You know when you were a kid, and you went to some boring as hell family thing, and they are so immersed in their own world that they just plop you infront of a TV and just go 'Have fun!' so that they can go and bitch about the economy to their siblings?
No? Well shit, sorry, you must have missed out on the payoff that this ignorance on the behalf of your parents delivered.
On one such evening, at the tender age of 10, I found an obsession with late night SBS (Special Broadcast Station, otherwise known in Australia as Super Boob Station). This channel used to show all the foreign films and arthouse tripe that you either love or hate, mostly hate. But late on a friday or staurday night, you could watch all of Jess Franco's greatest, and Eat Carpet, which was a show dedicated to showing fucked up short features. And I mean fucked up. Once I watched a short film about a 15 year old boy who got caught by his dad while getting nailed by his gay lover, so he got upset (the 15 year old I mean), threw gasoline over himself, lit a match and yeah, died and stuff. It was an Australian film, they sure do love those Dramedys.
ANYWAY, the love affair began at 10, when I watched this fucked up movie called 'The Devils Nightmare'.
It was my first real foray into foreign horror, and may have even been my first real horror film.
The other kids were fast asleep, the lights were out, and I started watching what seemingly started out to be an old Stock Footage style WWII film. It truly was kind of crap, and I got the remote to change the channel...Then a baby got stabbed.
Now I'm not an advocate of baby stabbing, but my curiosity was piqued, I mean, my 10 year old mind ran amok, becasue surely they didn't film nasty business like that in the olden days right?
Well wrong, as I found out in my later years, but as I decided to keep watching, the movie shortly turned to colour, and lo and behold, the title sprang over this outrageously amazing music. THE DEVILS NIGHTMARE. Ooer, sounds like scary stuff, do I change the channel? Hang on, I'll get the TV guide, hold up, whats this? Nudity? Strong Violence? Horror? Well, lets just see how we go ok?
What followed was the most absurd and strange film, terrifying at times, sexy the whole way through, but with the unintentional addition of slapstick humor to boot. I was big on Monty Python at the time, so anything that was unusual, I just laughed at, thinking it was deliberate.
The movie picks up after a WWII sequence during present day (back then it was present day anyway) with a group of SEVEN tourists, who are visiting somewhere, and get lost in shitty weather and are then forced to stay in a mooney castle, where a succubus comes and messes shit up for everybody, super inconveniently.
The SEVEN tourists then get picked off one by one by the evil bitch, and it is up to a proud Priest to stop her. Yes proud. Each of the SEVEN tourists represent the SEVEN SINS, and are all punished accordingly.
The super fox of the 70's Erika Blanc, plays the succubus.
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She seriously was very nice to look at, pretty and sultry before I even knew what sultry meant. The movie is laugh a minute, lots of funny random shit and needlessly angry conversations between old men, a fat dude scoffing salami and chicken, a super awkward lesbian scene between a lusty nymphoid and a lazy bimbo. This movie honestly has the works. 10 year old me was enjoying the flipping heck out of this slapstick business.
Oh, then this happened...
Oh, dear God, what is it? Well the little synopsis on the tv guide said blah blah succubus rablah blah, but South Park had not been invented yet, and I had no idea what the hell a succubus was. This demon wench is still Erika Blanc, but by golly, you wouldn't know it. This pic actualy spooks me the hell out when I scroll near it.
So this psycho goes around for the last half of the film, haunting the castle, looming in the shadows, and creeping up on people, making the same sound the grudge kid does (30 years earlier beeeeotch,, take that!). Its actually kinda terrifying, I admit, I turned it over to something a bit brighter on the colour scale, but couldnt resist, I had to continue to the very end.
I was rewarded for it, and you will be too, once you join the club and dig on the goodies that this Euro sleaze fest has to offer.
The film is available in its english dub (I saw it originally in Italian with subtitles) which is the only way you can watch it. I own a four dvd set called Fright Night, which I believe is the going transfer for all other DVD releases made by Redemption in the UK and USA. Its a pity that no-one has decided to take this classic and remaster it properly. The verison I watched as a child, and on repeat viewings on the same channel, were very dark and atmospheric, with most of the outside scenes aside from the ending, set at night. The DVD clears up a lot of the fuzz, and looks rather nice, but all night times scenes are shown unfiltered, and now obviously look like daytime, which causes it to lose a lot of the chills in the chase scenes, and the gloomy exterior shots of the spooky castle.
I'll take it any way i can get it though, and even though this film is trashy and dodgy at best, it remains very close to my heart and i think once you get past the barrier of sillyness that overwhelms this movie, you may even find a place for it in your heart, hell you might even get a little freaked out by the succubus.
I mean, look at this bitch, shes fucking scary!!!
And for your consideration...THE TRAILER!!!!!!
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