The Graveyard — The Graveyard(DVD)

The Graveyard is one of the lesser-seen & lesser-known of the hag horror genre, and it’s also one of the most satisfying and twisted. From Cheezy Moives here we have a bare-bones DVD releases of the film- and while the print is far from great, it’s excellent to see this devilish little film back in print once more.

The Graveyard( aka Persecution, I Hate You, Cat, The Terror of Sheba) was a 1974 British production directed by Don Chaffey- a decidedly prolific director who helmed eight seven productions between the early 1950’s and late 1980’s- with many of these been TV credits for shows such as The Avengers, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island and TJ Hooker. The Graveyard is elegantly shot and scoped- set in and around a large English country-house.
 
 
The film opens with its first big shock- as we see young David berating his mother's cat Sheba- the cat lashers and scratchers the boy- then he drowns it in its own milk. After the credits we see young David opening his Christmas presents around a huge tree- his mother points out one more present, he opens it to find a cat-sized coffin- and so the pair depart for the animal graveyard that sits in the middle of the houses garden maze. Then we fast forward to meet David- now all grown-up, and played by the great Ralph Bates- surely one the great unsung actors of British horror. We find in the ensuing years there have been many more Sheba's, each now resides in the graveyard- and David mother (played wonderfully by 40’s starlet Lana Turner) has been belittling and mentally torturing David all these years. Though there is hope- as David now has a wife and child.
 
What unfolds in a carefully paced, yet tight psycho thiller/hag horror- that is nicely edged with gothic touches, bitchy dialogue, good acting, subtle touches of brood and dread, with a delightfully devilish and twisted resolve. I’ve always rather enjoyed hag horror- and I must say that The Graveyard is a fine British example of the genre.
 
As far as I can gather this is the first-ever digital release of the film- and it must be said the print is far, far from great. Clearly, the print used is taken from an old VHS- as at one point we get the white 'play' letters showing up on the top of the screen. As you’d expect with a VHS print it’s line bound, the tracking goes out and it often looks washed out. But even though the print is terrible, the film certainly is not- and after some searching on the net, it's been requested in horror community for a few years now- so it’s great to see Cheezy Moives release it. As with all of this companies release is bare bones- with no extras aside from a trailer reel.
 
In conclusion, if you’re a fan of the hag horror genre- you really, really need to pick up The Graveyard, as it is a lost classic of the genre. The films certainly scores four/ five , but as the prints not great I’ve gone for an all round four.