Pluskylang Great Film overall

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

BA_Harrison Given that pretty much all of Fulci's latter day efforts (post-Murderock) suck, it's only natural to assume that The House of Clocks will suck too; but it doesn't. Don't get me wrong, the film won't change the way you think about horror, but it is consistently entertaining throughout, which is good enough for me (I've sat through Sodoma's Ghost, so I know just how bad Fulci can get).A supernatural horror that manages to deliver both a fair amount of creepy atmosphere and revolting gore (the film is surprisingly bloody, considering it was made for TV), House of Clocks stars Paolo Paoloni and Bettine Milne as Vittorio and Sara Corsini, a wealthy old couple who live in a remote country villa, where they spend their time caring for their 'children'—a vast collection of antique clocks and watches—and tending to the corpses of their nephew and his wife, who they have murdered for being greedy.One night, the Corsini's routine is disturbed by the arrival of three hoodlums (Keith Van Hoven, Karina Huff and Peter Hintz) who intend to hold the couple hostage and rob the house; their plans go awry, however, when the elderly couple's protective gardener Peter (Al Cliver) intervenes, and a struggle ensues, during which both Vittorio and Sara are blasted with a shotgun (cue mucho giblets and blood) and Peter is brained on the corner of a desk.Free to search the place for valuables at their leisure, the threesome set about turning the place over; meanwhile, the Corsini's 'children' begin to turn back the hands of time, bringing the dead to life for revenge...Stylish direction, combined with gruesome effects (impalements, a bloody knifing, splattery shotgun wounds) and a wonderfully macabre, underlying sense of humour all go to help make The House of Clocks a delightfully surreal and rather absurd (in a good way) experience that should please most followers of the director's work. In fact, the whole thing is so gloriously off the wall that, for once, even the patently ridiculous Fulci ending seems strangely fitting.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Michael_Elliott House of Clocks, The (1989) ** (out of 4) Fair later day Fulci film has three thugs breaking into the home of an elderly couple. The plan is to rob them but the couple end up dead and that's when the thugs learn that the couple has the power to turn back time with their magic clocks. This here was the second of Fulci's two made for TV flicks and it certainly a lot better than the first. As is to be expected, there's quite a bit a gore in the film ranging from a woman getting a pole stabbed into her middle regions, several shotgun blasts and a few other goodies. The performances are also better than I expected they would be but there's certainly no Oscar winners here. The biggest problem is certainly the screenplay, which is pretty simple and too the point. The idea of these clocks seeking revenge is a good one but the script needed a little bit more to pull it along. Fulci's direction is rather tired and laid back without too much style going for it. This certainly isn't among the director's best work and I'm sure the majority will find it quite horrid but having seen most of the director's later day films, I thought it was fair enough.

Coventry Lucio Fulci, infamous for his explicitly violent and downright gross films, surprises his fans (and probably his opponents even more) with this tense and mainly story-driven tale of terror. It is and remains a Fulci effort, so the House of Clocks does contain more gore than your average horror film but still it's awkward not to constantly see eyeballs getting poked out or throats being torn to pieces. This was a movie produced for TV-distribution (which probably also explains the gore-limitation) and script successfully attempts to go for supernatural tension. The House of Clocks revolves on 3 lowlife crooks that plan to rob and home-jack an obviously wealthy elderly couple living in an isolated mansion. This couple, however, isn't as indefensible as they look as they have a bizarre clock-fetish and they keep dark secrets hidden in their basement. When the robbery goes terribly wrong, and all the couple's beloved clocks suddenly stop and turn back; the crooks face unimaginable terror and payback. The film bathes in an uncanny atmosphere and Fulci makes great use of the cool scenery. I can't give a scientific explanation for it, but there's something naturally eerie about a collection of ticking clocks. The idea of showing seemly harmless old people who then turn out mentally deranged isn't exactly new, but it still works and it definitely unsettles you. Near the end, the plot-holes become bigger and bigger and the abrupt plot-twists are disappointing. So, hopefully, the very good first hour of House of Clocks already makes a positive impression on you before the ineptness begins to show. To me it did. Other disadvantages include wooden acting and a very bad case of English dubbing (the DVD I tracked down at least). This is definitely a movie worth checking out in case you're an Italian horror fanatic. For the fans of the more outrageous Fulci-work, he made "Cat in the Brain" one year after this and that certainly is one of the sickest movies ever.

bensonmum2 A group of three unprofessionals attempt to rob the house of an elderly couple. It's an isolated place full of expensive items such as a large collection of clocks. The robbery goes all wrong and the old couple are each hit with a shotgun blast. One of the robbers notices that immediately following the couple's deaths, all of the clocks in the house have stopped. What none of them realizes is that the clocks begin to run backwards. Before the robbers realize what's happening, the clocks have turned back time and brought the couple back to life.Almost every review I've read on the internet seems to trash this movie. I don't get it. Other than Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling and A Lizard in Woman's Skin, this is the best I've seen of his movies. The movie plays a bit like Twilight Zone meets Fulci. The story is original and innovative. Being Fulci, there is a certain amount of gore to be found (for example, an endless stream of entrails pouring from the maids stomach after she's been stabbed with a sharpened stick), but it never goes over-the-top. I found more tension here than in most of Fulci's films. Most of his work seems to be based on how to gross-out an audience. Here, he lets the story take center stage.A lot of the reviews I've read complain about the ending. I'll not give it away, I'll just say that it has a nice irony to me that I found satisfying. The three robbers are, after all, bad people. It's only fitting that they should not get away.The House of Clocks was apparently an Italian made-for-TV movie. They certainly don't make TV movies like this in America.