Such a frustrating disappointment

I'll tell you why so serious

Crappy film

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Seen this movie 3 times now and I think of this as a middle of the road horror movie from Lucio Fulci. Meaning I wouldn't put this on a list with the best of Fulci movies, but I wouldn't say it was one his worst either. One thing that is different about this movie compared to other Fulci movies I have seen is there are only a few gore scenes in this movie. For this was made for Italian TV rather than theatres so the violence, while still present is not as powerful as other Fulci films. Three dope-smoking young thieves are aware of this isolated house where some rich elderly people live. So they trick their way into the home to steal from these people, but the robbery goes horribly wrong as the elderly people are killed. This is when the mystery of the clocks within the house take shape and unfold a nice little horror story with some nice twists along the way.

Lucio Fulci is one of the most important Italian horror film-makers for sure but by the tail end of his career the quality of his output got pretty bad. The House of Clocks falls into this bracket unfortunately. It would only be fair to say that part of the issue in this one was that it was a made-for-TV production, so it was of a noticeably lesser budget than he was used to. Production values are consequently bargain basement in every respect, which does nothing to help this film in any way. Interestingly, despite being a made-for-TV movie, it seemingly was never actually shown on television due to its explicit violence. There are several cheap gore sequences punctuated throughout and do at the very least alleviate the tedium at least to some extent. The story is about three thieves who break into the house of an elderly couple. Trouble is, these oldsters are psychopaths and their house of clocks has supernatural powers with the ability to reanimate the dead.The story is certainly unusual enough to garner at least some credit. But it's just not really executed in a very good way at all. For the most part it's kind of tedious in actual fact, while it never looks anything other than cheap with very little in the way of atmosphere. By the late 80's the Italian film industry was struggling financially and it's certainly an indicator that the man who made so many good to excellent genre pics ended up working on a low quality TV production such as this. Overall, this one can really be recommended to Fulci completists only.

Title: House of Clocks Director: Lucio Fulci Cast: Paolo Paolini, Carla Cassola, Betina Milne, Karina Huff, Keith Van Hoven, Peter HintzReview: A fulci film that focuses more on characters and story development then on gore and zombies? And its also good? Well holy macaroni its true! I was pleasantly surprised to see that I enjoyed this movie without the usual onslaught of gore that Fulci drowns his movies in.The story is about a trio of hoodlums who decide to go and rob an wealthy elderly couple that lives out in the country side in a huge mansion filled with clocks. Once they get there, something in the mansion turns time back and pretty soon the trio of petty thieves find themselves running from Lucio Fulcis zombies.Id heard about this movie before and Id heard that it was a made for TV movie, so the fact that it was going to be a low budget made for TV film kind of turned me off to watching it for that reason alone. I thought maybe a minuscule budget would not let Fulci cut loose with his usual brand of mayhem. Well I was wrong. Yeah the movie has its gore sprinkled evenly all through out and yeah it had a few zombies....but what amazed me about this one was that fulci actually focused on making the atmosphere in the house (and its surroundings) very dreadful and eerie. I loved those exterior shots of the house filled with fog, I loved how he focused on those old statues outside the house. And I loved the lighting inside of the house. Very shadowy, very dark.I don't know how fulci did it, but he did a really entertaining low budget flick that delivers on all expected fulci staples! I mean yeah, you could tell that it was a notch less then Fulcis films technically speaking, it doesn't have that super glossy look that his normal films have. But for a TV movie, I say he did a bang up job! Great atmosphere the actors did a decent job and the gore though in less quantities was always there. In other words, fulci managed to give us what we like from him even with a low budget.The only thing that I didn't like was those scenes when the clocks start going back in time. First off, the thing that attracted me the most to watching this film where #1 that Fulci directed and #2 the idea behind the film. A house that goes back in time? How awesome does that sound? How about the possibilities that this idea alone opens? Well that attracted me to this movie, but when the time came for time to go back, it wasn't all that impressive visually speaking. I thought it was a missed opportunity to do some really interesting visual things, but I'm sure that since this was a made for TV film, Fulci didn't really have that much time to elaborate on the visuals. I wish there had been more time to elaborate a bit on the idea of time going back in only one place, like the interior of this house. I mean from a visual standpoint...a lot more could have been done. But its not a big problem for me though, since the story was moving along so smoothly.The acting isn't all that great, most of the actors do OK, but nothing too amazing at all. Still, their acting is not bad to the point of annoying or distracting you. The characters, well non of them are likable in fact they are all pretty despicable, even the old couple who end up being more dangerous then anything else in the house. Its kind of strange, but you end up feeling sorry for the trio of thugs. They just seem like three dumb kids who decided to rob the wrong house. Too bad for them.I was amazed that Fulci expected this film to be aired on TV. I mean there's a lot to be said about that. You don't see American made for TV horror movies looking and being this good! At least I don't remember any, and that just shows how cool it is to live in a country that doesn't have any sort of ratings board and all that crap! No MPAA! But, even with all those liberties, the movie was deemed too violent for even Italian TV, so it was never aired. It was supposed to air in a TV show called "Houses of Doom" along side three other "house" themed movies like "Sweet House of Horrors" which Fulci also directed. Still, now on DVD we can enjoy it in all its "too bloody for TV" gory glory.I was surprised that the music was really good in this one. I mean, it actually fit with the dark look and atmosphere of the film. It was distracting or out of place as in for example Zombie when they put that horrendous Calypso music. In this one the music is actually perfectly spooky.The idea of a house going back in time is kind of like very Twilight Zone-ish, and that was a big pull in for me. Maybe some of you guys and galls will find that idea entertaining as well. Specially when its delivered by Italian gore maestro..fulci. Its not Fulcis best of course, but for a TV movie, I think he did an excellent job.Rating: 3 out of 5

What a shame that a director with lot of talent such as FULCI did something awful like this! Please carefully avoid this idiot and boring movie, or you might start to change your opinion on the film maker of NON SI SEVIZIA UN PAPERINO, 7 NOTE IN NERO, etc. The absurdity of the plot (time going back after death, for a couple of old stupid murderers, who look like some lovely grandparents) pairs with the absurdity of the situations and the atrocity (I mean lack of skills) of acting and dialogues. Maybe Fulci was in need of some money and was offered an interesting budget, but all the same, it is a movie BEYOND any limit of decency. VOTE: 2/10.