The Sweet House of Horrors (1989)

The films of Fulci's late career are generally considered to be hit-and-miss-and-miss-and-miss. I've tended to like his later works, finding them more indulgent of his intuitive and experimental approach. It's easy to neglect that Fulci studied film theory and knows his avant-garde cinema and theory very well. While Fulci is stylistically on form here with lots of great ideas, I'm afraid The Sweet House of Horrors is a miss for one wretched reason: CHILDREN.

A couple, in their palatial country house, are murdered when they surprise a burglar. The murdered woman's sister and her husband become guardians of the children and move into the house. When they decide to sell the house to get money for the children's future and because the house appears to be haunted. The ghosts of the murdered don't take kindly to the notion of being separated from their children and begin some pretty tame mischief.

The gore that was absent from Ghosts of Sodom is back in full force. The couple at the beginning are murdered in the most brutal fashion, with Fulci's trademark ocular damage. A gardener is later run over by a vehicle that leaves his chest split open like a melon, gushing blood. However, the creepy, nightmarish style of Ghosts of Sodom and the hell gate trilogy is abandoned for a plot that makes more sense.

There are some interesting setpieces involving a bizarre, black-cloaked German medium, the killing of the gardener, and the opening murder. These moments show Fulci stylistically in great form; his visual ideas are always a pleasure.

However, the major problem with the film is the children. The children are, of course, in cahoots with their ghostly parents. They're snotty little brats to begin with, calling adults stupid and generally being wretched know-it-alls. Once they have supernatural forces on their side, they become insufferable. These are children who need a good beating. Even when they're crying over their parents' death, they're blowing bubbles with their bubble-gum. Maybe Fulci intended them to be despicable, for them to be the sort of villains of the picture; in which case he succeeded all too well. They're so vile they defile the film itself.

It's worth watching to see the great Fulci at work with some interesting ideas. It is, formally, a good film. But the story leaves quite a bit to be desired, and not just abundant child-beating. It's missing a certain horrific core. This is more like an Italian Beetlejuice without Beetlejuice.

Bonus points:
Phony wax hand effect
Gratuitous abuse of the disabled
Flashbacks to gore scenes of only minutes earlier
Talking, animatronic duck
Dubbing children with adult voices