The House By The Cemetery (1981, Lucio Fulci) (v) 28

Hey folks. One visitor down, one to go. Thought I'd take this moment and post an entry so this blog doesn't look like an empty goldfish bowl. I was going through my pristine mint-condition set of Cinefantastiques when I came across this article. Enjoy!

An excerpt from “On Strings Of Darkness: An Interview with the World’s Phoniest Bat”, Cinefantastique, Vol. 28 No. 7 January, 1996, pp. 56-59.

How did you get involved with The House By The Cemetery?

After Suspiria failed to take off in the States, I started looking around for a vehicle to take advantage of my talents. I was in Germany, cooling my heels, and my agent sends me a mimeograph of a new book making the rounds – he thought I might be interested. It was Martin Cruz Smith’s Nightwing. Read it all in one night. Mesmerizing. Clearly a talented writer – this was before Gorky Park, you know. I got on the horn with my agent and asked him if the film rights were available. They were, we made an offer, and the rest… would have been history.

What happened with Nightwing?

I was forced off the project. [Director Arthur] Hiller saw the story more about the humans than the bats, and as draft after draft was written, I saw my starring role go down the tubes. I was furious. I flew back to L.A. to meet with the other producers to figure this thing out, and they sided with Hiller. So they bought me out and that was that. I went back to Europe and just went crazy. Throwing cash everywhere.

Drugs?

[Long pause.] Yeah. By the end of 1980, I was at the bottom. I was so strung-out – pardon the pun – that I couldn’t even hang upside-down anymore. December, just before Christmas, I flew straight into a plate-glass window. They said it was an accident, but I just wanted it to end. So I was in the hospital, not just recuperating but drying out, when [Dario] Argento calls. Sounds like a movie, doesn’t it? “When Argento Calls.”

He was in pre-production on Tenebre?

Right. That wasn’t the kind of movie for a bat, and if I’d been clean, I might’ve found a role in Inferno. But Argento was great. He helped me get on my feet and introduced me to [Lucio] Fulci. And that’s how I got into The House By The Cemetery.

How was your experience?

Both the best and the worst. I’m only in the one scene, but we spent three days on it. Paolo Malco was great to work with, totally professional. And patient! I’d have to spend hours on his hand. The man did not complain once. And all that blood – I’m very proud of that scene, one of my best performances.

But you didn’t know anything about the movie.

I was only given my pages. So I went in and did it and it was great. Then it’s released, and I like to sneak in and hover over the back row, you know, see the movie but more importantly, get a sense of the audience seeing the movie. Oh, God. Nothing happened. For like, half the movie. And when stuff did happen, it’s nonsensical bullcrap. I didn’t even watch the whole thing. The part where the annoying little kid, the one named “Bob” for God’s sakes, is stuck in the door, because he’s slammed the door on his own arm? I left. I flapped my way out of the theater and glided across the street to the bar.

Where we saw it: dvd | We deign to rate it: outta 100
Posted by kza at 08:56 AM | Comments (2)