Is House by the Cemetery Treasure or Trash?
Blu-ray Distributed By Blue Underground / January 21, 2020
A young family moves from their cramped New York City apartment to a spacious new home in New England. But this is no ordinary house in the country: the previous owner was the deranged Dr. Freudstein, whose monstrous human experiments have left a legacy of bloody mayhem. Now, someone – or something – is alive in the basement, and home sweet home is about to become a horrific hell on earth.
Catriona MacColl (THE BEYOND), Paolo Malco (THE NEW YORK RIPPER), Ania Pieroni (TENEBRE), Carlo De Mejo (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD), and Dagmar Lassander (HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON) star in this outrageous Italian shocker from ‘The Godfather of Gore,’ Lucio Fulci (ZOMBIE). Blue Underground is now proud to present THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY in a new 4K restoration from the original uncut and uncensored camera negative, fully loaded with exclusive new and archival Extras!
Jamie’s Take 
(4 / 5)
It’s been a few years since I had watched House by the Cemetery and it’s one of those films that gets better after every viewing, despite some obvious flaws. It’s also scary as shit. Yeah, maybe it’s because I’ve been stuck in this fucking house for what feels like an eternity due to the corona virus (thanks a lot China!) but I will argue this is director Lucio Fulci’s scariest film and maybe his most atmospheric. And yes dear readers, this actually creeped me out and that hasn’t happened to me in a long time.
First off, let me warn some of you: this is an Italian splatter film. There is dubbing (and bad dubbing I might add) and if you know anything about Italian horror films you should know that story consistency is not what they are known for. Character arcs and development, logic…yeah you can just forget about that. It’s all about atmosphere, style, suspense and of course gore. House by the Cemetery has balls. It’s not for pussies. It grabs you by the short hairs and doesn’t let go of it’s vice grip for a good 86 minutes.
The opening scene alone sets the mood. A dark, cob-web infested basement in an old creepy house has two lovers putting their clothes back on after hitting the skins. Almost immediately, these two lovers end up getting brutally dispatched by a faceless killer in gruesome fashion…all before the opening credits. So one will know if House by the Cemetery is their cup of tea or not within the first few minutes.
A New York doctor travels to the Boston area with his wife and young son to stay at the creepy old house (it looks similar to the Amityville house with the windows almost looking like eyes) as the doctor continues research that Dr. Freudstein was conducting before he went insane and killed his wife and himself. The creepy house belongs to the good doctor’s colleague (played by Fulci himself in a cameo, smoking his trademark pipe) which resides in the woods near an old graveyard.
Making matters worse, the doctor’s young son Bob starts to see a little girl named Mae that only he can see, who warns him that he and his family need to leave the house. Once Bob’s parents hire a strange nanny to take care of him, things really escalate as more and more strange happenings begin to occur inside the home with bat attacks and of course the hidden assailant that seems to be hiding in the basement.
Part haunted house thriller and part slasher film, House by the Cemetery works thanks to the stylish directing by Fulci, a stellar soundtrack by Walter Rizzati, some over the top gore effects, and a decent performance by lead star Catriona MacColl (who also was in City of the Living Dead and The Beyond) as the wife / mother whose trying to keep it together as her family is being attacked. The movie is so moody, so creepy, and so chilling that I didn’t want House to end and found the film one of Fulci’s best movies in his career (I have a baby soft spot for Zombie).
The movie is not without it’s flaws however and this may throw many viewers off. The dubbing is awful and the actor who plays Bob has this ear piercing shrill of a voice that at times can be both comical and annoying. While the gore effects look great, some of the monster effects look…how shall I say…dated? There is also a bat attack that comes off as laughable, pulling the viewer out of the film temporarily.
The movie also doesn’t make a lick of sense as it’s ridiculous that this doctor would subject his family to stay at this house as well as continue with this insane doctor’s past work. Oh and how about the ending? The last few minutes were so odd and confusing, I can see viewers walking away not liking the film as it not only doesn’t work but it feels thrown together, resulting in a confusing mess. Such a shame as the film is a real edge of your seat thriller that deserves better. But please, don’t let the last few minutes ruin what is truly a terrifying horror flick.
After reviewing Blue Underground’s other 3-disc limited editions like Zombie, Maniac and New York Ripper one can only assume the new 3-disc set by Blue Underground (which contains the amazing soundtrack) is also flawless and yes, that assumption is correct. While the last blu ray looked pretty darn good, this restoration takes out that blu-ish tint from the previous disc thus making this transfer all the more better. House by the Cemetery has never looked this good and until Blue Underground releases this on official 4K (which may happen as they are releasing Maniac yet again on a 4K disc) this is the version to own.
All of the special features from the last disc are ported over along with a new commentary track by Fulci scholar Troy Howarth as well as a few new interviews. However it is that added bonus of a CD soundtrack as well as a collectable booklet that just adds to the desire to purchase this blu ray.
My fingers are crossed that Blue Underground decides to do City of the Living Dead or Inferno next as these 3-disc 4K restorations are pretty much perfect.
Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?
Jamie says: Hidden Treasure!
| Jamie's Take: |  (4.0 / 5) |
| Blu-ray Extras: |  (5.0 / 5) |
| Average: |  (4.5 / 5) |
Special Features
Disc 1 (Blu-ray) Feature Film + Extras:
- NEW! Audio Commentary with Troy Howarth, Author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films
- Deleted Scene
- Theatrical Trailers
- TV Spot
- Poster & Still Galleries
Disc 2 (Blu-ray) Extras: - Meet the Boyles – Interviews with Stars Catriona MacColl and Paolo Malco
- Children of the Night – Interviews with Stars Giovanni Frezza and Silvia Collatina
- Tales of Laura Gittleson – Interview with Star Dagmar Lassander
- My Time With Terror – Interview with Star Carlo De Mejo
- A Haunted House Story – Interviews with Co-Writers Dardano Sacchetti and Elisa Briganti
- To Build a Better Death Trap – Interviews with Cinematographer Sergio Salvati, Special Make-Up Effects Artist Maurizio Trani, Special Effects Artist Gino De Rossi, and Actor Giovanni De Nava
- NEW! House Quake – Interview with Co-Writer Giorgio Mariuzzo
- NEW! Catriona MacColl Q&A
- NEW! Calling Dr. Freudstein – Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci
Disc 3 (CD): - THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Walter Rizzati
BONUS! Collectable Booklet with new essay by Michael Gingold
