House by the Cemetery 2003 Horror Movie Review

This is the last Fulci film I ever saw, and it will be the last I’ll ever rent.  Fulci had a sort of renaissance in the 1990’s, and I decided to see what all the fuss was about.  Directors like Quentin Tarantino (who re-released The Beyond to theaters) and Eli Roth have raved about his work.  So I wanted to see the man’s work.  I watched a ton of his work, and the only film I really liked was Zombie.  Zombie is a good film, but it pales in comparison to great horror filmmakers’ best films, like Romero’s vastly superior zombie films, and Dario Argento’s masterful period from 1975-1987.  This was the last film of his I saw, and I am angry that I wasted so much time going through this man’s catalog. 


House by the Cemetery is the usual Fulci mishmash.  There’s a creepy ending and some good atmosphere, but this film has all the characteristics from the Fulci [...] moviemaking school…bad scenes, bad continuity, bad acting, miserable scripting, complete incoherence, bad dubbing, etc., etc..  Even the gore here isn’t as visceral as it is in other Fulci works, like City of the Living Dead and The Beyond.  You do remember the gore in some Fulci films, but it’s damn near impossible to wade through the rest of the garbage to get to it.  I am not a gorehound, so I prefer for an entire film to be good, as opposed to having a few decent gore scenes and having to wade through the rest of a crapy film until I get there, which is exactly what you have to do with Fulci’s work.  Some say that Dario Argento’s work, a far superior filmmaker, doesn’t make sense either.  Argento’s films are purposely ambiguous, like nightmares, and this was used to the greatest effect in Suspiria (one of the few films that really scares me) and Inferno (his most underrated).  Just because a film is confusing doesn’t mean it’s art. 


So if anyone is thinking of diving into Fulci’s catalog, stop right now.  Unless you’re a gorehound needing a fix, stay away.  Fulci’s films are a waste of time (except for Zombie).