The Sweet House of Horrors
Released by Cauldon Films, 2024
20 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 66 min.
Music by Vince Tempera

I’ll say right off the top that this later day, made-for-TV movie that Fulci directed has never been one of my favorites. Of course, that didn’t stop me from buying the House of Doom set that Cauldron Films put out, that featured this film, along with Fulci’s The House of Clocks, and Umberto Lenzi’s The House of Lost Souls and The House of Witchcraft. But the set also had the soundtracks for Sweet House and The House of Clocks, both by composer Vince Tempera. None the less, I picked it up. I’m a sucker for soundtracks, especially for titles that I never thought would ever get a release. So, a huge thanks to Cauldron Films for making that happen.

I wasn’t immediately familiar with Tempera or his work until I realized he was part of Bixio – Frizzi – Tempera, who had worked on Fulci’s The Psychic (1977), not to mention a few other films. By himself, he had also done the music for Fulci’s The House of Clocks, and Luigi Cozzi’s Paganini Horror (1988) and The Black Cat (1989). Since I had the score, even though I’m not a big fan of the film, I started to listen to it. Quite a few times. And it really started to grow on me.

If you’re a fan of Italian scores, such as Goblin, or a lot of the prog rock that was coming out in the ’70s and ’80s, then I think you will find yourself enjoying this score as well. It’s mainly electronic keyboards, but not only does it work well in the actual film, but it just playing it on its own. There are a bunch of slower moving pieces, atmospheric and suspenseful, while others are more upbeat and at a faster pace. But all of them give you that feel of that particular ear of Italian cinema.