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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 Fulci Classics For The Price Of 1!, October 28, 2003
This review is from: The Lucio Fulci Collection Volume 1 (The House By the Cemetery/The Beyond) (DVD)
1981 was a terrific year for Lucio Fulci. In that year, between the releases of Argento's INFERNO in 1980 (the same year Fulci made CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD/THE GATES OF HELL) and TENEBRE in 1982 (the same year Fulci made THE NEW YORK RIPPER and MANHATTAN BABY), Fulci ruled Italian horror with back-to-back masterpieces. Of course, I'm talking about THE BEYOND and THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, two of Fulci's most popular horror films that only get better with age! THE BEYOND, in my humble opinion, is an extremely close second to SUSPIRIA as the greatest Italian horror movie of all time! In it, Catriona/Katherine MacColl renovates a Louisiana hotel she inherited only to discover that it rests on one of the seven gateways to Hell! Throughout the ensuing hour-and-a-half, pun intended, all Hell breaks loose, with the most gruesome imagery Fulci has ever committed to celluloid (e.g., crucifixion, acid bath, tarantulas, a head explosion, and Fulci's trademark eyeball violence), and it all looks totally realistic and awesome, right up there with any of Tom Savini's work! I really loved MacColl's prescence in THE BEYOND, as she's just so lovely to look at; John Saxon-lookalike David Warbeck is also really cool here as well (he was in Fulci's previous Edgar Allen Poe offshoot THE BLACK CAT, also in 1981), especially when dropping bullets through the barrel of his gun. I got the totally awesome soundtrack at my first horror convention a few months ago. THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY also has MacColl, this time as a mother who, along with her doctor husband and son, move into the titular residence in Boston. The doctor is continuing the research conducted by a colleague who offed himself; the research is on one Dr. Freudstein, whose unorthodox methods involved killing people to keep himself alive. More Fulci mayhem such as a knife through the head (with the blade sticking out of the mouth), decapitation, and a neck-ripping. I got a HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY t-shirt featuring the 1984 poster artwork (on the Diamond release) at my first horror convention a few months ago, the safest representation of Fulci that you can get! You must get this 2-pack if you want definitive Fulci. THE BEYOND has a terrific audio commentary by MacColl and Warbeck (a few weeks before Warbeck died) which is amusing and informative, among a slew of awesome extras. THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY has a photo and still gallery set to one of the creepy compositions in the score. This is a double-dose of Fulci mayhem at its greatest, most Argento-like; a definite must-watch!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two Things you Don't Want From Your Newly Acquired Cellar, May 22, 2002
This review is from: The Lucio Fulci Collection Volume 1 (The House By the Cemetery/The Beyond) (DVD)
Normally I don't review things early, but the features on this release and the features on the newest releases of The Beyond and House By the Cemetery are identical. I was pleasantly surprised by both of these, because both the picture quality and the widescreen is to my liking, plus I like having the interviews and the video for And You Will Live In Terror. Considering I bought them separately because they were both uncut + widescreened, I would have to call this packaging a really good deal. To the movies: The Beyond - Debatably Lucio's finest film, this story focuses around a New Orleans hotel where an atrocity is committed and an ensuing curse helps it become one of the accursed seven doors to hell. After a long stint of inactivity, an inheritance is passed and the hotel once again plans to reopen, gate to hell and all. While I wouldn't say that The Beyond is a frightener, I do have to give it credit for its ability to mood set. The entire movie has a very Fulci feel, keeping you waiting for what horrible trouble will plague the characters next. In its uncut version, the plot is a bit more fluid and loses some of its former Seven Gates inconsistency, plus many of the effects are now restored to their awe-inspiring graphicness. As far these gore effects go, this movie has a bit of everything. There are scenes ranging from tarantulas having their way with someone's face and someone being lovingly pummeled with chains to the walking dead and the headwounds that they often succumb to. Combine this with a superbly bleak ending and you have something very enjoyable. House By The Cemetery - This is one of the films I use to introduce people to Italian Horror because its a good film, the plot is convoluted enough to be amusing and still viable at the same time, and there's parts ranging from silly (an attack by what looks to be a rubber bat) to more gruesome aspects (unnamed for fear of spoiling) effects. The story revolves around a family from New York that moves to New England because of a recently "vacated" job post. As with any good horror film, though, nothing goes according to plans. From the beginning signs point to "dismal" as we see their new house, one literally located by the Cemetery, then hear strange noises in the night, and learn more and more about one of the previous owners, Dr. Freudstein. As the bodies begin to fall, the real mystery for the family has to be what exactly is that noise coming from the cellar. If you've yet to pick up these movies, you really should give them a test drive. All the once seemingly innocent things going bump in the night will love you for it.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The very best of a master filmaker in relentless crude horror, April 11, 2008
This review is from: The Lucio Fulci Collection Volume 1 (The House By the Cemetery/The Beyond) (DVD)
The importance and influence of italian filmakers in contemporary horror cinema is undeniable. Their low budget productions of the early 70's were standards and a school for classic talented filmakers as John Carpenter or Wes Craven. Just to mention a couple of outstanding examples, we have Mario Bava shocking the world back in 1960 with the horror milestone, the gothic and supernatural "Black Sunday", inventing the slasher sub-genre back in 1971 with his groundbreaking masterpiece of cheesy gore and incredible tension "Bay of Blood", a movie that marked the path for such a classic like "Halloween" with the use of the infamous first person camera for the view of the killer, and designed the 80's style of fine examples like "Friday the 13th". Dario Argento re-invented the concept of gruesome and fear with his classics "Suspiria", "Deep red" and "Tenebre", mandatory revisions for any horror fan and movies that changed the vision, style and aesthetics for the horror filmic industry in America forever.
But Lucio Fulci was the living, evil and maquiavellic combination of the different styles and influences of his colegues, the most extreme and adventurous visionary in madness and macabre, and a filmaker with absolutely no sense of humor, dedicating the largest amount of time and resources to portray the physical and emotional aspects of despair and terror. His style in describing with cheesy but nauseously sickening low budget special effects, and the most inhumane and bearly tolerable creepy atmospheres with an effectiveness in horrific story development that digs under the skin and frights every sense, are perfectly portrayed in his two most aclaimed masterpieces in unavoidable nervous fear and atrocious degenerate horror displays ever filmed in the genre.
THE BEYOND, a true lecture of satanism and supernatural terror, a story of a haunted motel inherited by Liza, who haves no clue about the abominable past of the building, that's actually one of the seven gateways to hell. The gore imagery includes a face devoured by tarantulas, a woman's head melted by acid, and dozens of cannibalistic zombies hungry for human flesh. Special effects by Gianetto de Rossi are remarquable for the budget, but Fuci's screenplay remains as one of the most disturbing stories and the final work also remains as a true surrealistic masterpiece in horror. There's nowere to run or hyde from this stylised nightmare.
THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY, with a title like this you can expect horror, but what lies behind it surpases the limits of imagination, one of the most harsh, tense and ominous horror movies, a derranged and menacing, creepy and macabre story with extreme moments of sickness that will haunt the viewers nightmares. When the Boyle family moves to a gothic extravagant house, they start to feel and then experience the encounters with Dr Freudstein, who was haunting the house and living in the basement since 1879, murdering the previous inhabitants to use their flesh to keep his rotten body going. Some scenes of exagerated tension are difficult to bear, and the amounts of gore can make most of die-hard fans sick to their stomach. A haunted house movie you will never forget.
These are the most remarkable achievements of a great talented horror filmaker in the person of Lucio Fulci, who exhales the best of Bava's gore and Argento's surrealism. If you don't know his work, this double feature DVD set will open the gates of hell in the most disturbing, macabre and relentless way. Fulci capitalizes the creep-factor in a dream-like and shocking display of raw terror. A must have for educated horror fans, and spectacular achievements among the best B-horror movies ever made.
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