aka Il fantasma di Sodoma, The Ghosts of Sodom
I would never say that every Fulci movie is a timeless classic, and the movie that I'm bringing you today proves that. SODOMA'S GHOST is certainly not Fulci's worst movie, but far...far from his greatest. SODOMA'S GHOST is an 80's nazisploitation flick with a supernatural twist, which plays out like a kinky episode of The Twilight Zone. It's a cheap movie, with bad dialogue, subpar acting, and a groan inducing plot---but never the less, still b-movie fun.
 |
 |
|---|
A group of young people, on a road trip in France, get lost and stumble across an old cottage and decide to shack up there until they can find a way back to the main road. In the beginning of the film, years earlier, we see some Nazis having a sex & drug party (the bet kind of party) and having a grand ol' time in that same cottage. Their party is interupted when a bomb is dropped on them, and we fast forward to the present--the 80's that is. The group gets lost when the head moron drives off the road to take a short-cut (leave it to an American male to think he knows a quicker root in a foreign country that he's never been to before). They end up off-roading until they happen to spot the cottage.
The house is locked up, and they assume it's abandoned..naturally. One of them finds a key to the back door, and they waltz inside like oblivious dickheads. There is food on the table, and the house looks maintained, obviously not abandoned, yet they make themselves at home all the same. They eat the food, touch stuff, drink vintage wine from the cellar, and sleep in the bedrooms (never once caring that the owners may drop in any minute). Basically they do all the cliché horror movie things that make you want to cringe, because you know real people wouldn't be doing these things. As soon as I saw that the place wasn't abandoned, I would have got the hell out of there because I've found that most folks aren't too keen on people trespassing on the property. Makes 'em cranky.Make
The first night, a Nazi ghost comes out of a mirror, and has some really rough sex with one of the girls..nothing odd there. The next day they get back in their Range Rover, and look for a main road. They end up going in a circle, right back to the cottage. So they decide to stay another night (Hey, why not?). Once inside, they try and use the phone, but the line gets cut. Then they realize that the doors and windows are now locked. They make an extremely half assed attempt at escape, but basically give up. At this point, I wanted them all to die, horrible, horrible deaths.
That night, stuff finally starts to happen, and we finally see some trademark Fulci. The head moron gets drunk and gets into an argument with the bitch of the group (her super-sized freak out when they realize they're trapped had me rolling on the floor with laughter), and stumbles off to his bedroom. There he sees a group of ghost Nazis playing cards (with German accents straight out of Hogan's Heroes, I was waiting for Col. Klink to walk in). The Nazi from the previous night (rough sex Nazi) shows the head moron a naked chick in the mirror, and asks him if he "wants" her (she's really not even that hot) and the two end up playing a game of Russian Roulette (wait, I thought they were Germans, whatever). If head moron wins, he gets to have a romp with the naked chick, and he accepts----what the fuck?! Man, I've never been that drunk or that horny! Dumb idea aside, it's a great scene, and shows that Fulci was a master of suspense.
Shit starts to hit the fan, and head moron takes a tumble down the stairs. His corpse starts to decompose at 50 times the normal rate—just an excuse to add some gore, really (of which I'm okay with). The rest of the gang (still too damn lazy to really try and escape) stumble across an old film reel (the Nazi party at the beginning was being filmed on a super 8 camera), and when they try to watch it, that really pisses of the ghost Nazis (which goes to show that even a Nazi shows more shame of a sex tape than some L.A. celebretards that will go nameless).
It all leads to a lame and groan inducing ending. I don't know what was going through Fulci's mind on this one. I know during this time, he was going through health problems, and really made some bad flicks. Unlike other Fulci near-duds, this one doesn't even have a killer score to help it. It's your standard 80's horror movie crap. The production is crap, but Fulci still hold it together the best he can. It's an excellent movie for watching with some friends, a few beers, and shouting back at the screen. If that does not appeal to you, then I'd say stay away from this one all together.
Scene from SODOMA'S GHOST