October 18 2026, 21:27
The House by the Cemetery
To close out Fulci’s "gates of hell" trilogy... Dr. Norman Boyle moves his family from New York to a small town in Massachusetts to continue the research of his recently-dead professor. On arrival, Norman’s wife Lucy is surprised to learn the professor killed his mistress in the house they are to stay in then hung himself. He was investigating a Dr Freudstein, and the longer they stay in the house, the more clues they find suggesting they are not alone.
In the opening scene, a creature stabs a woman with scissors and drags her into the basement. We come to learn that the creature is Dr Freudstein, a surgeon from the nineteenth century, still alive and living under the house, although it’s quite confusing how he’s managed to do that, or why. The best parts of the film are the various attacks, with the most memorable by a bat that goes on bloodily for what feels like several minutes.
Catriona MacColl as Lucy is (of course) excellent, but she’s fighting a losing battle with the obvious dubbing, poor acting around her, and uneven pace of the story. I wonder if Fulci’s reputation has coloured my judgement of these three films, because this one wasn’t very good. It makes me question how much I really enjoyed The Beyond and City of the Living Dead. But I’m not going back to watch them again and find out. Not for a while.
All films in #ShadesofAutumn2026...
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