The House By The Cemetery (1981)
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Cast: Katherine MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni
Extras: Trailers, TV Spots, Still Gallery, Biographies
Rating:

In continuation of their Lucio Fulci Collection, Anchor Bay Entertainment has prepared a completely uncut version of the director’s ’The House By The Cemetery, ’ which has 9 minutes inserted back into the film compared to the theatrical version.

’The House By The Cemetery’ carries Fulci’s signature look, feel and atmosphere through and through. From the drab grayish-pastel color palette to the dusty sets all the way to the most explicit violence and gore, ’The House By The Cemetery’ is another exciting entry in Fulci’s horror menagerie. And once again it features some interesting subtext, although not nearly as pronounced as in his masterful ’The Beyond,’ the ambiguities presented in ’The House By The Cemetery’ are enough to keep viewers guessing and thinking about what they see.

The film is presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer on this disc that looks marvelously clean and boasts and incredible level of detail. Despite the limitations in the production values, the film never appears overly grainy – a few shots excluded – and every little nuance in the photography is flawlessly reproduced on this DVD. The print is very clean and no blemishes are evident, also creating a very stable image free of registration problems. The colors are dead-on, perfectly recalling Fulci’s color palettes and atmospheric point lighting. Blacks are deep and solid, and yet, shadows always maintain a very good level of detail without breaking up.

’The House By The Cemetery’ contains an English Dolby Surround track that is good, albeit unspectacular. With a good frequency response the track creates a natural sounding presentation that contains good bass and clear high ends without sibilance or hiss. The dynamic range is very good, making sure the stingers, which are used quite frequently by Fulci in the course of the film, really make you jump the way they’re supposed to.
As extras you will find a number of trailers, TV spots, a still gallery featuring mostly poster art and lobby cards and Talent biographies on the disc – as well as an exclusive hidden feature!

’The House By The Cemetery’ is certainly not Lucio Fulci’s best film, but it is still an enjoyable and macabre shocker from one of splatter-horror’s most adored filmmakers. The presentation that Anchor Bay is serving up on this DVD could not be better, making this another phenomenal entry in their ’Lucio Fulci Collection’ that gorehounds should not miss.