I'm not sure why they went with a font that made it look like it was a made-for-cable-access film. The rest of the film at least looks more professional.
If you're anything like me, the phrase "Nazi Ghosts" will instantly make your ears perk up. As soon as I came across the description of Sodoma's Ghost, I knew I had to check it out. And it's a Lucio Fulci joint? Even better. So despite having a rough couple of days with torturey/mean-spirited and bad movies, I went ahead and checked it out - knowing full well that Fulci can be pretty mean-spirited himself. But Sodoma's Ghost was not too rough in that respect. I'm not going to say it's a blast, but as far as Fulci's films go? It's pretty fun. It's certainly not all that good of a film, but it's not all that boring either. So that's a perk.
It starts off with a Nazi orgy, presumably during WWII. At first, I thought I had maybe seen this before... but quickly realized it's not from my Nazi orgy video collection. It's featured in Fulci's semi-autobiographical A Cat in the Brain (he must have been shooting this at the same time). Anyways, it's kind of like an orgy by way of Benny Hill - there's a lot of nudity, but it's more goofy than sexual. And Fulci puts this bizarre big band music over it on the soundtrack. Then, after going on for a *little* too long, I guess a bomb drops on the house? It's not particularly clear what has happened - you get some stock footage of planes and soldiers suiting up, a half-second of an explosion, and that's about it.
Flash forward to present day 1988. A group of teenagers are on a road trip and get lost, and - get this - their car doesn't have any headlights! So the come across this strange building - which we know to be the Nazi orgy spot. But didn't that get blown up in the first ten minutes? Shush with your questions! The kids find a way in, and despite it having ample food, electricity, and logs burning in the fireplace, they figure it's deserted and decide to stay there. Well, there aren't any *living* souls there, at least. The Nazi ghosts are out for... something? I don't think they want to kill you. If they do, they really suck at it. I guess they just want to mess with you.
So you get a pretty standard "'kids' stuck in a haunted house" tale. Everyone is horny, there's some drinking and nudity, a lot of screaming and crying, and a lot of banging on the windows and doors. The house won't let you out, you see! People have visions/hallucinations that make them do stupid stuff, there's some blood, and so on, and so on.
Since you are not totally sure *what* the deal with the ghosts are, the whole film just feels kind of inert. When your villains don't have a purpose, it's hard for there to be any forward momentum. You are just kind of hanging out with the kids until you're not anymore, and then you're with the ghosts for a bit... it's not clear what exactly is going on. Which makes it tough to build tension too. When the ghosts just want to play cards, or trick you into seeing naked women, it doesn't feel all that threatening. (Eventually the stakes get higher, but for a long time the ghosts are more like asshole buddies than a real threat.) Sodoma's Ghost is pretty clearly a lower budget film as well - it's all pretty much in one location, there aren't any effects on the ghosts - they're just guys in Nazi uniforms. You just assume they're ghosts because the film tells you they are.
It's a pretty standard looking film - Fulci doesn't have many stylistic tricks up his sleeve here. The opening scene is really the only time the film has a real sense of energy to it. But still, there was enough going on to keep me modestly entertained. The characters are not all that good, but they are generally humorously overacted and are never annoying. And I will always go to bat for over-earnest dubs in Italian horror films. The film has this sort of odd vibe where it kind of tries to be sleazy (there are a *lot* of topless women in this film), but never really succeeds. I think the intent is to be an earnest exploitation film, but Sodoma's Ghost kind of ends up being strangely naive and accidentally charming. That would probably piss off the people who made it, but whatever. I had a good enough time with it.
I would kind of, sort of, recommend this film.
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