The House by the Cemetery () is a 1981 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film stars Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina and Dagmar Lassander. Its plot revolves around a series of murders taking place in a New England home that happens to be hiding a gruesome secret within its basement walls.
It is the third and final film in Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy.
Plot
A woman is in an abandoned house looking for her boyfriend. After she discovers his body stabbed with scissors, she is stabbed in the head with a French knife, and her body is dragged through a cellar door by an unknown assailant.
In New York City, Bob Boyle and his parents, Norman and Lucy Boyle, are moving into the same house. Norman's ex-colleague, Dr. Peterson, who murdered his mistress before committing suicide, was the previous owner. The Boyles are to stay there while Norman researches old houses. As his mother packs, Bob looks at a house's photograph and notices a girl in it. In New Whitby, Boston, Bob waits in his parents' car while they collect the house keys. The girl from the photograph appears across the street. The girl, Mae Freudstein, whom only Bob can see, warns him to stay away. In the real estate office, Mrs. Laura Gittleson is annoyed when her colleague hands the couple "the Freudstein keys." She insists it is called "Oak Mansion" and promises to find the Boyles a babysitter.
Oak Mansion is in a poor state of repair. The cellar door is locked and nailed shut. A woman arrives and introduces herself as Ann, the babysitter. That night, Norman hears noises and finds Ann unblocking the cellar door. The next day, Norman goes to the library to peruse Peterson's materials. The chief librarian, Mr. Wheatley, appears to recognize him, but Norman claims he is mistaken. The assistant librarian, Daniel Douglas, then informs Norman that Peterson conducted private research at the house. He studied records of area disappearances and other demographic data.
Mae shows Bob a tombstone on the grounds marked "Mary Freudstein" and says she is not really buried there. Indoors, Lucy finds the tombstone of "Jacob Tess Freudstein" while sweeping the hallway. When Norman returns, he reassures her that some older houses have indoor tombs because of the hard wintry ground. Norman opens the cellar door and walks down the stairs, only to be attacked by a bat, which won't let go until he stabs it repeatedly. Spooked, the family drives down to the real estate office and demands to be re-housed but are told it will be a few more days before they can move. While the Boyles are at the hospital to treat Norman's injuries from the bat, Mrs. Gittleson arrives at the house to tell them of a new property. Letting herself in, she stands over the Freudstein tombstone, which cracks apart, pinning her ankle. A figure emerges, stabs her to death with a fireplace poker, and drags her into the cellar.
Lucy finds Ann cleaning a bloodstain on the kitchen floor the next morning. Ann eludes Lucy's questions about the stain. Over coffee, Norman tells Lucy that he has discovered that Freudstein was a Victorian surgeon who conducted illegal experiments. Norman must travel to New York to research Freudstein. On the way, Norman visits the library and finds an audio cassette of Peterson's, which documents Peterson's increasing madness and reveals what he discovered about Freudstein. Norman destroys the cassette by dropping it into a furnace pipe.
Ann goes to the cellar looking for Bob at the house and hears childlike sobbing sounds. Freudstein decapitates her after slashing her throat. Bob sees Ann's head and exits screaming. Lucy returns to find Bob crying in his room but refuses to believe Bob's account about Ann. That evening, Bob returns to the cellar looking for Ann but gets locked in. Lucy hears Bob's cries and tries to open the cellar door. Norman returns and hacks the door with a hatchet when she cannot open it. The rotting right hand of Dr. Freudstein appears and restrains Bob against the door as the hatchet chops through it. One of Norman's axe blows breaks through the door, severs the ghoul's seemingly ordinary left hand, and he staggers back down the stairs.