‘Read the fine print. You may have just mortgaged your life.’
The House by the Cemetery is a 1981 horror film about a New England home where a series of murders occur, unbeknownst to the inhabitants, a gruesome secret is hiding in the basement.
The movie was directed by Lucio Fulci (Manhattan Baby; The New York Ripper; Dracula in the Provinces; et al) from a screenplay co-written with Giorgio Mariuzzo and Dardano Sacchetti, based on a story by Sacchetti’s wife, Elisa 
Briganti (Manhattan Baby; A Blade in the Dark; Zombie Flesh Eaters).
The film was produced by Fabrizio De Angelis (Zombie Holocaust; Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals) for Fulvia Film. The notable soundtrack score is by Walter Rizzati.
The movie is the third instalment of the unofficial ‘Gates of Hell’ film trilogy that also includes City of the Living Dead and The Beyond. The plot revolves around a series of murders taking place in a New England home–a home which happens to be hiding a particularly gruesome secret within its basement walls.
House By the Cemetery was belatedly released in the United States in 1984 by Almi Pictures.
In the UK, the Videomedia ‘Vampix’ VHS release was on the infamous 1980s ‘video nasty‘ list, despite the film having been shown in cinemas in a BBFC cut version.
After many years of censorship issues, all previous cuts were finally waived for the 2009 Arrow Video DVD. The same company released the film on Blu-ray on 26 June 2017 and 4K in 2023.
The movie stars Catriona MacColl (Horsehead; Chimères, The Beyond), Paolo Malco (Midnight Killer; The New York Ripper; The Cat’s Victims), Ania Pieroni (Fracchia vs. Dracula; Tenebrae), Giovanni Frezza (Demons; Manhattan Baby; A Blade in the Dark), Silvia Collatina (Murder Rock; The Great Alligator) and Dagmar Lassander (Monster Shark; The Black Cat; Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion; Hatchet for the Honeymoon).
Plot:
In a seemingly abandoned old house, a young woman (Daniela Doria) is looking for her boyfriend Steve, after they enjoy fleshy fun together. After she discovers his body stabbed with scissors, she is then stabbed in the head with a French knife, and her body is dragged through a cellar door.
In New York City, a boy named Bob (Giovanni Frezzi) and his parents, Norman and Lucy Boyle (Paolo Malco and Catriona MacColl), are moving into the same house. Norman’s ex-colleague, Doctor Peterson, who murdered his mistress before committing suicide, was the previous owner. The Boyles are to stay there, whilst Norman researches old houses. As his mother packs, Bob looks at a photograph of a house and notices a girl in it.
In New Whitby, Boston, Bob waits in his parents’ car while they collect the house keys. The girl from the photograph appears across the street. The girl, Mae (Silvia Collatina), whom only Bob can see, warns him to stay away. In the real estate office, Mrs Gittelson (Dagmar Lassander) is annoyed when her colleague hands the couple “the Freudstein” keys. She insists it is called “Oak Mansion”. Gittelson promises to find the Boyles a babysitter.
Oak Mansion is in a poor state of repair. The cellar door is locked and nailed shut. A woman arrives and introduces herself as Ann, the babysitter (Ania Pieroni). That night, Norman hears noises and discovers Ann suspiciously unblocking the cellar door.
The next day, Norman goes to the library to peruse Peterson’s materials. The chief librarian, Mr. Wheatley (Carlo De Mejo), appears to recognize him. but Norman claims he is mistaken. The assistant librarian, Daniel Douglas (Giampaolo Saccarola), then informs Norman that Peterson conducted private research at the house. He studied records of area disappearances and other demographic data.
Mae shows Bob a tombstone on the grounds marked “Mary Freudstein” and says she is not really buried there. Indoors, Lucy finds the tombstone of “Jacob Tess Freudstein” while sweeping the hallway. When Norman returns, he reassures her that some older houses have indoor tombs because of the hard wintry ground. Norman opens the cellar door and walks down the stairs, only to be attacked by a bat, which won’t let go until he stabs it repeatedly.
Spooked, the family drives down to the real estate office and demands to be re-housed, but are told it will be a few more days before they can move. While the Boyles are at the hospital to treat Norman’s injuries from the bat, Gittelson arrives at the house to tell them of a new property. Letting herself in, she stands over the Freudstein tombstone, which cracks apart, pinning her ankle. A figure emerges, stabs her in the neck with a fireplace poker, and drags her into the cellar.
The next morning, Lucy finds Ann cleaning a bloodstain on the kitchen floor. Ann eludes Lucy’s questions about the stain.
Over coffee, Norman tells Lucy that he’s discovered that Freudstein was a Victorian surgeon who conducted illegal experiments. Norman must travel to New York to research Freudstein. On the way, Norman drops by the library and finds a cassette of Peterson’s, which explains Freudstein is his family.
Ann goes to the cellar looking for Bob, but Freudstein decapitates her after slashing her throat. Bob sees Ann’s head and exits screaming. Lucy refuses to believe Bob’s tale about Ann.
That evening, Bob returns to the cellar looking for Ann but gets locked in. Lucy hears Bob’s cries and tries to open the cellar door. When she cannot open it, Norman returns and attacks it with a hatchet. The rotting hands of Freudstein (Giovanni De Nava) appear and restrain Bob. Norman cuts the monster’s hand off, and he staggers away, bleeding.
Norman and Lucy finally get into the cellar, which contains several mutilated bodies (including Ann, the realtor, and the couple from the beginning of the film), surgical equipment, and a slab. Freudstein is a living corpse with rotting flesh. Norman tells Lucy that the 150-year-old Freudstein lives by using his victims’ parts to regenerate blood cells.
He attacks Freudstein, but the ghoul twists the hatchet away. Freudstein picks up Norman and rips his throat out. Lucy and Bob climb a ladder leading to the cracked tombstone. Lucy strains to shift the stone, but Freudstein grabs her and drags her down the stairs. Freudstein kills Lucy by ramming her head into the concrete floor.
As Freudstein advances up the ladder, Bob strains to escape. As Freudstein grabs Bob’s leg, he is suddenly yanked upwards by Mae. With Mae is her mother, Mary Freudstein (Teresa Rossi Passante), who tells them it’s time to leave. Freudstein leads Mae and Bob down the wintry grove into a netherworld of ghosts and sadness.
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“Although the distribution of menace and innocence have been reshuffled and displaced, the characters in Sacchetti’s script suggest a glancing degree of attention to James’ narrative design. Lest we get carried away praising the subtlety and restraint of House by the Cemetery, it must be stressed that the film’s physical violence, when it does occur, is top-notch brutality in the Fulci/De Rossi tradition.” Stephen Thrower, Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci book
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“It does include some entertaining scenes, but for a Fulci film its pace is slow, its story is plot heavy (even though most of the plot points raised are never resolved), and it features only one real zombie.” Glenn Kay, Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide book
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“For pure cinematic assault, Fulci has given virtually every death an over-the-top sensationalism that can hardly be overstated in its visceral shock value. But for the person with a poetic soul looking for subtlety in cinema, the recommendation is to avoid this lacklustre hackfest.” Doctor Arnold T Blumberg, Andrew Hershberger, Zombiemania: 80s Movies To Die For book
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“The story would hold up well even without the gore scenes … Just be ready for some poorly dubbed voices, including the psychic boy and girl ghost who obviously sound like adults pretending to be children. Be ready for some heavy-handed camera work. There is too much telegraphing, not enough subtlety.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers
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Choice dialogue:
Norman Boyle: “This is New England, everybody has a tomb in their house”
Filming locations:
Boston, Massachusetts
Concord, Massachusetts (library and real estate office)
Ellis Estate House – 709 Country Way, Scituate, Massachusetts (house exteriors)
New York City, New York
Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Technical specs:
1 hour 26 minutes
Aspect ratio: 2.35: 1
Audio: Mono | Dolby Atmos
Original title:
Quella villa accanto al cimitero
Trailer:
Free online on YouTube [4K Ultra KD]:
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