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.

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!).

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.

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.

Who makes the Nazis? I'll tell you who makes the Nazis.

All the Os. Lucio. Who makes the Nazis? Not-bad movie.

Who makes the Nazis? Mugging Smirk actors. Haunted house antics. All the ghosts.

Who makes the Nazis? Fulci's a long gone...long gone breed. Long gone...long gone breed.

Remember when I used make great films babe? Before I was laid low with diabetes?

Who makes the Nazis? House with Nazi spirits. Who makes the Nazis? Lost tourist in jeeps, laughing. Who makes the Nazis? This film is real weird. Real Johnson Allan, Joe. Joe is as good as gold. And all the ghosts in the Nazi hotel. The real mould.

AL CLIVER'S COBWEB EYES!

Who needs the Nazis? Bad-ass movie? Rai-Uno, Shirley Jackson, haunted police.

Italian directors are a long gone, long gone breed, long gone, long gone breed.

Who makes the Nazis? Not bad Movie? Here's a word from Ful-ci:

"When you're out of horror, just give them real boobs. Mattei's not your enemy, Argento's your enemy. At least I don't murder bush monkeys (like Umberto Lenzi)."

Long gone, long gone breed. Who Makes the Nazis?

Di-dit-dit-dit. Dit-dit-dititititit.

So - Late eighties Italian horror time again, and the same old premise as Graveyard Disturbance, House of Lost Souls, House of Clocks, Ghosthouse etc etc. Bunch of youngsters end up in haunted house and are terrorised on a really low budget. This is a late era Fulci film too so you can throw logic right out the window.

Negatives are the crappy story, crappy pacing, lack of gore and stupid ending. Positives are Al Cliver as a coke snorting Nazi having a chug during the orgy at the start of the film! It's also got Joseph Allan Johnson in it from House of Lost Souls (love that one), Berzerker and Slumber Party Massacre. He gets to act drunk and play Russian roulette in this one, so that's a plus.

Other pluses are the avalanche of boobs in just about every scene and Fulci's bizarre take on what constitutes a horror movie that basically plagues his last six or seven films. Doctors recommend that you don't think about the plots of this, Demonia, Cat in the Brain, House of Clocks, Touch of Death and especially Sweet House of Horrors as they will cause permanent brain damage. I've watched all of these and there nothing me watched these all me wrong. You won't catch me with my trousers! This is on YouTube so you can watch it for free anyway. Not sure what the score would have been if I'd forked out cash for this.