This movie was so pathetically forgettable that I wasn't going to include it in my reviews of my present tour of Italian horror, but after seeing 'Suspiria,' I'm disgusted enough to do it after all.
And what does 'Suspiria' have to do with anything? BATS, that's what. I'd heard of Fulci reusing (and poorly executing) scenes from Argento's more famous work in his own movies, but this is SO badly done that I can't keep it to myself. Forget that the bat bleeds from places it hasn't been stabbed, and forget that in the following scene the bandage is on the wrong hand... THERE IS NOT THAT MUCH BLOOD IN A BAT. There's not that much blood in a cat! This is not gore, this is idiocy. It would be okay if this were a satire, but Fulci is asking us to take this film seriously.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
The stabbing of the real estate woman is beyond ridiculous. If you're going to set yourself up as a master of gore, do a little research and find out how bleeding injuries work. (Arterial spray: you're doing it wrong.) Otherwise your audience will be screaming with laughter, not fright.
The killer moves so slowly and lets the screaming for help/banging on doors of his eventual victims go on so long that the scene loses all tension, suspense, and basically all function in the movie. You get so bored waiting for the actual stabbing that by the time it happens, you just don't care anymore.
And the quotation at the end of the movie... has nothing to do with ANYTHING, even with the half-assed, hastily-thrown-in "plot." Suddenly we go from cellular regeneration to 'The Turn of the Screw,' with no trace of a connection.
'The House by the Cemetery' is only good for a laugh. If you go in expecting to laugh... maybe it DOES warrant more than three stars. But for the rest of us, it's a total waste of time.
And what does 'Suspiria' have to do with anything? BATS, that's what. I'd heard of Fulci reusing (and poorly executing) scenes from Argento's more famous work in his own movies, but this is SO badly done that I can't keep it to myself. Forget that the bat bleeds from places it hasn't been stabbed, and forget that in the following scene the bandage is on the wrong hand... THERE IS NOT THAT MUCH BLOOD IN A BAT. There's not that much blood in a cat! This is not gore, this is idiocy. It would be okay if this were a satire, but Fulci is asking us to take this film seriously.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
The stabbing of the real estate woman is beyond ridiculous. If you're going to set yourself up as a master of gore, do a little research and find out how bleeding injuries work. (Arterial spray: you're doing it wrong.) Otherwise your audience will be screaming with laughter, not fright.
The killer moves so slowly and lets the screaming for help/banging on doors of his eventual victims go on so long that the scene loses all tension, suspense, and basically all function in the movie. You get so bored waiting for the actual stabbing that by the time it happens, you just don't care anymore.
And the quotation at the end of the movie... has nothing to do with ANYTHING, even with the half-assed, hastily-thrown-in "plot." Suddenly we go from cellular regeneration to 'The Turn of the Screw,' with no trace of a connection.
'The House by the Cemetery' is only good for a laugh. If you go in expecting to laugh... maybe it DOES warrant more than three stars. But for the rest of us, it's a total waste of time.