Il fantasma di Sodoma

I have seen here some bad reviews about this, but I think this was quite funny and some special effects are quite effective. Some people prefer the first movies made by Fulci such as "House by the cemetery" but instead I like more some of the last such as this or "Aenigma" which was also quite interesting, so if you are a fan of B horror movies, take a look at this, it is at least funny.

This is another film which stands as the perfect showcase for director Fulci’s sad decline throughout his final years (actually, this is the third such example I’ve watched) and, by extension, that of the popular “Euro-Cult” style.

It opens in 1943 with a (hilarious) orgy at a secluded villa by a group of perverted Nazis, which one of them conveniently films – a sequence which is haphazardly intercut with genuine stock footage of the war. The scene then shifts to the present day with a group of teenagers who happen upon the villa and decide to spend the night there: one of the girls is seduced by the ghost of the amateur film-maker but wakes up to find that, apparently, it was only a dream! The gang departs in the morning but, mistakenly, take a roundabout route which invariably brings them back to the dilapidated villa; this time, they discover that they can’t leave the premises – the phone which was previously working is now dead, and the exits have all been mysteriously blocked! Soon, one of them is engaged in a game of Russian Roulette with the same ghostly Nazi, who even offers him a night with a prostitute if he comes out alive: amazingly, he does but the sexual encounter doesn’t quite go the way he planned! At this, he goes berserk and attacks one of his friends – but falls down a flight of steps and is killed. Later on, the prostitute herself appears to the most hysterical of the girls (who harbors a lesbian affection towards one of her companions) – the older woman shows her her friend making out with the third girl of the group but, when she goes to confront them, finds that it was ‘all in her mind’! Then, it’s the turn of the girl who first met the Nazi to become involved with one of the boys (for whom she had hitherto showed no interest) – but, as soon as he touches her, the girl’s skin starts to come off! Eventually, the gang discovers the reel of footage shot by the Nazis intact and they watch it in an attempt to solve the enigma in which they’ve become unwittingly entangled – this is followed by the Nazis suddenly appearing to break down the doors, an explosion…and, then, the whole gang wakes up from a deep slumber in front of the ruins of the villa in question! Doh!!

The film, then, is a mix of haunted-house horror (involving the typical obnoxious-vacationing-teenagers-getting-lost angle) and Nazisploitation (with the soft-porn elements that this entails) which can, perhaps, best be described as hypnotically bad. While Fulci might have done something with this plot in his heyday, here he’s defeated by a boring cast (though the girls, at least, look good in and out of clothes) and the utterly gratuitous gore mandated by the genre at this juncture (but which the evidently shoestring budget couldn’t hope to satisfy in a convincing manner!).

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.

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.

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.