"The House by the Cemetery", Bluray, [1981] [Movie Review]

Lucio Fulci's "The House by the Cemetery" (Quella villa accanto al cimitero) from 1981 is one of my all-time favorite horror movies. It was part of the "Gates of Hell" trilogy. It has recently been restored in 4K and released on bluray and on 4K bluray. I opted for the limited edition with a bluray, a 60 pages booklet, some postcards, and a 2 sided movie poster. The 4K bluray probably has slightly better image quality, but let's be real here, it is a great restoration and all, but it is quite an old movie and the extra stuff in the limited box just appealed more to me.

I have lost count of how many times I have watched this movie through the years. Is it 25, 35 or 45 times? Who knows? I saw it the first time back in the 1980s on a Betamax copy and I have loved it ever since. 

The movie has one of the best horror locations ever with the creepy evil house in Massachusetts, the evil surgeon Dr. Freudstein is a wonderful horror creature who has found a gory path to immortality, the atmosphere is creepy and mysterious in that superior way that Fulci mastered to perfection. The soundtrack is really great too. The actors are all pretty good even with all the voice dubbing. Silvia Collatina is a favorite of mine as the mysterious ghost girl, Mae Freudstein.

The bluray comes with both English and Italian sound. Both soundtracks are dubbed as was the fashion of these Italian horror movies. Both the English and the Italian version has English subtitles. A curious thing is that there are several differences between the dialogue in the 2 versions. Nothing that really helps solve all the movie's puzzles but I think the Italian version makes a bit more sense, if only slightly. Choosing the Italian version will make you lose that hilarious dubbed voice of young boy Bob though and believe it or not it has become part of the movie's DNA for me.

You may think that "The House by the Cemetery" is a simple story of people moving to a haunted house. Several super graphic murders happen. Boy Bob escapes with his ghost girlfriend Mae. The End. Yes, you could watch it that way and leave it at that. The movie is however NOT that simple. Far from it. 

The movie was based on a thin original script that was then rewritten and altered along the way by several writers. It may have complicated the story beyond human understanding but it hasn't stopped fans of the movie from trying. 

Every time I watch the movie I start twisting the events and characters around and try to make some sense of it all. It is difficult and challenging and very great fun. Sometimes I come to the same conclusions as before, sometimes I think of new interpretations. I love to read other people's thoughts and theories about the movie online. Understanding "The House by the Cemetery" is a never-ending quest. The movie is a puzzle you will probably never solve completely.

This last week I have read the great little booklet that brings more speculations and theories, and I have watched both the English and the Italian version, plus most of the interviews in the included bonus material.

Here are some of my random thoughts at this point in time:

Is the house evil or does it have some demonic ability of possessing people? Does Dr. Freudstein have such an ability? It would perhaps explain some of the more curious events:

• Why did Ann remove the barricade from the cellar door and why did Norman just accept that Ann did this late in the evening?
• Why do Ann and Norman exchange those weird looks? Has it something to do with them being possessed or do they have a past together?
• Why did Norman burn Dr. Peterson's tape? Maybe because something told him to do so?
• Was Mr. Peterson possessed? Is that why he hanged himself or was he just afraid of getting blamed for Dr. Freudstein's doings?

Has Norman really visited the town in the past and why does he deny it? It surely brings even more questions:

• If he did then who was the little girl who was said to accompany him?
• Did Norman perhaps have an affair with Dr. Peterson's partner Sheila?
• Could Ann have been the babysitter of Dr. Peterson and is that why Ann and Norman seem to know each other?
• Did Ann and Norman already become possessed by the house / Dr. Freudstein back then?

How heavily medicated is Lucy? Does she hallucinate? What does this mean:

• Does Lucy accept the blood on the floor and Ann's strange behavior because she is in doubt if it is real?
• Does Ann think Lucy is seriously fucked up in the head and is this why Ann mostly just ignores Lucy?

It seems clear that Bob gets to live on with the ghosts Mae and Mrs. Freudstein in some sort of ghost reality. Forever bound to watch the evil house but not really able to do anything to help Dr. Freudstein's future victims:

• Does Bob really escape near the end or is it in fact only his soul that escapes from Dr. Freudstein's cellar? 

More questions keep piling up:

• Why does Norman search for Dr. Freudstein's grave in a far-away cemetery when Lucy has already discovered his tombstone in the living room?
• How can there be glowing yellow eyes in the dark when it seems that Dr. Freudstein doesn't have any eyes?
• How can Dr. Freudstein remote control the cellar door and tombstone or is it the evil house at play here?
• Does conventional physics stop in the cellar? The cellar seems to expand once they face Dr. Freudstein in the finale. Is it perhaps some way for Dr. Freudstein to avoid detection?
• How can the house have colored windows inside when they seems to be made of regular glass from the outside?

These are just a few of my thoughts. This movie is simply a gigantic puzzle that keeps on giving. The movie is in many ways completely irrational and without much logic. At the same time it draws you in again and again, much like that Freudstein house does. The atmosphere, the sadistic super gory murders, listening to Dr. Freudstein crying in his cellar. Enjoying it all from the beginning with Mae in the window and right until that fantastic (probably fake) quote "No One Will Ever Know Whether Children Are Monsters Or Monsters Are Children" just before the subtitles. A horror master-piece can never die.

Rating:

Movie Title: The House by the Cemetery

Director: Lucio Fulci

First Release: 1981

This Release: 2023

Movie Genre: Horror

RunTime: 86

Actors: Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina, Dagmar Lassander, Giovanni De Nava, Daniela Doria, Giampaolo Saccarola, Carlo De Mejo, Kenneth A. Olsen, Teresa Rossi Passante, Lucio Fulci

Movie Format: Bluray

Movie Label: Arrow

Content Type: Movie Review

Language:

Updated: 2024-07-23 17:59

Created: 2024-07-23 17:16