The House by the Cemetery

Lore & Background

Fulci developed the screenplay with inspiration from H. P. Lovecraft, while co-writer Sacchetti was influenced by Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. Principal photography took place in spring 1980 in New York City and the Greater Boston area, with additional photography in Rome at the De Paolis In.Co.R. Studios. The film was shot on a budget of approximately 600 million Italian lire.

The plot follows the Boyle family—Norman, Lucy, and their son Bob—who move into a house in New Whitby, Massachusetts, previously owned by Dr. Peterson, who murdered his mistress before committing suicide. Bob sees a ghostly girl named Mae Freudstein who warns him away. The cellar is locked and nailed shut. A babysitter named Ann arrives, and soon the family discovers the tomb of Jacob Tess Freudstein, a Victorian surgeon who conducted illegal experiments. The 150-year-old Freudstein is a living corpse who regenerates by using victims' body parts. He kills several characters, including Ann, Mrs. Gittleson, Norman, and Lucy, before Bob is pulled to safety by Mae and her mother into a ghost world.

Reader's Guide

The House by the Cemetery was a domestic box-office success in Italy, grossing 462 million Italian lire, making it Fulci's most profitable horror film of the 1980s. It was distributed in Italy by Medusa Distribuzione and in the UK by Eagle Films. The film faced censorship: the Italian ratings board requested a six-second cut, and the BBFC trimmed scenes of Ann's and Laura's murders, resulting in an 84-minute 49-second running time. The British cut was later placed on the video nasties list after the Video Recordings Act 1984. The film was re-released uncut in 2009. Blue Underground released it on Blu-ray and DVD in 2011, with a 4K UHD Blu-ray in August 2020. The film's legacy lies in its place as the conclusion of Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy and its blend of Lovecraftian horror and gothic atmosphere, though Fulci himself criticized the screenplay as derivative of The House That Screamed.

Did You Know?

• The film was originally titled La notte dell'inferno, then La casa di Freudstein, before becoming Quella villa accanto al cimitero.
• Despite credits listing Giannetto di Rossi and Maurizio Trani for special make-up effects, only Trani worked on the film. (Correction: Giannetto di Rossi also contributed.)
• The film was shot on a budget of approximately 600 million Italian lire and grossed 462 million lire in Italy.
• The British home video release was placed on the video nasties list after the Video Recordings Act 1984.