Sandy Petersen
This film is by Kiroshi Kurosawa, better known for his films Charisma, Seance, Kairu (Pulse), and Cure. His work is erratic, in my opinion (I loved Kairu, but found Charisma tedious and self-important), so I wasn't sure what to expect with Sweet Home.What I found was a good old-fashioned haunted house, with a love story on the side that actually drew in my interest. The three main characters are interesting - there is a father, his daughter, and his co-worker who is enamored of him, and he her, but neither of them have the spine to admit it, so the daughter keeps trying to set them up.They are part of a film crew with a group of much less interesting people who are going to film a documentary about a painter who lived in this big old mansion. Well, the mansion is haunted, and badly. The mural painted on the walls gives hints of the problem, and people start going insane, dying, and the shadows come to life. A local character, which I think I was also in Hiruko Goblin Hunter, comes to help.The basic problem is that the evil manifests as killer shadows, which makes the ghosts difficult to fight. The hero at one point decides to use klieg lights, but the local character points out that the power lights will only make MORE shadows, and ends with the chilling remark "There is a shadow inside your fist." The movie is by-the-numbers in some respects. Every 15-20 minutes is another shocking gore scene - you can almost set your watch by it. The ghost at the end of the film is a really awesome puppet which I totally adored, and one death scene ranks up there with the decomposition of the two zombies at the end of the first Evil Dead film.I can't say I was ever gripping the edge of my seat with terror, but it did the job. I cared about at least some of the characters who were threatened. There was enough gore to please me, and enough romance to please my wife, plus heroism, cowardice, madness, and some interesting shots. Well worth a look for horror buffs.
Trent Reid
This is a fun movie directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and produced by Juzo Itami, who also appears in his last acting role as an Early Times whiskey-swilling mysterious good 'ol boy alongside wife and frequent star Nobuko Miyamoto. In the doc Building the Inferno from Criterion's 'Jigoku' disc, Kiyoshi Kurosawa mentions that he tried to get Jigoku's production designer Haruyasu Kurosawa to work on Sweet Home.It's a shame that didn't happen, however it still has fx by Dick Smith and Kazuhiro Tsuji. But don't let those names fool you, it is not an art-house film for the international market but an atmospheric pop flick. They manipulate shadows and use practical fx in a manner that suggests an appreciation for Bava, particularly in one sequence involving a medieval poleaxe and a wheelchair.The movie was made concurrent to the Famicom game of the same name by Resident Evil/Biohazard game designer Shinji Mikami. This is a key film in the development of the survival horror genre, so why is it only available on unsubbed VHS or crappy DVD-Rs of the old VSoM tape? There were major cuts and reshoots by Itami following the release of Kurosawa's theatrical cut, shaping it into a more commercially viable film. So Toho has that cut locked away, and following Itami's suicide and Kurosawa's relative success as a very different sort of storyteller there is probably little economic motive to release either cut in a restored version.
mr-norman-bates
I would agree with the other reviewers that this is essentially a Japanese take on POLTERGEIST. Do not let that stop you from seeing it however.If there was any way to truly describe this film, it would be if Dario Argento (during his heyday in the late 70's) directed a film with Japanese stars. Every shot has the look and the lighting from films like SUSPIRIA, PHENOMENA, TENEBRAE, even down to the tracking shots and steadycam work.Which brings me to another point: if there is anyone who has a VHS/ laserdisc/ DVD of this film (preferrably with english subtitles), please let us know. I have a copy but it could have better image quality.Regardless, seek this film out. You will not be disappointed.
sinistre1111
This Japanese film, loosely inspired by POLTERGEIST, has some great scenes of eye-popping horror action, rendered by Dick Smith (of THE EXORCIST fame). The bulk of the film, however, seems to drag tremendously in comparison to these scenes; maybe I'm poisoned by Hollywood pacing, but I don't think so. Worthwhile viewing for fans of Japanese horror, but not a masterpiece.
AD
