Region: 1
Video: Enhanced Widescreen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
DVD Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85:1)
Language: English
Weight factor: 1 item(s)

Plot Synopsis

The story of Italian horror maven Lucio Fulci's made-for-television gore-a-thon concerns a creepy dark house inhabited by a dotty old couple, Victor and Sarah, and their uptight maid, Maria, who is soon impaled (complete with close-ups of guts pouring from the wound) when she discovers the couple's nephew and his wife dead in the basement. Three young crooks decide to break in and rob the isolated villa, killing the handyman (Pier Luigi Conti) and the old couple before being trapped inside by vicious Dobermans in the yard. The house is filled with clocks, which all stop when Victor dies. Even the sand in an hourglass stops pouring. Then the clocks begin moving backwards and time follows suit, resulting in bizarre phenomena and eventually reviving the old couple, who get gory revenge. Soon the whole house is full of reanimated zombies, leading first to a bloodbath and then to a quirky and ironic conclusion which plays with the stereotypical "dream ending" in amusing ways. Karina Huff gets a knife jammed through her hand and there are chainsaws, throat-rending zombies, impalements, and numerous gaping stomach wounds. Keith Van Hoven co-stars with Paolo Paoloni, Bettine Milne, and Peter Hintz. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Editorial Reviews:

This is one of two made-for-TV movies directed by horror legend Lucio Fulci in 1989 but never aired by Reteitalia. It was intended for a series called Le Case del Terrore (along with his La Dolce Casa degli Orrori) after a pair of similar films by Umberto Lenzi of Cannibal Ferox fame had done well for the network in 1986. Fulci's films were rejected because they were too extreme for television, as there is more gore on display than is usual even for Italian TV, but one can't complain about the quality. This film is a credible addition to the director's oeuvre -- sometimes reminiscent of Dolls or Pete Walker's creepy punishment gothics (Frightmare, House of Whipcord, etc.) -- and fans should give it a look. It's a well-done ghost/zombie story, and Fulci gets a lot of mileage out of creaking doors, shadows, and that old horror standby, the jumping cat. Maybe it would have been more effective in a shorter form, perhaps as part of an anthology film, but it is nonetheless entertaining and contains enough of Fulci's signature touches to keep fans interested. One wonders if Fulci ever seriously thought he was going to get this thing on television. More likely, the notoriously crafty old scamp took the money and made his own kind of movie with an eye toward theatrical distribution. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide