Synopsis
A TV production crew are making a documentary about the infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro. When they start filming at his old home, they come under attack from the ghost of the painter's wife.
Sweet Home
1989 ‘スウィートホーム’ Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
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So, I've been taking a bit of a break from writing reviews on here. I don't know if this means I'm back, but I had to say something about this crazy-ass film.
If you've read any of my Resident Evil reviews, you know I'm a huge fan of both the games and the films. I've been hooked on the franchise since I first played Resident Evil back in 1996. And, like any hardcore fan, I've long been aware of the fact that the game was originally intended to be a sequel to the real granddaddy of survival horror games, Sweet Home (for the NES), which, itself, was based on this particular film. So, this thing has been on my radar…
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“Jill, here’s a lock pick. It might come in handy if you - the master of unlocking - take it with you.”
-Barry BurtonPoltergeist.
Sweet Home is oddly reminiscent of the 1982 American classic, but less for the third act giant monster, and more for the perceived battle for creative control between producer and director. While most arguments these days recognize Poltergeist as Tobe Hooper’s work over being a glorified second unit for Steven Spielberg, the same is not as clear here. A cross section of interests, one would think a film that represents the origins of the popular Resident Evil franchise, is a unique example of cross platform promoting, features one of the most important figures in independent…
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Sweet Home is a 1989 Japanese horror film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa of Pulse and Cure fame and was released with a video game of the same title, together these both were influential in the Resident Evil game and this film has developed a slow growing cult following over the years. I first heard whispers of this via the early days of the internet in gaming chat rooms and message boards, and with no worthwhile physical release readily available, I found it on YouTube with subtitles!
A TV production crew are making a documentary about the infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro. When they start filming at his old haunted mansion, they come under attack from ghosts and other freakish occurances.
This was a lot of bonkers fun and i was going to give it 3/5 because I think it would have worked slightly better with 10 or so minutes shaved off... but... there’s a ‘Final Boss’ in this and that pleases me.
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Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who has made some of my favorite formally restrained and aesthetically minimal horror films, goes into full Spielberg-meets-80’s-Hong-Kong-populist excess mode and it's all pretty fucking silly and fantastic.
A lush, opulent, theatrical, hallucinatory spill of horror-romantics and fantasy-adventure, I challenge you to pause this movie at any time and not be totally blown away by the composition, use of shadows and shapes, the character placement and staging in three-dimensional space and the camera movement. Plus there’s a shit ton of amazing optical and practical effects. (Dick Smith in the house!!)
It’s fitting that this feels very much like a loose, extreme take on Poltergeist, because the debate between who was responsible for what in that film (Spielberg or…
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5th Kiyoshi Kurosawa (after Pulse, Serpent's Path, Creepy and Cure)
Giving this less than 5 stars does make me worry that I'll get an evil side-eye from Broomer, considering I was so pro-watching this, but I had such a great time nonetheless. Sweet Home is very clearly an early Kurosawa, with the famous reserved style of shooting nowhere to be seen, but the goopy, candy-coloured cinema that is on display here is my absolute favourite. Sweet Home is best known for spawning a game that begat Resident Evil, but I won't bore you with all that. The reason I mention it is because how similar the narrative feels to a classic video game. It concerns a TV crew who visit…
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Fellow Collab member and Letterboxd tag team partner Geoffrey Broomer has long taken issue with the score I have levied upon "Housu". This is something we both have just had to learn to live with. Regarding this, he was certain that I would have a similar reaction to "Sweet Home" with it's similar themes.
Here's the double edged sword about Broomer: He's always right...
I think I'm starting to understand my relationship with East Asian cinema: Kung-Fu? Yes. Forest spirits? No. Kaiju? Yes. Anime? No. Samurai? Yes. Girls with long-ass hair over their faces? No. Neon drenched ultra-violence? Yes. Mystical ghost houses? No.
"Sweet" does feel like someone saw "House" and said, "Make me one of those...but normal. I'd prefer…
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Viewed with the Amazing Edith’s *Collab Film Group*.
Trivia: This film and its video game equivalent were inspiration for the survival horror video game, Resident Evil (1996). Both games were developed by Capcom.
Without needing to say much more, Sweet Home is the main reason for the entire sub-genre of survival horror while simultaneously having a unique tie-in to the video game world which specifically led to the aforementioned franchise. The film also happens to be an interesting compromise between the paranormal tropes and the pop-hued ambience of the decade the film broke forth from. Many will find the practical effects outdated, but I personally found the aesthetics and effects (besides the blue electricity) to work well enough. There’s also not…
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Every time I remember this film it makes me go back to my college years when I was very obsessed with Survival Horror games made on retro consoles like PS1 or Dreamcast which I played at friends' houses since Sweet Home is considered the great mother of this horror video game genre, one that was a good example of advertising creation because they know it could be a huge success, was that raised as a kind of symbiosis with the creation of a video game for Famicom System that Capcom developed simultaneously to be published at the same time on December 15, 1989. The person in charge was the arcade game developer Tokuro Fujiwara, who was the creator of Ghosts…
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I'm a sucker for zany supernatural shenanigans and cheesy Haunted House films and Sweet Home perfectly utilizes both! Highly imaginative with some great FX and ambitous visuals it's a mesmerizing journey into the realm of low budget surrealism. Filled with a quirky energy and playful sense of humor Sweet Home feels like a deranged real life Saturday morning cartoon. And don't let that fool you! It also has a real mean streak too!
A TV crew is filming a documentary at the mysterious Mamiya Mansion. An old home rumored to be haunted with vengeful spirits! And when they discover the tomb of a dead baby things start to unravel pretty quickly! Mysterious black fog, Deadly premonitions and sneaky possessions begin…
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💗Daily Horror Hunt #32 (Feb. 2021)💗
[1] Watch something Michael has rated 4+ stars.
💀HORRORx52 (2021)💀
[16] Made in Japan.My only knowledge of this flick prior to watching was that this and the Sweet Home Famicom game were the inspiration for the first Resident Evil, and yeah, the whole trapped in a spooky mansion vibe is definitely unmistakable. Even the look of the place shares some eerie similarities. No Jill Sandwiches to be seen, but plenty of haunted house supernatural shenanigans, and man, I'm always down for that!
Kinda surprised just how light-hearted the atmosphere was for the entire first half, doesn't help that the music sounds like it was ripped straight outta Homeward Bound…
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A docufilm crew looking to restore lost paintings of a famous artist end up disturbing the spirit of his dead wife instead.
Malign shadowplay makes this feel more like Alone in the Dark than Resident Evil, but I get the inspo, and any story centered on a giant spooky mansion is appreciated (except The Haunting remake, that's trash.) It's pretty good, the story is weak, but the SFX are dope as hell, and ultimately where it's at: melty skelety, molten lava insides, axed faces. I am also just in love with that end animatronic, reminded me of Braindead, same with the half man, both great visual effects.
In conclusion:
Capcom, can you pretty please re-release the game? I really wanna play it. Can you also fix Silent Hill while you're at it? I know that's not your responsibility, but Konami is killing my child.ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜᴇᴅ ᴡ/ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏʟʟᴀʙ 🏚️
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* Collab Film Club *
Sweet Home is a name you may only recognize in conjunction with the Resident Evil series, by a tenuous connection limited to a spooky mansion. However, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Juzo Itami achieved much more than that. Not unlike Hausu, Sweet Home is very much a story centered around women and the maternal strength they hold, told from a female perspective. The men are rash, stubborn or cowardly, an obvious critique towards Japanese pride, often only serving to make the situation worse. There can be no argument that the real protagonist here is Nobuko Miyamoto as Akiko, who in my book now ranks in the annals of inspiring female characters. She digs deep and draws forth the…