As a Japanese horror movie, Sweet Home (1989) has a cult following because it was released with a tie-in horror computer game from Capcom, which became the inspiration for the original Resident Evil video game. As an entry in director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s filmography, it’s different to the disturbing, eerie horror movies that would make his name, like Cure and Pulse. Sweet Home is more special effects driven and somewhat bombastic, somewhere between The Evil Dead and Poltergeist, definitely carrying the imprint of Steven Spielberg’s global success at this point.
A TV news crew descend upon the haunted mansion of a dead artist, keen to record a documentary about his last fresco paintings. There’s a family vibe with the bumbling producer bringing his precocious daughter, and the most resourceful member of the team being a mother figure to her. As the shadows increase and what seemed like creaking rumblings turn into close encounters with vengeful spirits, the slow burn tension eventually erupts into practical special effects, melted body gore and spectral lights.
The atmospheric forests and dimly lit house interiors are a great setting to the set pieces, which received work from Hollywood special effects man Dick Smith (The Exorcist, Scanners). Apparently, Kurosawa took the film producers to court and lost when producer and costar Juzo Itami (who made Tampopo) reshot and reedited scenes. Despite the authorial struggle and not fully being an expression of Kurosawa’s brand of unsettling horror, this was still a fun and entertaining watch, moments of goofiness accompanied by spectacular old school effects showcases. Streamed a copy on YouTube. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 