everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Best movie of this year hands down!

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A radio recording prompts a couple to investigate an old house, they join up with a group of teens and make the silly decision to explore the house where the spirit of a little girl reside.Directed by Umberto Lenzi under the pseudonym of Humphry Hubert and released as La casa 3 (to cash in on The Evil Dead) it's arguably one of Lenzi's most conventional films. Unfortunately it's hampered by a clunky script, some disjointed scenes and gobbledygook elements synonymous with Italian horror exploitation films. In the golden age of practical effects Lenzi offers a stabbing with shears, a little hammer carnage and a character being cut in half. As the group are killed off one by one there's also maggot infested knife wielding (a pre Wes Craven Scream-like cloaked) skeleton, taps spurting blood, severed heads, exploding light bulbs and jars, a Clown Doll (reminiscent of the one in Poltergeist) and also an obligatory 80s shock ending. With a possessed camper van there's all the ingredients you'd expect as the mystery unfolds and they track down the origin of the evil. Plodding pacing aside there's some good nostalgia value in Ghost House right down to the CB radios. The house and its location are creepy (it also appears in Lucio Fulci's The House by the Cemetery) and the ghost of the girl gives a few chills. While it's no comparable Fulci cult classic, Lenzi offers some gory kills but what will stay under your skin long after the credits is the genuinely disturbing, eerie, repetitive verse.

So the opening credits say "Story by Humphrey Humbert", but that's really just Umberto Lenzi, the Italian writer/director who has done SO MANY horror flicks under various names. He doesn't waste any time getting into the gross, gory murders. This one is definitely NOT for the kiddies! No big names here. "Paul" is a ham radio nut, and he hears strange things over the air, and of course he gets involved. This leads to TROUBLE.... bad acting. bad directing. campy. and now available on Blue Ray !Martha, the girlfriend ? wife? has an odd accent, because the actress seems to have been born in Chermany. Paul is miraculously able to pinpoint where the weird broadcast is coming from in no time at all, and they let themselves into the house..... always a good idea. Some okay special effects, but the sound dubbing is WAAAY off, and there are so many TERRIBLE edits, it's distracting. One of Lenzi's later works -- its so bad, its a camp classic at this point. It's a 1980's time capsule... the hairdos and the clothes. Kind of like a John Waters if he did horror films. Check it out! Recently released on a double disk with "Witchery".

A programming engineer in Boston picks up what sounds like a murder on his CB radio. He and his girlfriend trace the disturbing recording to an abandoned house where they find a group of young people camped out at; unbeknownst to them, a young girl and her clown doll haunt the home, killing anyone who dares enter.Released in Italy as "La casa 3" and marketed as an unlicensed sequel to the "Evil Dead" franchise (which makes zero sense), "Ghosthouse" is an under-appreciated gem among the supernatural schlocky horror of the late eighties. Directed and co-written by Umberto Lenzi under the pseudonym "Humphrey Humbert," the film was shot in the same location as Lucio Fulci's "The House by the Cemetery," and has a similar feel with Lenzi's own spins. Yes, it's campy at times, but it also manages to be compelling and boast a genuinely spooky atmosphere.The cinematography is very professional and the movie is surprisingly well shot; the editing leaves a bit to be desired and results in some clunky transitions and parallel editing, but given the type of film this is, it's completely forgivable. The house and surrounding forest create a lush and unsettling atmosphere, which is exacerbated by bizarre encounters with the silent spot-lit ghost girl and her bizarre clown doll inside the house. There are some inventive and shocking murder scenes that are well-handled and convincing.Perhaps the most memorable thing about the film, as many have said, is the bizarre nursery tune that plays during the characters' encounters with the supernatural. It's difficult to describe and has to be heard to be understood, but it adds a sufficiently creepy flair to what could have been otherwise flat or hokey scare scenes. The acting is a mishmash of decent performances and wooden ones, but overall the characters are likable and the actors good enough. I'd say if the film has a singular weakness, it'd be some of the poorly-delivered lines; aside from that, this is actually a fairly class-act haunted house movie.Overall, "Ghosthouse" is an incredibly entertaining haunted house flick— nothing more, nothing less. If the idea of killer clown dolls, a big creepy house, and a possessed little girl in a white dress sound like a good time, then this is the prime late eighties flick for it. It's well shot and incredibly atmospheric, and features some creative and fun scare scenes— the "House by the Cemetery" location link just provides another amusing bonus for genre fans. 8/10.

I first saw Ghosthouse around 1996, and while I sat through it, not much of an impression was made. But the memories of the movie remained, and specific shots remained in my mind. Eventually I watched it again, and was struck with how charming it is. The script is unpretentious, with some incredibly simplistic writing. But the horror elements are a bizarre mix of fairly disconnected clichés. But it will stick with you, not in its entirety, but just little things.I watched the movie a third time recently, and I'm willing to concede a few more substantial faults. The pacing is awkward and it slows down a whole lot during some sequences. Some of the things - like the little storm in the bedroom - are laughable.Despite these faults, the fact is that this cheap movie is a memorable one. For a horror movie, the ability to remain in our memory is a really important one.