The House by the Cemetery
A family moves into an old New England house while the father continues a dead colleague's research. Their son begins seeing a mysterious girl, strange noises come from the cellar, and the house's history points toward the sinister Dr Freudstein.
Film details
| Original / alt title | Quella villa accanto al cimitero; The House by the Cemetery |
| Year | 1981 |
| Director | Lucio Fulci |
| Country | Italy |
| Runtime | Approx. 87 min |
| Main cast | Katherine MacColl, Paolo Malco, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina |
UK status
A prosecuted Video Nasty and one of Lucio Fulci's key UK censorship titles.
Passed 18 uncut.
Why it caused controversy
UK censorship / Video Nasties history
A quick status check first, followed by the film’s censorship timeline. A DPP prosecution was an obscenity case against a particular video publication — it was not automatically the same thing as a permanent nationwide “ban”.
Detailed censorship timeline & facts
FACTS & TRIVIA
- One of Fulci's best-known supernatural horror films.
- Often grouped with City of the Living Dead and The Beyond as the informal 'Gates of Hell' trilogy.
- Katherine MacColl also appeared in other Fulci horror films of the period.
- The film combines haunted-house imagery with body-horror and gothic mystery.
- Dr Freudstein became one of the most recognisable villains associated with Fulci's cinema.
- Its UK cover art became part of the title's cult reputation.
- The film's censorship history changed repeatedly as BBFC standards evolved.
Distributor / VHS label
Vampix / Videomedia release (cover shown).
Trailer
Open a search for the original theatrical / VHS-era trailer. This keeps the archive linking to publicly available trailer sources rather than hosting copyrighted film footage.
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