Seen this movie 3 times now and I think of this as a middle of the road horror movie from Lucio Fulci. Meaning I wouldn't put this on a list with the best of Fulci movies, but I wouldn't say it was one his worst either. One thing that is different about this movie compared to other Fulci movies I have seen is there are only a few gore scenes in this movie. For this was made for Italian TV rather than theatres so the violence, while still present is not as powerful as other Fulci films. Three dope-smoking young thieves are aware of this isolated house where some rich elderly people live. So they trick their way into the home to steal from these people, but the robbery goes horribly wrong as the elderly people are killed. This is when the mystery of the clocks within the house take shape and unfold a nice little horror story with some nice twists along the way.

The drugged up roaming punks pick the wrong house to rob when they come across the elderly couple Victor (Paolini) and Sara (Bettina Milne) at their strange country home. Infested with clocks Victor has collected for seventy years, the unstable Paul (Hintz) flips out and kills the couple along with the grounds keeper (Al Cliver). When this happens, the clocks begin going backwards which does a number on time and soon the elderly couple has come back to life seeking revenge. This made for Italian TV movie came late in the carrier of Lucio Fulci but still manages a Fulci look. Unfortunately, the story telling is a mess and you're never too sure of what and why things are happening. The characters are all Assholes other than the elderly couple so we could care less when they are in pearl. Gore is plentiful and disgusting with a spear being jabbed into a groin in one highlight. The film's biggest mistake is that it just isn't any fun. Fulci's best stuff didn't always make complete sense but it was still fun as hell to go on the ride. This movie is just nasty with crappy characters and no life. Only die hard Lucio Fulci fans need to view this one.

For a while, it looks like "House Of Clocks" will be a rarity in Lucio Fulci's filmography: a film whose main strength is the script. The initial idea is simply awesome: magical clocks that stop and reverse time itself. Add to that the fact that the seemingly harmless elderly couple that collects those clocks are actually a pair of twisted maniacs, and you have the recipe for an ambitious sci-fi / horror combo. Unfortunately, Fulci and his co-screenwriters don't seem to have thought their ideas through. The hands of the clocks are constantly being shown moving backwards rapidly - but, while this is happening, the action on the film goes both backward and forward. Where did those clocks come from? Does the elderly couple control them or do they "act" on their own? Does the situation affect time in general or time inside the house? Why does it affect only some characters and not others? To these and other questions....don't expect answers. There are some pleasingly old-school, graphic gore effects, some nice visuals (Fulci even manages to work zombies into the story!), a fitting music score, but the problem remains: this film makes absolutely no sense, even on its own terms. ** out of 4.

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.