The House of Clocks – Cauldron Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1989
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Gianfranco Clerici, Lucio Fulci, Daniele Stroppa
Cast: Keith Van Hoven, Karina Huff, Paolo Paoloni, Bettine Milne, Peter Hintz, Al Cliver, Carla Cassola, Paolo Bernardi, Francesca DeRose, Massimo Sarchielli, Vincenzo Luzzi

Release Date: May 13th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 83 Minutes 35 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $34.95

"Three young thieves looking for a big score set their sights on the most lavish house they can find. Little do they know that this house and its inhabitants have murderous impulses of their own. Will they make it out alive? Only time will tell…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "2K restoration."

The House of Clocks comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 41.2 GB

Feature: 25.1 GB

The source looks excellent; this film has never looked better on home media. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, and image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid. Though grain remains intact, this film was shot on 16mm, and there is an intentional soft-focus look.

Audio: 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian), 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both audio tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced. That said, the Italian language tracks sound more robust. Included are English subtitles for the Italian language track and English SDH subtitles for the English language track. It should be noted that subtitles can only be chosen via the audio setup menu, and they cannot be turned off while watching the main feature. Also, you cannot toggle between the two audio options while watching the main feature.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an archival trailer (4 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Al Cliver (1 minute 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actress Carla Cassola (9 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Paolo Paoloni (5 minutes 28 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with FX artist Elio Terribili titled Time with Fulci (19 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with cinematographer Nino Celeste titled Lighting the House of Time (25 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with composer Vince Tempera titled Time and Music (28 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with 1st AD Michele De Angelis titled Working with a Master 23 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Eugenio Ercolani, Nathaniel Thompson, and Troy Howarth.

There are Easter egg extras; it is a collection of cast auditions for The Sweet House of Horrors (71 minutes 25 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles).

Extras not carried over from the limited edition release for this standard edition release include a poster, a rigid outer box, and a CD with Vince Tempera’s original soundtrack.

Summary:

The House of Clocks is one of four made-for-television films known as The Houses of Doom. The other three films are The Sweet House of Horrors, The House of Witchcraft, and The House of Lost Souls.

Three criminals break into a house full of clocks, and when they kill the two elderly owners and their servant, a series of bizarre events unfold.

From 1985 to 1987, Lucio Fulci would only direct one film, after hitting his peak period in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Things would pick up for him considerably in 1988 and 1989, directing two films each. In the case of the latter, he directed The House of Clocks and The Sweet House of Horrors.

The House of Clocks is a supernatural horror film, a subgenre of films that Lucio Fulci is well versed in. The main location is a house filled with clocks, which have the power to alter time. And when the three criminals murdered the couple and their servant, they found themselves trapped, unable to leave the house. That said, all of the characters, including the elderly couple and their servant, have ulterior motives; all characters in this film fall on the side of evil.

All of the characters are one-dimensional; there is no attempt at backstory. It is difficult to gauge performances, since they are dubbed not only for English but also for Italian. That said, Lucio Fulci’s films, especially his horror films, are more about presence and atmosphere than performance. In these two areas, The House of Clocks gets high marks.

When discussing the cinema of Lucio Fulci, everything comes back to his ability to deliver gore. The House of Clocks has a few gory moments like he’s known for and a nasty scene where a cat is put in a plastic bag and suffocated. Fortunately, in the case of the latter, the cat exacts its revenge in the twist ending. That said, though the gore effects are in line with other Lucio Fulci films, they do have their limitations.

From a production standpoint, The House of Clocks is a film working with very limited resources, and yet Lucio Fulci at times manages to work miracles. At 84 minutes in length, the narrative overstays its welcome; it does a great job building to an ending that suggests the cycle has not been broken. Though The House of Clocks is not one of Lucio Fulci’s more arresting films visually, there are many moments that have his unique signature. Ultimately, The House of Clocks is a film that is a lot better than its reputation; that said, it is still a lesser film in Lucio Fulci’s oeuvre.

The House of Clocks gets an excellent release from Cauldron Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a wealth of extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer