Italian goremeister Umberto Lenzi (under the hilarious almost Nabokovian pseudonym of 'Henry Humbert'!) takes on the well-worn haunted house sub-genre with effective results in this neglected little chiller from 1988, marketed as an 'Evil Dead' sequel in Italy.A ham radio DJ and his girlfriend team up with another interested party to investigate strange goings-on at an Old Dark House, the scene of strange murders 20 years earlier, after intercepting a radio distress call from their own future. Some great shock and gore moments follow (check out the falling guillotine scene!), along with a creepily atmospheric haunting theme tune for the evil clown doll. Yes, a clown doll: truly the stuff of nightmares!The thing that stood out for me the most, though, was hot thoroughly steeped in the 1980s the films fashions are! From the hero Paul, dressed as 'Back to the Future' Marty McFly complete with "life preserver", through Mark (played by Eddie Redmayne masquerading as a "Run to You" - era Bryan Adams), to Susan (styling by The Bangles) and Tina (charmingly described on the UK DVD box as a 'teenager with a face like a slapped arse'!) who looks like Molly Ringwald gone wrong. Truly a product of its time!

Italian horrors are flicks that stand on their own. Mostly they have their typical score (Goblin is famous for making sounds and music) and the overall look immediately says , this is an Italian flick. On the other hand most of them look cheesy and not everybody loves them. Therefore the Italians knew what to do. Give the release another title clocking in on other successes. There are many examples and this one here surely fits in it. When Evil Dead (1981) was released in Italy it was called La Casa 1. Later on of course Evil Dead II (1987) was released as, you guessed it, La Casa 2. To be sure of selling Ghosthouse it was released as La Casa 3.Naturally it had nothing to do with Evil Dead but it wasn't that bad after all if you can dig Italian gore. The main lead was Lara Wendel who we knew from Tenebre (1982). The other actors aren't that well known, some made it into the B-flick scene's and some are still busy up to today, a thing we couldn't say from our main lead who stopped in 1994. The director was Umberto Lenzi, famous from the gory Cannibal Ferox (1981). It all looks promising but for a flick made in 1989 the effects are rather cheap and even laughable.The thing that sticks to your mind is in fact the creepy soundtrack. The vicious doll wasn't scary or whatsoever but combined with that particular score it did work. The flick itself starts of pretty gory and one slashing of a throat is done on-screen. From there on it falls a bit on the gory parts but it does work storywise. The acting isn't always top notch but that's also typical Italian, isn't it. A nice flick surely to catch full uncut, only two versions aren't cut, the VIPCO release and the extreme limited 666 copy release (B cover) from X Rated Kult. The latter I viewed, included was the soundtrack. If this flick would have been released early eighties it would have fit into that era but for 1989 it's way to cheesy. Gore 2,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

Ghost House has been a hard movie to track down for some time, but if you do make the effort, be prepared for disappointment - the film itself is a bit of a washout. First of all the house is the same one as used in Fulci's "House by the Cemetery"...if only this movie was as good as that one! The plot sees a bunch of teenagers (two amateur detectives and a band of holidaymakers) investigating an empty house that was once the scene of a gruesome double murder. What follows is a very muddled series of hunting's and more murders, seemingly carried out by the ghost of a little girl and her toy clown. The various deaths and ghostly visions are laughable, including dozens of completely unrelated manifestations such as a ghost dog, the head of a corpse in a washing machine (why??) and a vat of something that looks like porridge under the floor. Most hopeless of all are the scenes in which the actors pretend to be attacked by the evil clown doll (an obvious but lame attempt to rip-off "Poltergeist"). The murders are fairly gory, but none are particularly convincing, and the acting is nearly all terrible, not helped by the script which just continues to make up excuses for all the characters to keep going back in house to get picked off. Plus the red-herrings that go nowhere (the hitchhiker and the crazy old caretaker), and explanation for the haunting which is pathetic...it seems as though Lenzi knew he wanted a ghostly little girl and a clown doll, and just wrote a story around it. In its favor, the film is well shot, and a few jolts actually do work (the one when the biker girl is washing her face in the sink was fun), but there is zero suspense or tension. As I said, it's not worth the effort. But if you really must see it, there's a great Region 2 DVD release - available from Amazon.co.UK. I have this edition, and its a nice looking remastered print (uncut and widescreen, no less), but even so, there are far better euro-horrors around than this.

What's the connection between Sam Raimi's legendary horror classics "The Evil Dead 1 & 2" and this low-keyed Italian haunted house horror movie directed by the notorious Umberto Lenzi ("Cannibal Ferox", "Nightmare City")? Absolutely no connection, you'd think, and yet thanks to promoting the film as a genuine sequel to "The Evil Dead", "Ghosthouse" became a huge commercial success in its home country. Say what you want about those unscrupulous Italian movie producers, but they undeniably have terrific marketing talents. Still, even in spite of the deceptive promotional campaign and the gazillions of negative reviews, I personally think "Ghosthouse" is a hugely entertaining and deliciously cheesy 80's horror movie. The graphic gore and clumsy execution are obviously the main elements to adore here, but still the film also features some ingenious conceptual ideas and even a handful of effectively creepy gimmicks. The opening sequences are downright fantastic and even raise the impression you're about to see a legitimate lost horror classic. The level of quality and intensity severely decreases immediately after the intro scenes, but still "Ghosthouse" remains a fun movie. An amateur broadcaster and his girlfriend head for a secluded and abandoned old mansion after they picked up disturbing radio signals coming from there. They team up with another trio of teenagers and discover the mansion is cursed ever since a macabre entity savagely killed the original owners. The nosy teen-detectives soon begin to spot appearances of a blond girl with an uncanny clown doll, accompanied with the supremely eerie tunes of a lullaby. When bodies start piling up, the police suspect the limb caretaker but obviously the house's past is coming back to haunt the trespassers. Very few story elements in "Ghosthouse" make perfect sense but - let's face it - intelligence and flawless continuity are the last things you expect in a rapidly produced Umberto Lenzi movie. The story behind the girl and her dummy is fairly creative, the filming locations are well chosen and the murders are marvelously engrossing … That's more than satisfying enough for me. There's never a dull moment and the lullaby, albeit terribly over-used, is one of the most horrific sounds I ever heard. The acting performances (or should I say dubbing jobs) are unspeakably atrocious, though. Especially Lara Wendel's lines hurt your ears. Oh and also, there's no nudity. What the hell is that about, Umberto?