NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
SincereFinest
disgusting, overrated, pointless
Marva-nova
Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
ElijahCSkuggs
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.
yumpizza1000
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.
hushicho
After I played the original Famicom game recently, dubbed the 'father of survival horror', and after being suitably impressed by the game itself I began my long and difficult search for this movie title. Although it remains unknown to anyone that I've consulted whether the movie was based on the game or vice-versa, either way both are excellent.I was impressed most of all by the consistently-excellent acting of Miyamoto Nobuko, whose appearances in film almost always guarantee at least one enjoyable character. However, all the acting in this was exceptional, especially NOKKO's, whom I had not seen in any film before this one. I am still unsure as to who played Kazuo, the main male lead, but he was of course excellent, although it was of course Akiko (Miyamoto) who demonstrated her personal strength throughout.How this film manages to convey a touching message about the bond between a mother and her child in the midst of terror and horrific special effects is beyond me, but it somehow manages to do it quite well, and it also stays very faithful in many ways to the game, which impressed me; it shows how well a story can be translated into both game and movie medium. Especially since this also seems to point out the weakness of similar Hollywood efforts, which almost always are disastrous.All in all, this movie was very well-paced, terrifying, and tense, but somehow remained touching as well. The scares weren't too graphic or obvious, but by the time the 'big guns' were pulled out on the effects, you were fully drawn in. A true classic and a great film.
sinistre1111
This Japanese film, loosely inspired by POLTERGEIST, has some great scenes of eye-popping horror action, rendered by Dick Smith (of THE EXORCIST fame). The bulk of the film, however, seems to drag tremendously in comparison to these scenes; maybe I'm poisoned by Hollywood pacing, but I don't think so. Worthwhile viewing for fans of Japanese horror, but not a masterpiece.