House by the Cemetery (Joe Bob's Last Drive-In featuring guest star Eli Roth)

Joe Bob asked Eli Roth what he thought was Fulci's best film. Roth said he felt The Beyond was Fulci's masterpiece, but also (obviously and rightfully) mentioned Zombie 2. I am on the same wavelength as Roth, though my personal favorite is Lizard in a Woman's Skin.

Discussing this film during the pandemic 2021 season on Shutter, JB wanted to pluck some sense from a variety of quizzical scenes, developments, character decisions and behaviors, and dream logic mechanics of The House by the Cemetery from Roth. I think you could see that Roth loved and appreciated this but clearly understood Fulci wasn't concerned with formulating a functional rationale, opting instead to throttle us with nightmarish grisliness and a nonsensical narrative.

Lassander's realtor gets it real good. The poker just bursting blood from three stabs, especially that slow motion neck gusher is epic. But my favorite is the geyser of blood spewing from the scissor-stabbed bat and ghastly bite wound on the researcher's hand. And the head wounds after the fact as Freudstein drags bodies off are also really blood-soaked mush. I just love the weird babysitter and how Fulci shoots her eyes, the mannequin head severed in the store foreshadowing, and the little redhead girl always warning Bob or whispering in fear about the Freudstein MA deteriorating house with a tombstone in the floor.

If you stay in a notorious house with a history of horror, this film reminds you to not force open a basement door deeply latched...it's that way for a reason. No one severed a head from the neck like Fulci.