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The Sweet House Of Horrors
Directed By Lucio Fulci
Released: 1989
Starring: Jean-Christophe Brétigniere, Cinzia Monreale, Giuliano Gensini,
and Ilary Blasi
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Released by Shriek Show 2002
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After their parents are brutally murdered by a
burglar, Marco (Giuliano Gensini) and Sarah (Ilary Blasi) are put in the
care of their Aunt Marcia (Cinzia Monreale) and Uncle Carlo (Jean-Christophe
Brétigniere). While their Aunt and Uncle are waiting for the children's home to
sell, Marco and Sarah are contacted by the ghosts of their dead parents
who don’t want the children to leave. Once they witness some supernatural
phenomenon for themselves and begin fearing for the children’s safety,
Marcia and Carlo hire an exorcist to cleanse the house of evil spirits.
Along with House Of Clocks,
Lucio Fulci directed The Sweet House Of
Horrors for Italian television. After
reading a very negative review of this film several years ago, I put it on
the imaginary “oh well, I’ll never watch that one” shelf. Well, after
Doomed Fulci-Thon, I say all bets are off, people. It’s time for me to
buckle down and watch every dang thing that the “Godfather of Gore” ever
directed.
Here’s the paragraph where I slam the film. The writing is quite
confusing and lame. Some of the comedy works but the backhoe scene is
unspeakably stupid. Here’s another script featuring characters speaking
their painfully obvious thoughts out loud for the audience‘s sake. The
subplot with the burglar’s comeuppance is okay but seems more like an
afterthought. There is a plethora of cheesy and mostly embarrassing
optical effects if you’re into that kind of thing. Most annoying though,
is the film’s terrible English dubbing rendering most of the characters
even dumber than their dialogue.
And now I must praise the film. There is some attention-grabbing gore in
the first few minutes and a couple more gruesome moments later in the film
that were excellent. The lighting, Sebastiano Celeste’s camerawork
(fisheye lens and soft focus!), and the set design are all surprising good for an
Italian television production. Most importantly, a clearly inspired Fulci
establishes a very bizarre and often creepy atmosphere that holds up
throughout most of the film.
The lovely Cinzia Monreale of The
Beyond and
Beyond
The Darkness graces us with her presence. The kids,
Ilary Blasi and Giuliano Gensini, aren’t terrible child actors by any
means but when they’re voiced by adults pretending to be children, things
get ugly. The most bizarre casting has to be the Abraham Lincoln lookalike
in a turtleneck (French actor Vernon Dobtcheff) as the Russian (who speaks
German) exorcist.
Once again, I’ve done myself a disservice by avoiding a Fulci film based
on a poor review I barely even remember reading. Without a doubt,
The Sweet House Of Horrors
has its problems but it is definitely a watchable title.
There’s a lot to like here especially for Fulci completists like myself.
As my standards have been severely lowered by
Door To Silence,
I’m probably not the most reliable reviewer of this stuff anymore.
Shocked? Me neither. But I know one thing... I do loves me a séance
sequence!
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Quotes:
Sarah: “Don’t believe him. Grownups are all liars.”
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