This film is by Kiroshi Kurosawa, better known for his films Charisma, Seance, Kairu (Pulse), and Cure. His work is erratic, in my opinion (I loved Kairu, but found Charisma tedious and self-important), so I wasn't sure what to expect with Sweet Home.What I found was a good old-fashioned haunted house, with a love story on the side that actually drew in my interest. The three main characters are interesting - there is a father, his daughter, and his co-worker who is enamored of him, and he her, but neither of them have the spine to admit it, so the daughter keeps trying to set them up.They are part of a film crew with a group of much less interesting people who are going to film a documentary about a painter who lived in this big old mansion. Well, the mansion is haunted, and badly. The mural painted on the walls gives hints of the problem, and people start going insane, dying, and the shadows come to life. A local character, which I think I was also in Hiruko Goblin Hunter, comes to help.The basic problem is that the evil manifests as killer shadows, which makes the ghosts difficult to fight. The hero at one point decides to use klieg lights, but the local character points out that the power lights will only make MORE shadows, and ends with the chilling remark "There is a shadow inside your fist." The movie is by-the-numbers in some respects. Every 15-20 minutes is another shocking gore scene - you can almost set your watch by it. The ghost at the end of the film is a really awesome puppet which I totally adored, and one death scene ranks up there with the decomposition of the two zombies at the end of the first Evil Dead film.I can't say I was ever gripping the edge of my seat with terror, but it did the job. I cared about at least some of the characters who were threatened. There was enough gore to please me, and enough romance to please my wife, plus heroism, cowardice, madness, and some interesting shots. Well worth a look for horror buffs.

First off, to anyone who sees the version I did. The film starts out with a commercial of the video game based on the movie. They show some scenes from the movie, and pretty good ones at that. So, if you start the flick and see a video game commercial I'd turn my head away just so you don't ruin anything for yourself.Japanese Horror is something of a hit or miss with me. I'm not a fan of the jerky ghosts who walk like they have rheumatoid arthritis, or the pale-faced long hair girls. I'm not saying those movies can't deliver a chill or two, but overall it's a very played out scare-tactic and it's almost eye-rollingly cliché nowadays. Well, back in 89' there was a movie called Sweet Home, and this flick suffers from zero of these problems. It's unique in it's scares and chills, and that's what I really commend it for.With a story revolving around a family/team heading to a abandoned mansion to investigate whether the house has a rare painting the story plays out like any haunted house flick. There may be something wrong, but no one really cares or believes. Well, after a little bit, they finally do begin to realize the mansion is cursed, but by the time they realize, the wheels of horror are in motion, and it's now a fight to stay alive.Sweet Home, isn't a perfect flick, there are some drags in the film, and I personally think the movie could have been a lot scarier. They had perfect set-ups mixed with perfect camera-shots, but only used them for the creepy factor instead of the scare-factor. You're presented with a sense of dread, but rarely do they ever really try to scare you. Nevertheless, the film does offer chills and enough of them to satisfy the viewer.But with a cool story, good acting, fantastic atmosphere/cinematography and great fx, the movie more than delivers enough for an entertaining and unique little haunted house flick. If you're into Japanese horror/haunted house flicks, give this flick a shot. It's worth it.

A television crew enter the sprawling Mamiya mansion to film the restoration of a fresco painted by the artist who lived there decades before.They discover not one but several frescoes including one that seems to depict the death of a young child in some kind of furnace.That night the temperamental presenter wanders out into the grounds of the house and digs up a coffin containing the charred remains of an infant.It soon becomes apparent that the child's mother,although dead herself has not left the house and is still angered by her loss."Sweet Home" is obviously inspired by Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist" and Robert Wise's "The Haunting".The special effects made by Dick Smith are spectacular and there is a good amount of grue including dismemberments and melting faces.The action is fast-paced,the script is well-written and the characters are engaging.8 out of 10.A hidden gem.

I saw this movie recently thinking that it would be scary, I was wrong. The movie isn't really that scary, it mostly has the usual gross horror special effects and killings. I was surprised at how "stupid" the movie was. A few examples, if you are working under a jacked-up car and listening to a sports game, do you get excited and start hopping while you're still underneath? If someone sees a small, strange, man-made rock formation with a skull-shaped rock on top, should they kick it over so they can use one of the rocks to break open a shed? If someone is killed with an axe, why would they turn into a pile of melted wax and how does a character recognize that pile of melted wax as one of their friends? This is just a few of the nonsensical things. The characters in the movie are not the usual horror cliché, pausing when they should be running, not picking up weapons etc., they are complete idiots. This movie would be great entertainment for a bad movie night or if you enjoy B movies (I do but, this was too much). Don't expect a work of art like other horror movies.