The Mamiya House, released in Japan as Sweet Home USA (スウィートホームUSA Suwīto hōmu USA) is a 1989 Horror film directed by Carl Andy and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, an international co-production between Japan and the United States, it is both an American remake and re-edit of Kurosawa's 1989 film Sweet Home re-filming scenes with American Actors in place of the actors in the original Japanese film with direction by Andy, the film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures
Plot[]
A small film crew from New York visits Japan to the old, abandoned mansion of famous artist Ichirō Mamiya, who left several precious frescos inside his house. The team wants to restore and publish the paintings and film a documentary about Mamiya and his arts for Public Television. The team includes Kevin Harold (Peter Falk), his daughter Emily (Shannen Doherty), producer Alexa (Meryl Streep), photographer Rick (Daniel Stern) and art restorer Alyssa (Shari Headley). After they enter the mansion, paranormal events betray the presence of a poltergeist. Soon, Alyssa is possessed by the infuriated ghost of Lady Mamiya, Ichirō's wife. The team discovers a makeshift grave where a toddler is buried. The boy is Ichirō and Lady Mamiya's son, who fell into the house's incinerator one day and burned alive. Since then, Lady Mamiya's ghost haunts the mansion, killing any trespassers. In the end, they all survive (as opposed to the original where only Kazuo, Emi and Akiko survive), by reuniting Mamiya with her beloved son, and so giving them peace. When the group leave the mansion, it begins to collapse.
Cast[]
- Peter Falk as Kevin Harold, Director of the crew. A firm and friendly guy, but anxious and jumpy. Throughout the movie, his relation with Alexa are apparent but he does not reveal his feelings to her. Kevin is always worried about his daughter Emily.
- Meryl Streep as Alexa Hamilton, Producer, unlike Akiko Hayakawa in the original, Alexa is more straight faced when it comes to doing her job, She is the primary heroine of the movie and saves Emily from Lady Mamiya by pretending to be Emily's dead mother.
- Shannen Doherty as Emily Harold, Daughter of Kevin, She lost her mother as a toddler and sees Alexa as her “Mother she never had”. Emily is a college student on summer vacation. She assists her father as a guide instead of staying at home alone. Near end of the movie, she is kidnapped by the evil ghost of Mamiya and is rescued by Alexa.
- Daniel Stern as Rick Tamperton, Photographer of the crew. He is a womaniser and hangs out with Alyssa. unlike Ryo Taguchi in the original, Rick's womanizing is toned down a bit and he survives to the end.
- Shari Headley as Alyssa, Reporter. She is also a professional art restorer and therefore responsible for the preservation of the sought-out frescos. Her goal is to get notoriety from the documentary about Ichirō Mamiya and his paintings, like Rick, her character is rewritten from Asuka so she survives.
- Juzo Itami as Kenichi Yamamura/Ichirō Mamiya, reprising his role from the original, an elderly gas station clerk with a strong temper and knows of the past tragedy of the Mamiya family, his identity is a mystery, in this version however he is later revealed to be Ichirō Mamiya himself, due to Itami's poor English, he was dubbed over by Frank Welker.
- Machiko Watanabe as Lady Mamiya, reprising her role from the original via the original and by a stand in for scenes where she's interacting with the American actors, Beloved wife of Ichirō. 30 years ago, she lost her son in an accident. After the toddler´s death, Mamiya could not cope with the loss and became insane from the idea of giving her lost son playmates. In attempts to do so, she kidnapped and killed toddlers by burning them in the incinerator. When caught red-handed by local villagers, who immediately pursue her, she commits suicide in the very furnace her son died in. Her infuriated soul is trapped in the house due to a magical memorial outside of the house. It seems that Mamiya is upset about the circumstances concerning the close proximity of her memorial and her son's grave, her voice was dubbed over by Candi Milo, one of her earliest voice acting gigs.
- Garret Frederickson as Television Producer (Cameo)
Changes from the original[]
- The 5 main characters all coming from New York instead of Japan itself, thus making it a trip to Japan and eventually the mansion.
- scenes set in New York and a scene in an flight headed to Japan, adding more buildup to the Mansion visit
- all of the five characters surviving instead of just three.
- Yammamura being revealed to be Ichirō Mamiya himself, in the original version, his true identity is never referenced.
- some score tracks being replaced with newly composed tracks by Howard Shore due to Andy feeling some tracks didn't fit the tone.
- a flashback scene told by Yammamura is added depicting the death of the Mamiya's son, Lady Mamiya's road to madness and eventual death.
Trivia[]
- much of the new scenes were shot on the same sets and used much of the same production crew as the Japanese original, this was Andy's choice as he wanted the footage to match up seamlessly with the original footage.
- Emily Harold wears a Suntori penguin shirt throughout the film, this is a reference to Andy's friend Garret Fredrickson and A Penguin's Memories and was a returning favor to that film's reference to Toby.
Home Media releases[]
- 1990 Warner Home Video VHS/Beta/Laserdisc
- 2003 Warner Home Video DVD
- 2019 Warner Archive Blu-ray, the original Japanese Sweet Home is included as a Special Feature
Gallery[]
