‘Mommy says you’re not dead. Is that true?’
The work of Lucio Fulci is an acquired taste. If you like never ending scenes of murder with very little plot set to an Italian synth score (what the hell is wrong with you?) then Fulci is the man for you. Having said that, everything has its limits. When I recently finished The Beyond, the second instalment in Fulci’s loosely connected Gates of Hell trilogy, I wasn’t screaming for another entry if I’m honest. While The Beyond is great (and City of the Living Dead, the film that preceded it, also has plenty to recommend it), they’re both pretty similar and they’re both pretty grim. And so, it is perhaps inevitable that House by the Cemetery is an exercise in diminishing returns…
Once again, the plot, such as at is, is very slight indeed. Norman (Paulo Malco) and Lucy Boyle (Katherine MacColl) move into a house (by a cemetery) that is haunted by evil ghosts. That’s literally it. There’s no real mention of a hell gate here but the appearance of MacColl (who appears in the other films of the trilogy) and the general vibe of this third movie ensures that it is at least spiritually connected to the first two.
When Fulci is at his best, it doesn’t matter if there isn’t much plot because the horror set pieces more than make up for it. The problem here is that those set pieces seem tired and worse derivative of his earlier work. When the credits roll on a Fulci movie, it’s not the plot or the dialogue that people remember, it’s the horrifying visual moments that he is able to craft. While House by the Cemetery boasts the occasional visual flourish, it’s not enough to save the film from occasional mediocrity.
As with many trilogies, the Gates of Hell triptych peaks with the second entry before falling away for the finale. If you’re going to watch one, make it The Beyond, this one doesn’t pack anywhere near the same punch.
