Richie rich couple Mary and Roberto Valdi (played by Lubka Lenzi and Pascal Persiano respectively) return to their posh estate only to interrupt a burglary.
Said masked thief then goes absolutely shithouse on the couple and brutally murders them before making their death seem like an auto accident.
Mary and Roberto’s children Sarah (Ilary Blasi) and Marco (Giuliano Gensini) who were away at boarding school at the time of the thrill kill… are left in the care of their Aunt Marcia (Cinzia Monreale, Beyond the Darkness, The Beyond) and Uncle Carlo (Jean-Christophe Brétignière, Rats: Night of Terror), who move into the country mansion/scene of the crime.
It takes roughly a second and a half for weird shit to begin happening in the arcane abode… weird shit that involves a demonic toy fly, ghostly flames, spontaneous bleeding, tumbling real estate agents, gale force winds in the living room… all the greatest hits really.
As time passes and the supernatural shenanigans escalate, it becomes increasingly obvious that the spirits are damn determined to keep the family together in their home sweet haunted home!
Lucio Fulci’s (The Beyond, The House by the Cemetery) second entry in the La case maledette or The Houses of Doom series (originally intended for TV broadcast in Italy, but the excessive gore killed that notion), The Sweet House of Horrors is a more light-hearted flick than his previous entry, The House of Clocks, but don’t worry this picture has it’s gory moments!
To wit: the murder at the beginning of the film is incredibly graphic and features plenty of that ol’ practical effects wizardry Fulci’s horror oeuvre is known for… but this film soon turns it’s focus elsewhere… namely the adventures of our young protagonists, Sarah and Marco, but these kids offer even more surrealist elements to the proceedings along with the expected ridiculousness.
Bottom line; these tykes are fucking insane. They laugh their asses off as adults suffer grievous bodily injury… kind of like a Home Alone situation, except the injuries are presented with much more intensity, conduct strange rituals to commune with the dead, and generally make everyone’s lives that attempt to remove them from their home a real hassle.
This all leads to moments of off-kilter comedy, in particular where the characters of real estate agent Mr. Coby (Franco Diogene, The Name of the Rose) and the Exorcist (Vernon Dobtcheff, who has been in everything from Fiddler on the Roof to Doctor Who) are concerned as the spirits make all sorts of pratfalls and bodily harm occur which culminates in the only way it could… in heavy construction equipment whizzing around in fast motion as the score gets wacky.
There’s also a large number of ’80s style optical effects and animation to bring the ghoulish goings-on to life, and that’s always a nostalgic visual treat.
As with The House of Clocks, Cauldron Films have used a 2K restoration/1080p presentation on The Sweet House of Horrors to present us with the best possible image quality, and here the result is a detail laden picture with some film grain present, and sharp colors that make the verdant landscape and bloodshed truly stand out!
Additionally you can view The Sweet House of Horrors in English (with optional subtitles) or Italian with English subtitles.
Special features assembled here begin with an audio commentary courtesy of film scholar/documentarian Eugenio Ercolani, and writer/horror cinema expert Troy Howarth that provides facts relating to the film’s production, Fulci’s late-period career, the cast and more in a fascinating listen!
Also included are new interviews with actress Monreale, set designer Massimo Antonello Geleng, and editor Alberto Moriani.
Archival material present includes an introduction to The Sweet House of Horrors from Monreale (along with an additional interview segment), interviews with writer Gigliola Battaglini, and actors Brétignière, Lino Salemme (who portrays the family’s gardener in the film, and whom you might remember from Lamberto Bava’s Demons), and Persiano, and a trailer.
A bizarre mix of hardcore horror and a children’s supernatural pseudo-fairy tale, The Sweet House of Horrors is a delightfully strange entry in Fulci’s filmography that manages to create a surreal tone and reality all it’s own!
