In The House By The Cemetery, after a colleague is murdered, Dr. Norman Boyle (Paolo Malco), moves him and his family (His wife, Lucy Boyle, portrayed by Katherine MacColl and his son, Bob, portrayed by Giovanni Frezza) into the house his colleague was studying so he can finish the research. It isn't long before spooky goings-ons occur and the family find their lives in immediate danger.
The House By The Cemetery is a cult film. It's considered part of The Gates of Hell trilogy, though it isn't about the gates of Hell in any way. The film is a mixture of the haunted house genre, the slasher genre, and has some elements of The Shining. The gore/blood effects are good, and the house at the center of the film is super-cool (Honestly, I wouldn't mind staying in the house for a week or so). The house is implied to have a mysterious backstory, but we never learn it or the history of the Freudsteins (the monsters stalking the house). The design for Dr. Freudstein is very cool, but looks kind of fake.
Catriona MacColl and Paolo Malco act as our adult leads, and they are fine. Their plots are interesting enough, and it's MacColl's presence that is the only connection to the previous films in the trilogy. Ania Pieroni is gorgeous as Ann, but is given nothing to do.
Unfortunately, the nail in the coffin for this film is the character of Bob (Giovanni Frezza). Fucking Bob! He's a telepathic kid that acts as the central character for the film. His dubbing is ear-bleedingly bad (It's like puberty hit the kid hard. He sounds like the child from Vivarium), his dialogue is awful, and he's altogether useless. Bob is easily one of the worst child characters I've seen in a film (You know it's bad when I'm actively rooting for the little shit to bite it in the goriest way possible). House also has a 2nd annoying telepathic kid character: Mae, as played by Silvia Collatina.
Is House By The Cemetery worth a stay? I'd say not really, it's certainly super disappointing when you compare it to The Beyond and The City of The Living Dead. House By The Cemetery isn't awful...it also isn't really good either. As is, it's only a little better than ok. Cut out the Bob character, and the film would have been exponentially better.
2.5 STARS
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