There are films that are so bad that they’re good. And some films that are simply bad. Once in a while you come across a film that by most definitions is not good, but is fascinating in its own strange way, a cinematic wreck. Sodom the Killer, the latest DVD from Media Blasters, reminds me of the films made by Ed Wood, Jr. This is not simply because of the ineptness of the filmmaking, the cheap sets, or even the laughably bad performances. Sodom the Killer is the work of a filmmaker whose aspirations to create film art far exceed his abilities. Making this somewhat surprising is that this film was made by Hiroshi Takahashi, the screenplay writer for the two Japanese versions of The Ring, films that on their own terms made more sense than this delirious mess. Even more amazing is that Takahashi tied for a Best Director award with Tetsuya Nakashima, the director of the far superior Kamikaze Girls.

The story is almost standard issue: The descendent of a cursed lord becomes a deadly killer. The 18th Century Lord Sodom thinks two maids have caused his bride’s death through witchcraft. The women are tossed into the bottom of a deep well, to be left covered in snow. They curse the lord which under the circumstances is not surprising. The lord soon afterwards discovers that a doll filled with pins is not some object of evil but simply one very full pin cushion. Too late to correct the error, the lord goes mad and blind, whipping out his sword, killing everyone in his castle. Forward three hundred years later, the ten year old Ichibei Sodom is shown accidentally killing a friend in a deadly game of kick the can. From there, the young Sodom goes to conquer the world with his evil schemes.

Takahashi shows the influences of some of cinema’s most flamboyant stylists, as varied as Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo), Vincente Minnelli (Some Came Running), Fritz Lang (The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse) and Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula). The totally strange vibe of this film kicks into high gear with the casting of adults as they were as children. This film is so low budget that when the heist scene describes taking on an armored car, what we actually see are a couple of thugs hijacking a sub-compact Toyota. Unlike in Face/Off with its complicated surgery, here we have someone get his face mashed into a jello mold in order to impersonate one of the cops. Characters run around in front of obvious rear projection screens. There is one scene that is simultaneously gross and hilarious, that decorum prevents me from describing. It should be sufficient to say that when I saw was done to one of the bad guys, I was surprised that the Farrelly Brothers, or at least the Wayans, hadn’t done this scene first.

Is Sodom the Killer an intentional goof? I don’t have a clue. What I can say is that there are enough WTF moments that the curious may want to at least rent this film. At the very least, Sodom the Killer is one of the more unique films currently available.