Il fantasma di Sodoma

Il fantasma di Sodoma (Sodoma's Ghost) is for sure not Fulci's finest moment but entertaining in a cheesy and nostalgic way. Recommended only for the die-hard Fulci adepts or for those chosen few that are on the quest to watch everything he was involved with.

A late Fulci with much adverse criticism, surely it can't be that bad, I thought. Well, actually, it doesn't start too badly. Some sort of nazi orgy which is being filmed, nothing very explicit but diverting, then a long car journey in present day France. Eventually this settles down as a haunted house mystery and some nazi ghosts. There is some blood and gore and much naked flesh but no decent story, no decent dialogue and the only passable acting id by Robert Egon who plays a young nazi soldier. He has a most effective scene early on where the violence, blood and sex work dangerously well together but not once more does this film rise (or should that be sink?) to such a level. Music's awful too but then this is the 80s but 80s or not does not excuse such lazy film making especially when it is so well lit and shot. It's not a terrible idea either and with a bit more care this could have been a pretty potent brew. Shame.

Lucio Fulci's "The Ghosts of Sodom" is so dumb that it's very difficult not being at least a little entertained by it.A group of kids arrives at the old Nazi mansion and soon they are haunted by Nazis from the past."The Ghosts of Sodom" must be among the worst films made by Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci.There is almost none of the Fulci magic left.The film is also pretty boring and filled with unnecessary dialogue.There is plenty of nudity,so if you like them sleazy you won't be disappointed.No gore to speak of apart from some nice shots of decaying corpse.The film is quite rare and hard to find,so if you like Italian horror give it a look.4 out of 10.

This one is extremely inept, and Fulci has lost everything that was his style. Nothing makes sense in this classical haunted-house story chock-full of "Dumb-teenagers-gets-killed" clichés. Avoid it.

The Ghosts of Sodom (1988)

1/2 (out of 4)

The film starts off in 1943 where a group of Nazis are having an orgy when forces drop a bomb on them and kills them. Flash forward to current times when six teenagers get lost and end up at the place that was bomb (somehow it was undamaged). Soon the ghosts of the dead Nazis are seeking vengeance.

THE GHOSTS OF SODOM came from the later period of Fulci's career as well as the very end of the Italian horror boom. Both Fulci and the genre were pretty much dried up during this era and it sadly shows in this awful film. Some have argued that even the classic Fulci titles were mainly gore and perhaps that's true but they also had some energy, atmosphere and style. Those things are all missing from this picture.

The biggest problem is the fact that Fulci is working with very little money and there's just very little that you can actually do. The story itself should have made for a great film as you could have had one grisly death after another. The Naziploitation genre is full of these types of films so something could have been done. However, there's nothing but boring scenes of the teenagers talking about being lost and every once in a while you get some pretty girls taking their clothes off.

Being a Fulci film you'd expect some gore but you'll be disappointed because there is very little. Again, the lack of a budget meant not much could be done with the special effects so we're basically left with nothing. The death scenes are all rather bland and boring and the only saving grace is that the orgy sequence is so bad that you can laugh at it. THE GHOSTS OF SODOM should have been so much more but sadly it's just proof that the genre and director were at the end.