Sodom the Killer (2004)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Fantastic!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

SODOM THE KILLER is a very fun and whacked out horror/comedy that I can only describe as Japan's answer to a Troma film. It's the 18th century and Ichibei Sodom's wedding day. His soon-to-be-wife dies before the ceremony and it's blamed on witchcraft perpetrated by the wife's two maids. Ichibei has them buried in snow in a well-but the maids maintain innocence for the wife's death and put a curse on Ichibei. Turns out that the maids didn't in fact kill the wife-her death had something to do with an old woman's pin-cushion (?).  Ichibei's curse kicks in and he turns into a blind, bloodthirsty killer and kills everyone at the wedding. Skip 300 years to the present, and an ancestor named Ichiro is about to get married. Same sort of thing happens with the fiancé dying during the ceremony-but this time it's because Ichiro's jealous sister who wanted to marry him poisons her (??) - which unleashes the curse again and turns Ichiro into a likeness of his murderous ancestor (???)and becomes known as Sodom the Killer. He then goes around gathering recruits to help him drag a coffin along that holds the body of his dead wife by offering to buy them food. He gets into counterfeiting somehow (?????) and starts rolling around with his cohorts in a Benz with a flame-thrower mounted on the roof (??????). Sodom and his lackeys bust a doctor out of jail so that the two can join forces and rulle the world. Meanwhile, a female cop that has a knack for gunning down innocent bystanders (???????) is hot on his trail. A lot more weird stuff happens-but I think you can see where all this is going...Honestly-I found SODOM THE KILLER to be a really fun and truly funny bit of J- comedy/horror strangeness. There's plenty wrong with the film-but it's obvious that all of it is intentional in order to boost the camp-level. The storyline-though completely whacked-out and often convoluted-at least shows a good bit of originality and wit for what is obviously a no-budget SOV affair. If you can stand zero-budget, schlocky Japanese weirdness-you may get a kick out of this one. These types of films are very hit- or-miss with me-and luckily this one was a lot more 'hit' than 'miss' in my book. Turn your brain off, drink a whole bunch (or whatever it is you do to get in the right mind-frame for this sort of film...) and give it a shot. 7/10

This movie will probably not appeal to anyone who does not enjoy Japanese horror movies. It begins with an attempt at seriousness that is discarded within the first 10 minutes of the movie. The FX never exceeds made-for-TV movie quality and is often times worse. My personal view is that they are intentionally bad to draw attention to the fact that it is a movie and poke fun at how low budget it is. Some of the higher-end effects obviously required good computer software and skill that seems to be deliberately left out of other scenes, most notably one involving a pigeon where the fishing line keeping it suspended in the air is visible. The action in the movie is some of the worst I have ever seen. Most of the time there is not even an attempt to add in blood or otherwise make it appear believable. The set design is similarly awful, with telephones and electrical lines in the background of a 17th century castle and a car chase that suddenly ends up in the hallway of a movie studio. Again, this can only be there to draw attention to the work-as-movie.That being said, the movie can be quite enjoyable once you get in to the cheesiness and unbelievable plot twists. The movie uses symbols and ideas from other horror movies, but out of their original context they are never scary. Within 30 mins in any logic driving the plot breaks down and the movie progressively becomes more enjoyable.