House on Tombstone Hill (1989) aka Dead Dudes In the House

(out of 5)

House on Tombstone Hill aka Dead Dudes In the House (1989)

directed by:  James Riffel

starring:  Victor Verhaeghe, Mark Zobian, Sarah Newhouse, J.D. Serna, Naomi Kooker, James Griffith, Eugene Sautner, Leighann Belair, Douglas Gibson



       Here we have another staple film of mine, I have seen it so many times I can talk almost every line haha.  House on Tombstone Hill as it will always be called to me.  Why distributors, etc. feel the need to change film titles I will never understand.  Dead Dudes In the House definitely does not fit the movie here and neither does Troma's description of the film itself.  It refers to a bunch of hip hop yups?  Not sure where the "hip hop" comes into play the people in the movie look nothing like the people on the Troma version DVD nor are they "hip hop" at all.  Kind of irritating to a HUGE Troma fan. 

     Anywho getting back to the review of one of my favorite bad films of all time.  I rented this movie for the first time from my local video store and headed home not knowing what to expect.  This was one of the last movies I remember renting on VHS before DVDs were more and more readily available.  I wasn't really expecting the movie to give me any chills at all and I must say even to this day the old woman just creeps me right out.  But that's more me than anything else, old people and kids as zombies, killers, etc. just give me the creeps. 

     The acting in the movie was all over the place.  Few of them most especially Victor Verhaeghe who plays Bob were right on target.  But others like Douglas Gibson were off the mark.  Not terrible but just kind of there.  The fx were great and campy just the way I like my eighties movies.  Enough gore to sooth the gorehound in me but didn't go overboard and it certainly could have.  In fact I have to admit I've always wants to see if there was more to this movie.  At the moment House on Tombstone Hill is on top of my list for a re-mastered edition with extras but I have a feeling that will never happen.
     The film itself is about a small group of twenty somethings, one of whom has bought this dilapidated old house and was intending on spending the weekend fixing it up.  Problem with all that is an old woman is haunting the house who apparently has been killing people including her husband for many years while living in the house.  Is she a ghost, is she a demon, or a pyscho old lady?  My interpretation of this campy dark comedy is that she is a ghost but the house itself really had powers of it's own.  Opening and closing shutters, resurrection, and causing the windows and doors to be useless unless you want to get in...

     In the end this movie shoots out the red stuff and has a bit of gore plus I loved the whole dialogue and story line.  Very campy and silly and a lot of fun.