 Thank you for checking out this movie review. This is for the 1981 film The House by the Cemetery by Lucio Fulci and this review concludes my Entire series of doing the whole trilogy of the gates of hell by Lucio Fulci So the first one was City of the Living Dead the second one was from beyond and this is the third one the house by the Cemetery So if you want to Watch all of them, I guess then go back there The other two are already on this channel by the time this one's coming out now when I'm putting this out all three of those films are Available on the shutter streaming service, so you can check them out there. That's where I did so Let's get into this written and directed by Lucio Fulci as I said He also did don't torture a duckling zombie the New York Ripper and a cat in the brain I have not seen those films But I am going to try and get to it at some point and just so people know I actually created a playlist on my channel For Lucio Fulci, so I will be putting all reviews related to him there I also have one for Dario Argento at the moment, so all of his are there I think I have like four or five at the moment And then I also had started a playlist for giallo and then I'll come up with some other playlists So if you guys have ideas on that type of stuff, what type of playlist you'd like go and put some comments down there This film was also written by Dardano Siketi. He was also involved in writing City of the Living Dead and the beyond The writing for these films is not Super great just because there's not a ton of story It's more about the actual like filmmaking what they did on set and the inspired scenes that they use in the kill scenes and the practical Effects and the music actually as it goes on although I will say I had to I realized that There's like almost no story in City of the Living Dead and then there's a little bit of story in from being Sorry, not from beyond the beyond and then in this one House by the cemetery it has the most story in my opinion So it's just this kind of progression of like pretty much no story to actually some story in this final one Although it's still kind of late on the story to be honest it's it's more of like a visual and gore experience and that's From what I understand. That's a full cheat thing. So Dardano Siketi has also been involved in writing demons demons 2 1990 the Bronx warriors, which is also available on shutter the scorpion with two tails a bae of blood and cat o nine tails which yes the Dario Argento film and I will be getting to that one because that is also available on shutter That one's gonna be reviewed some point soon ish also involved in writing was Giorgio Mariuso who also helped on the script for the beyond and Elisa Brigante who was involved in writing scripts for zombie and 1990 the Bronx warriors So there you go Fult you wanted to do something inspired by Lovecraft That was his whole basis for this but not based on one of the actual writings of love Lovecraft now there was a little bit of it in a late influence for Lovecraft that came into a City of the living dead one of the main reason one of the main things of that being the city and that is named Dunwich, but they didn't take a whole lot actually from Lovecraft this they supposedly took more from Lovecraft But not from specific writings more of like an overall feel of how he writes and how his stories are So Ciketti himself said the script was inspired by his childhood Apparently he was born in a large country house with a large dark basement and at the age of nine He actually had to cross through a cemetery in the night at one point So that kind of he reflected back on these moments and was like oh, you know what that would be good for a horror script And those are interesting elements they really are that that's some of the most interesting stuff about this the setting of This film is my favorite the fact that it's this creepy old house, which looks very appropriately creepy Especially the basement with all the body parts and being next to the cemetery and the fact that the kid in it Bob Just wanders through the cemetery all the time. He's not really you know His parents don't really keep good tabs on him, but then again that was parenting back then kind of I mean when I was growing up You know, I was running the neighborhood a lot. It was more of like a parents were just like Okay, good to see you this morning. Have your breakfast and see ya come back for lunch Then go out again come back for dinner go to sleep and we'll do it all tomorrow That's kind of how this seems Fulci has talked poorly about Ciketti in regards to this film actually because of the script he actually Thought that the script was not that good And he that's why he brought in Mariuso and Briganti to kind of make some changes. So It makes me wonder like how much of the script is actually Ciketti and how much are these other individuals? And I was kind of surprised when I was reading that Fulci was actually very outspoken about saying that Ciketti did a poor job with the script Which you know you would think that people don't really want to burn bridges like that But I guess maybe something happened between them and he didn't care about that. I don't know So it was filmed in New York Boston and Concord, Massachusetts mainly And this was actually Lucio Fulci's most profitable film from the 80s, which is interesting because I Think so of these films. I think that City of the Living Dead is my favorite of the three This one might be my second favorite, I don't know they're all pretty close for me I think the Beyond is actually probably my least favorite and the house by the cemetery is probably my second favorite But so I guess I could maybe see why it was the most profitable And I guess it's maybe that thing where it's like this is the end of the trilogy people have liked to the first two films So they're very much anticipating third one so that can kind of like drive Interest so maybe that's why it is So well it does start with a house by a cemetery I wrote down so they get the title pretty much immediately for the film It's like here's a house. Here's a cemetery. They make a very Distinct point of that to be like it's called house by the house by the cemetery. Here's the house Here's the cemetery just so you know now we've got that established. Let's move on Then I wrote down wow that kill with the knife through the head was unexpected I mean I expected in the beginning when the woman was going and looking for her who I assume is like her boyfriend Into the creepy old abandoned house that well, I think they called a mansion at one point I was expecting she would probably get killed or he would get killed or both of them would get killed And they both got killed but I wasn't expecting her to get killed in such a grandiose way I guess I should have expected that from fulci because he's done a lot of that in the other films But like she just gets like that butcher knife through the back of the head and it comes out her mouth It kind of reminds me to the beyond where it was that nail through the head the back of the head scene Where the nail comes out and like pokes out the eye It's you know things going all the way through and then also in city of the living dead Where the one guy gets drilled all the way through his head So there's kind of this connected theme through all of them about penetration through the head Very interesting to think about The child in the picture who warns bob is a really cool touch to indicate that there's danger coming to the family I really like that setup whereas the picture of that house which they then later say I think it's lucy later says that oh, this looks almost exactly like the picture that we have Um, yeah, I just like that touch of like the girl being in the picture and bob can see her But no one else can it's kind of this like connection with bob where she's like Here's your warning don't come here and that kind of continues through the film But we'll talk more about that a little bit later So initially I thought that that girl was actually like a psychic or something and then at the end Maybe she still has I don't know But it seemed more at the end that they were kind of alluding to the fact that she was a ghost What do you guys think pro someone put a comment down there or a few people put comments down there What are your thoughts did I miss something in there where they like specifically said it It kind of seemed more to me like she and her mother were ghosts in the end and not actually She wasn't actually like a psychic. They weren't real people Um But yeah, um, I thought she was uh really really creepy when she actually introduced herself to bob Like initially you're like, oh she wants to help and then when bob is like sitting in the car with this toy car And then she's like behind the car and she can like talk to him with her mind Which then you know that further makes me think that she was a ghost like that's a really creepy moment Because she's like talking kind of creepy and everything and I was just like, uh, well, maybe she's not good I don't know Um, I wrote down I like the creepy house quite a bit and I also like the touch of like I was talking about before where you know Lucy says oh, this looks just like The house in the picture. That's just a cool like eerie thing that sets up the tone of the film The talk about the mother's drugs, uh, they were talking about uh, the the husband I forget what his name was was telling Lucy that you know, make sure you're taking your medication Basically and she was like well some of the side effects are hallucinations I heard and I want to do that basically so I thought that was an interesting introduction to kind of Make you question her perspective on things so that you might think oh, maybe she's just Taking her meds and she's hallucinating so the stuff isn't going on There's also a moment where I thought maybe she was the one killing people because she wasn't on her meds And she was coming unhinged because they don't specifically tell you why she has those meds So it's a it's a good moment to kind of cast doubt about a bunch of things Especially when it's like getting to the heart of the plot so I like that about it Freud and stein that Freud the Freud and stein person being buried inside the house I thought that was totally crazy totally weird But kind of cool touch in the film But the the craziest and weirdest portion is the fact of like how the father in this reacts to it He's just like oh, yeah, I mean, you know whatever it's a thing He like explains it as saying like this is probably something that had been done a lot in the past And I'm like I'm pretty sure that wasn't a thing I'm very sure that wasn't a thing So it's just kind of a weird You know throughout the films in this trilogy. They're like these weird things that just happened kind of for no reason Um, yeah, and then the fact that the father's just like uh, you don't care But he doesn't really care about much to be honest. He's kind of a terrible husband and father in this He's very much more concerned about himself I mean he does show up like there are times where he shows up to like try and protect the family, but Doesn't do a good job at all But he um, you know, he just seems very very focused on his work. It's like all about his work I'll talk a little bit more about that later though because that was kind of a overall theme I thought about So anytime someone goes into a super creepy basement And I am ready for the fun to begin and this film was no different as soon as they go down for the first time That's when the bat attack happens on the father And that bat attack was I kind of laughed at it was kind of funny that much like the tarantula scene in the beyond for me Where um, it just goes on so long and it's just so over the top and there's so much blood especially the fact of like First of all, I was surprised at like how long they were having it go with like the bat sticking on the back of his hand Like continually biting him and then the fact that he just like steadies his hand and like stabs the bat And then he just like keeps stabbing the bat and then he's like flinging his hand around and he's just flinging blood Like on his wife on his kid on the walls just everywhere It was such an over-the-top scene But it was fun and it was kind of funny and I I just like that just like I appreciate You know, like I said in the beyond the tarantula scene where they're just ripping a person apart way too much um Had sounded weird though than that one. That was a weird thing. Um, love the bat attack scene so Much like in a lot of these the creek once you go into that creepy basement fun is happening The house looks really good and they actually do a really great job of showcasing it from different camera angles Excuse me and moving throughout it. I thought they did an amazing job of getting really cool looking angles And showing a lot of the inside of the house because it looks The architecture of it looks really interesting, but it's also Obviously very very creepy and that's kind of what they were trying to get. It looks it looks mausoleum ish Uh in itself and I think that was probably intentional Fulci really enjoys the slow motion blood spurting. He loves this. This is something that I've seen in I'm not sure it was done as much I think it was done on maybe a little bit in city of living dead But he did it a good amount in the beyond and he did it a good amount in house by the cemetery He just loves doing a slow motion shot of just blood like spurting out especially of like people's upper bodies like Here and above like that's his his favorite trauma spot for people to get it Just think about that Interesting thing and it's so creepy the Baby sitter is crazy creepy. I mean, I assume that was a choice by fulci to ask her to be as creepy as possible But you know in the end she wasn't like a bad guy or anything But it kind of makes you feel like she is which you know, maybe that was there as a red herring Much like the whole medication thing to be like is and killing people Because a lot of the times when you see the when you see the killing happening It just looks like a normal hand. It doesn't look like a zombie or a demon or anything like that Like you would assume from the final installment of the gates of hell of trilogy So and I would actually argue that this Doesn't really have anything to do with a gate from hell to be honest Because I don't even think they talk about or show the book of abin in it Which I totally assume they would unless I missed it which you know People can make a comment if that's the case because it's possible Because you know every now and then I am looking down at my phone to take notes while the movie is going The body parts all over the basement crazy That's a crazy scene like the level of detail and the amount of body parts they put there And how long that scene is and like the motion of the camera like panning over all of it Awesome, and then it goes over and shows like a really Mangled almost whole bodies laying there just really gruesome and really well done and you know Like I've said about these films practical effects really pretty good And just stood there well and then waited to be killed by the way When she was trying to get out of the basement and the door was locked and she was like banging on it She just stood there and waited to be killed. She didn't try to fight back. She didn't try to run back down the stairs She didn't try to like jump off the side. I assumed like the sides of the stairway were open at some point I think so because I remember when they were yeah when they when uh, the father was going down When he got attacked by the bat. Yeah, there's you could have gotten out that way So it just seemed kind of dumb that she's just like banging the whole time It's obvious you can't get out the door and this person's coming with a knife and she just like takes it She's just like, okay. I guess is where I die It's kind of ridiculous So either something happened to ann or she just left your kid So this is this is kind of my analysis of what I felt like was going on after Lucy came home, you know an got killed Bob's freaked out lucy gets home and she's trying to console him and then it seems like she's just like Oh, well ann's probably somewhere else doing something or something like that um So my thought on it was either something happened to ann or she left your kid Either of these situations is not good and not okay. So you should be concerned Lucy should be very very concerned either something actually happened to ann like bob is saying and she should be very concerned and she could look should look into that or She just left the kid She's supposed to be the babysitter and she should be mad and concerned about that So she should really look into both of those things instead. She's just like, all right. Well Bob everything's gonna be fine. I'm sure she's all good Like that's literally her response and that's kind of a theme that goes on In all three of these films mainly this one and the beyond There's a little bit of it in city of the living dead Where like there are people who react very inappropriately to things that are going on Like a prime example of one from the beyond that I talked about in that review was when martha finds joe dead and she's just like Okay, that's a dead body It's just weird like those things are so odd. Why would you make that choice? It seems very counterintuitive for the film like you want the terror you want people reacting like oh my gosh so whatever The glowing eyes in the basement were awesome But it's kind of weird because once you actually see The the creature type thing in the basement He doesn't have glowing eyes and actually it looks like he doesn't even have eyes. They're just like dark sockets So Where were the glowing eyes coming from? I don't know but the glowing eyes look cool in the dark I thought it was a cool touch. I liked it quite a bit Why does the thing in the basement have a kid's voice? That's what i'm trying to figure out. I don't get it That was kind of never explained is just a very random thing It's weird and I guess the thing when I'm saying the thing in the basement I guess it was supposed to be dr. Freud stein Is it Freud stein or Freud and stein? I think Freud stein and yeah I guess I was supposed to be him but why does he have a kid's voice? It's very very weird It's just another one of those things that full G throws in that's just like or cicchetti throws in That's just like Just cuz I don't know. Let's just do this. I don't know if it doesn't make sense. Who cares? I like to design a dr. Freud stein in the basement. He looks really gross and deformed and weird I like how you can't really make out much of any features on his face So it's this kind of in between of like he's very much intact and very alive, but he also looks like almost partially mummified Which you know, it just looks good Oh and the moment where he gets stabbed where the father like stabs him in the side And then it's just like oozing what actually looks like poop like crap and maggots just comes like oozing out I was not expecting that and I've seen a lot of stuff in horror films as you can probably imagine And that kind of grossed me out to be honest. So I was like, oh wow Good job full chief for kind of grossing me out because it's not easy to do with these types of films So I really like that. It's really nasty um I like the twist of may being a Freud stein at the end where I'm assuming it's kind of trying to reveal that she's kind of a ghost Uh, I wrote down. I guess she's a ghost. I like I said put some comments down there if you know for sure And then so the other question is so bob goes with her and her mother So does that mean if may and her mother or ghosts that bob actually died In the confrontation with dr. Freud stein in the basement And he's a ghost now because he's with them or is he still alive? I don't know or are they all live? I don't know I don't know. I can't figure that out. I'm like, okay I'm not sure it's really that important to be honest And then they have this quote at the end No one will ever know if children are monsters or monsters are children Like the quote seemed very much like Okay I mean, I guess they're going from the the aspect of if children are terrible or if Terrible people are children at heart or within their brains like their brains aren't fully developed So they're still developmentally children Which I guess would make sense with the thing in the basement because it has a child's voice Or maybe is it a situation where? May was actually trying to lure The kid in a way and get him killed. So she has some sort of control doctor over dr. Freud stein I just don't know. This is what I'm saying. Like there's story there, but it's kind of like Is it is it really there though? It's there and it's not there. It's just one of those things All right, so talking about some kind of like other stuff after the events of the film Uh much like the beyond I think the score for this is quite good It's not Fabio Friesi who did the beyond but it is quite good. I forget I forget the guy's Name who did that one? So my apologies, but uh, it was a good score for for this one The italian rating ratings board just so people know asked for a six second cut of laura's death scene Who's laura? Which one is laura? Oh, uh, laura was the one who was getting poked Honestly, I would ask for a six second cut of that just to Make it move faster and you know if if you watch my other reviews of the gates of hell trilogy You'll know that one of my biggest gripes about these films is that fulci makes lets things go on just way too long It's just like you're not doing new stuff during that time. He's just showing you some of the same things And you're just like, okay, we're good. We got the point. Let's let's keep it moving here And then in the you for the uk release cuts were made to ann and laura's death scenes Then an uncut version was actually released and that got put on the video nasties list Just like the beyond was also on the video nasties list. So probably no big surprise there So this film paints a picture of a father so wrapped up in his work That he ignores what's happening with this family. He barely pays them any mind I put down kind of like I was saying before the father's very very absent He does show up to kind of try and protect the family here and there But for the most part he's so focused on trying to get to the bottom of his own stuff Which I guess helps a little bit in the end, but He like in the in the events of the film like he doesn't know that, you know So the fact that he's just so obsessed with just himself and everything is just I think that was kind of like a thematic point there of a very disinterested Husband and father because a lot of the times like when anyone has concerns in the family He's just like oh, whatever, you know, kind of like finding The the the grave plot basically for a person inside your house He's more concerned about needing to be there for his career and for his job They just like oh, well, it's fine, you know and everything for him is like it's fine. Whatever to get over it And then this is kind of another one of those films It's kind of like a mad scientist type film in the end Because dr. Freudstein you find out was trying to you know do some experiments and he needs human remains Fresh human remains in order to stay alive. Basically. So it's it's that whole mad scientist thing. So You know, there you go Um, overall, I enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty good. Like I said, it's not my favorite I I still think city of the living dead is my favorite of the three Even though it's the one that has the least story. It's just the most visually fun in my opinion, but I like them all so Uh out of five stars with half stars in play I'm gonna give house by the cemetery a three Which I believe is what I gave the beyond and then I think I gave a three and a half To city of the living dead. So they're all pretty close right there clustered together. So If you haven't seen these definitely watch them It's a good time. So let's talk everyone put some comments down there your thoughts on This trilogy your thoughts on full g in general love to hear it Uh, please do me a favor and hit that subscribe though If you're not subscribed if you are subscribed hit the thumbs up though Just let me know you're still watching because I need motivation sometimes people not like I don't like doing this But just need motivation. It's good for people to be like I'm here for you. I'm watching Otherwise it feels like you're doing stuff for nothing, you know, I mean But anyway, thanks everyone for checking this one out and until next time keep it brutal