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The third entry in Lucio Fulci's unofficial 'Gates of Hell' trilogy, which also includes City of the Living Dead 1980 and The Beyond 1981.

Norman and Lucy Boyle move from New York to a house in the isolated outskirts of Boston with their young son so that Norman can continue the research of his former colleague Dr. Petersen. Petersen had been living in the Boston house, which had once belonged to the mad scientist Dr. Freudstein, but he eventually killed himself after murdering his mistress. Norman's son quickly befriends an eerie young girl who pleads with him to get his family out of the house. Her warnings are soon revealed to be prescient when the family discovers the secrets that lie within their basement.

Although relatively straightforward and restrained compared to the preceding two entries in the Gates of Hell trilogy, House by the Cemetery still finds Fulci careening into a world of overwhelming dread, punctuated by moments of vicious gore. The tale of the haunted house is almost Lovecraftian in tone, with the house into which the family moves slowly eating away at their emotional states. The score swirls nastily around Sergio Salvati's kinetic cinematography, bubbling up a deathly atmosphere. A forceful conclusion to the loose Gates of Hell trilogy, and a fitting companion piece to both City of the Living Dead and The Beyond.

R18+