cinema history class: the house by the cemetery (1981)

   As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Session: Fulci Month (Week 4)
Movie: House by the Cemetery (1981)
Directed by Lucio Fulci

Plot:

A researcher moves to the New England house formerly occupied by his colleague. And he gets more than he bargained for. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

First, the bad. I couldn't stand the kid. He seemed looked sort of like a cross between a demented version of Robbie Rist, rendered as a porcelain doll. And dubbed with a really annoying voice that doesn't sound right.

But other than that, this was a really great piece of the genre. Fulci is often referred to as the Godfather of Gore*, and he had definitely perfected it by the time he made this. The graphic shots of injuries are exactly the kind of thing that come to mind when I think of slasher films. It doesn't have the same kind of beauty that we saw in The Black Cat or A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, which we saw recently. The cinematography was good, but it was grittier than in the other films -- which works well. Going along with it, the music by The Goblin fits in well.

The plot was, arguably, too subtle. There were several lines that seemed to me to go nowhere, that Keith explained after the film. I'm kind of torn, since it would have been nice to understand these plot subtleties. But I also appreciate it when we don;t get hit over the head with things. Maybe a little more explicitness would have been in order.

I was really impressed by the way the ending played out. It had just enough vagueness to leave us all debating what exactly happened.

Ratings

Me: 9.5

Bob-O: 9.5

Christina: 10

Dave: 9.5

Ethan: 10

Joe: 10

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*Though, admittedly, Herschel Gordon Lewis is the first name most people associate with that title