to save his family from this terror. When he arrives Bobby get's locked in the cellar. Mom and Dad pound away on the door trying to rescue their son but the door will not open under any circumstance. Just then our killer begins to slowly make his way up the stairs to bobby. Bobby is screaming in terror....Mom and Dad are Frantic. Will they save poor Bobby or will they all die by the hands of a sick deranged mystery killer. This movie comes highly recommended. Great camera shots and terrific direction by director Mario Brava give "The House by the Cemetery", a four speaker ratting. Mom played by Catriona MacColl does an excellent job, while Bobby played by ? gives an annoying yet very likable job as the son. While watching this movie I am reminded that again they just don't make horror movie like this anymore. If your in the mood to be scared and want to see a true horror movie then take home,"House by the Cemetery".
Diamond entertainment for the first time shows some sign of care in their product. This DVD with it's budget price tag of $7.99 or less looks very good! Though not in any means prestine but very good. The print used is very special because it's in a Uncut form. This is the version that had it's incarnation on a very hard to find Japanese LaserDisc import.
All though Diamond didn't produce a transfer that "Anchor Bay" would have made sure too make, the low price tag it's well worth the dough.
Have Fun and don't forget to replace your Drive-In Speaker on the rack after viewing this film. This film will take you right back to the good ole Drive-In days.
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