La Casa (film Series)

''La Casa'' (lit: ''The House'') is the name given to a collection of mostly unrelated horror films which were retitled and marketed in Italy as one single series. They include movies from both the ''Evil Dead'' film series and the ''House'' film series.

Background

When first released in 1981, the Sam Raimi-directed horror film ''The Evil Dead'' was distributed in Italy under the title ''La Casa'', where it was a box office success. The 1987 sequel '' Evil Dead II'' was thus distributed under the similar title ''La Casa 2'', and also did well in the Italian box office.

Attempting to capitalize on the successes of the ''Evil Dead'' films, Italian filmmaker Joe D'Amato produced an unofficial sequel titled ''La Casa 3'' (later released in English-speaking countries as ''Ghosthouse''). This in turn was followed by two more "sequels", ''Witchery (film), La Casa 4'' (also known as ''Witchery'') and ''Beyond Darkness, La Casa 5'' (also known as ''Beyond Darkness'').

Two additional films were released in Italy under the ''La Casa'' series name, both unrelated to either the ''Evil Dead'' series or Joe D'Amato's films. ''House II: The Second Story'' was released in Italy as ''La casa di Helen'', though it's sometimes referred to as "Le Casa 6", a movie that technically doesn't exist. Despite this, ''The Horror Show'' was released as ''La Casa 7''. To add further confusion to the matter, ''The Horror Show'' was marketed as a sequel to ''House II'' in other non-US markets, using the title ''House III: The Horror Show'', as had been the original intention for the US release during production. The producers had ultimately felt that ''The Horror Show'' was too dissimilar in tone to the previous instalments in the ''House'' franchise, and resolved to release it simply as ''The Horror Show'' in the US market. When ''The Horror Show'' was released in DVD in Italy, it was retitled ''La Casa III'', taking the international ''House III'' as a reference and making the whole matter even more confusing. ''House IV'' was released in Italy as both ''House IV: Presenze impalpabili'' rather than ''La Casa 4'' which was already taken, and ''Chi ha ucciso Roger?''. The original ''House'' was released in Italy as ''Chi è sepolto in quella casa?'', and was never included as part of the ''La Casa'' series.

Films in the series

#The Evil Dead, ''La Casa'' ( ''The Evil Dead'') (1981)
#Evil Dead II, ''La Casa 2'' (a.k.a. ''Evil Dead II'') (1987)
#Ghosthouse (film), ''La Casa 3'' (a.k.a. ''Ghosthouse'') (1988)
#Witchery (film), ''La Casa 4'' (a.k.a. ''Witchery'') (1988)
#Beyond Darkness, ''La Casa 5'' (a.k.a. ''Beyond Darkness'') (1990)
#House II: The Second Story, ''La Casa 6'' (a.k.a. ''House II: The Second Story'')
#The Horror Show, ''La Casa 7'' (a.k.a. ''House III: The Horror Show'')

See also

*Zombi (film series), ''Zombi'' (film series)
*House (film series), ''House'' (film series)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casa (film series)
Italian film series
Horror film series