The House By The Cemetery — The House By The Cemetery(Blu Ray & CD set)
The House By The Cemetery( Zombie Hell House, Quella villa accanto al cimitero)was the 38th film directed by Fulci, and his fifth straight horror film. It was filmed on location in Massachusetts & New York- with interiors filmed back in Italy. The film features a lot of Fulci horror trademarks- close up eye shots, brutal and still realistic looking gore, and a feeling of prevailing Lovecraftian dread- but unlike the first two films in trilogy 1980’s City Of The Living Dead, and 1981’s The Beyond- there is a certain amount of coherence, flow, and sense to the film. I enjoy all three parts of the trilogy, but The House By The Cemetery has always felt the most classy, balanced, and downright creepy of the three- with moments of unsettlement that still remain powerful to this day, and the numerous times I’ve watched the film over the years.
The film finds Dr. Norman Boyle( Paolo Malco),his wife Lucy(Catriona Maccoll- appearing for the third and final time in a Fulci film), and their young son Bob(Giovanni Frezz) been sent from New York City to small-town new England to investigate why one of his colleges killed himself & his family. The Boyles set up home in a classic American gothic house, as the title suggests by a woodland cemetery. Fairly soon they find out the house is haunted by the lumbering figure of Doctor Freudstein- who at the turn of the century did bloody experiments on people in the basement of the house. As the film unfolds we get a great even blend of creepy atmospherics & growing dread, brutal & prolonged killings, and time-traveling ghosts- all topped with quirky & creepy characters, silly dubbing which includes young Bob been voiced by a grown-up women, and a generally good pace that both keeps you on edge of your seat, intrigued, and at times slight puzzled- though never too much.
Moving onto this new three-disc set- and on the first disc we, of course, have the new 4k print of the film, and I must say for the most part this is a real revelation as previously I’d only seen the old Vipco DVD print of the film. All the colors are so crisp and defined, with the blood & gore even more intense than before- with the effects not showing much dating at tall. The only issue I did have with the print was with the white & brighter elements of the picture, as these do tend to little blown out & over bright in places- but this is a minor quibble, as most of it’s top-class. You get two different language tracks for the film- the English track, which of course most fans will know, then the original Italian version- with English subtitles that you can switch on & off- this is a revelation to hear it in Italian, and of course we don't have the amusement/ oddness of young Bob’s dubbing- as in the Italian version he does sound like a little boy.
Also on the first disc, we get a commentary track from Troy Howarth- whose a genre expert, and has written a book about Fulci Splinted Visions- Lucio Fulci & His Films- I’ve now heard more than a few tracks by Mr. Howath( two or three for Fulci Films)- and he never disappoints in giving a well researched & down to earth tracks. Here he goes from talking about the scripts development & how it changed after it’s original treatment, the films locations, the films influences both cinematic & literary, before moving on to discuss it’s placed with Fulci's other films, why he thinks it’s not a Zombie film, and much more.
The second disc is the Blu ray extras disc- and this features a few new extras as well as a host of older extras brought over from the last pressing of the film. Of the new stuff, we have Calling Dr. Freudstein- a twenty-minute featurette from Fulci & genre expert Stephen Thrower- and here he talks about the writing/crew behind the film, the film influences like James & Lovecraft, before going onto discuss it in the context of the other two films in the trilogy, and Fulci horror films of the late ’70s/ early 80’s- as you’d expect from Thrower it’s a most worthy feature. The other two new extras on this disc come in the form of a fourteen-minute on-camera interview with Giorgio Mariuzzo- who co-wrote House By The Cemetery- the interview is Italian with English subs, and it finds Mariuzzo talking about his wider career working with Fulci, though of course the film to hand is discussed too. Next, we get a thirty-minute Q&A with Catriona MacColl- this was filmed in 2016, and it once again finds her discussing her wider career work on the three films she did with Fucli- & it’s most worthy, as she does answer more than a few questions I’ve not heard her answer in other interviews/commentary tracks. Other than this we get a selection of around ten interviews with various actors & cast/crew- these where on a previous release of the film- so I won't get in-depth in these, but there are some great interviews on offer, including the two children leads all grown up now.
The third disc in the set is, of course, the soundtrack by Walter Rizzati- this is a reproduction of 2010 Beat Records release of the soundtrack under its Italian name Quella Villa Accanto Al Cimitero. The thirty-one track and fifty-seven minute CD takes in both used & outtake tracks, and as Fulci soundtracks go it’s not very varied with its themes compared to the scores Fabio Frizzi did. Though in the context of the film it works well- with its switching between two main themes- rapidly flourishing organ/ synth keys with faint female vocalizing which conjure up gothic unease, and brooding tolling keys mixed with ghostly spiral effects/ cold guitar embellishment & descending bass tone ominous vibes. You do of course get slight variations on booth of these through-out the score, though as a stand-alone play the CD it does become more than a little repetitive- though of course, it’s great to have it here as part of the set.
The sixteen-page glossy inlay booklet tops the set-off- this takes in a new fourteen-page write-up about the film, it’s influences, and it’s impact on more recent films like the excellent We Are Still Here- this write-ups by Micheal Gingold, and is most worthy. The rest of the booklet, of course, gives you nice reproductions of stills, poster artwork, etc.
With this release of House By The Cemetery Blue Underground are up to their normally gold standard- really giving you the truly ultimate and deluxe reissue of this classic 80’s euro horror picture that aptly blends together major creep/ dread factor with moments of intense & prolong spaghetti gore. Totally an unmissable purchase, though act fast to secure a copy of the very cool Lenticular 3D cover.