The House by the Cemetery

Final chapter of the “Gates of Hell Trilogy”, as well as the most solid and logical of the three films. With a straightforward narrative structure and filmed mostly with claustrophobic interior shots, the film draws from literary classics and rather suggestively mixes the realism of physical horror (Shelley, Lovecraft) with the ineffability of more psychological and metaphysical terrors – in this regard, more along the lines of Henry James’s “The Turn of the Screw” (1898).

Nor does Fulci repudiate his own classic themes: he ridicules his despised psychoanalysis (Dr. Freudstein isn’t easily forgotten), sends a copious amount of blood gushing – a grand total of three severed carotid arteries this time, and drives home his antipathy for children (and just to eliminate any potential doubts, he ends the story with the line: “No one will ever know whether children are monsters or monsters are children”).

As for the makeup (by Maurizio Trani), the villainous madman was a noteworthy achievement. His inexpressive face and limping gait resemble that of the living dead films, but the ferociousness with which he wields cold steel in the commission of his heinous crimes puts him closer to the serial butchers of Dario Argento’s oeuvre.

Looking at the cast, the always wonderful Catriona MacColl brings her fruitful collaboration with the director to a respectable conclusion.

Music by Walter Rizzati.