The Devil's Nightmare (1971) Horror Satan

The Devil's Nightmare (1971) In doing these old films I have a tendency to be a bit Spoiler filled. Even worse it really is just a summary of the film with my opinions of it at the end. So go watch the film before continuing reading, or You have been WARNED.  The films starts with Baron von Rhonesberg during WWI in heavy bombing by the allies. I am guessing the war is the first since the Baron is not wearing a Nazi uniform. His wife is delivering their child but dies in the attempt. The child a girl is them killed by the Baron (Jean Servais). Quite the scene where he stabs to death a newborn. What could be so horrible that he would kill a child? It stressed is a girl so why would this matter?  Getting closer to the story of the film we need a bit more background. Cut to current time, a reporter talking to Baron von Rhoneberg about writing articles about his family. He is concerned that his family is under a curse. The reporter sneaks around the castle taking pictures even though she was asked not to. Suddenly she is in danger and being chased through the woods. We are pretty sure when she falls she is about to meet her doom. Cut to a bus with seven people on it heading to Arnstadt Germany, the road is blocked we have a contrivance to get the group to the castle of Baron von Rhoneberg. The man that directs them there we later find out is the devil. So all of what comes next was predetermined.
  Ivana Novak) and Regine (Shirley Corrigan), Howard Foster (Lorenzo Terzon) and his wife Nancy (Colette Emmanuelle), Father Sorel (Jacques Monseau), an grumpy older gentleman named Mason (Lucien Raimbourg) and the driver Ducha (Christian Maillet). Right from the time they arrive things are strange, a piece of the facade falls almost hitting Corinne, the door to the castle opens by itself and after they are in closes in turn. They are surprised by the Baron man Hans who welcomes them to the castle but inexplicably knows there names. These films always have lots of back story to get out and in this one we have Hans tell father Sorel how the Mark of the devil ended up on the floor of his room. December 8th 1575 when Erika von Rhonesberg plunged a knife into a monk who was exorcising her. Erika disappeared leaving the mark of the devil in front of the fireplace. He also gets to mention the family curse. And it seems that each room has a story as we learn about the Foster's room where two people were slain while sleeping.

Back at the village near the castle the villagers see the reporters body has the mark of the devil on it. "The succubus has returned to the castle says one of them. This is starting to shape up to be an amazing film. The group consists of two young lovely women Corinne (
  Before dinner Director Jean Brismée gives us a shot of Corinne and Regine laying about the bedroom in just bra and panties. There is a sexual tension between them and Corinne acts on it. Soft music and hands in closeup touching skin. Gentle kisses and the small bits of clothes come off. Regine takes a bath and Corinne is there to bathe her. "You've got such lovely skin." This scene is then contrasted with Nancy haranguing Howard for flirting with Corinne when they arrived. She also is in half dress but is not being sexy at all instead laying out for the audience how bad their marriage is. Enough of this back to the Corinne and Regine in bed making love, all the way to the classic shot where Corinne head moves down Regine's body and disappears off camera, the focus staying on Regine's face as she enjoys what is happening and then calms to a quiet sleep satisfied.
  At dinner the guests are defined a bit more and we learn of the Baron's curse. In the 12th century his ancestor sold his soul to the Devil and also received the curse that any oldest daughter born to his line would become a succubus. A demon that takes the form of a woman to lead men to their spiritual ruin. Now we know why he killed the child, or did he. The housemaid who was also the midwife in the first scene meets Lisa (Erika Blanc) who has arrived at the house as a storm rages outside. That bit of foreshadowing can mean only one thing. Now the cast is complete and we can get on with the story. This film takes the seven deadly sins and brings death to guests in accordance. Ducha gluttony, Corinne and Howard? lust, Father Sorel Pride, Mason Envy or wrath?, Regine Sloth, Nancy Greed. But who will be the first to die?
  Father Sorel is hallucinating Lisa in his bed. She is a seductress and is disturbing enough to him that he leaves his room. In the library he browses the books but they seem to fall off the shelves on their own. Lisa meets him there and provokes him only to be interrupted by the baron. Shifting from the library to the kitchen she offers Ducha a banquet of foods. Surprisingly giant prawns and the such but we don't yet see him die although his gluttony is primed. Instead we see Nancy insisting that she and Howard could find the baron's gold, her greed priming her to be the first death. Howard now has the chance to meet Corinne under the stairs for some lust action. Cutting between the characters the film does a great job of building our anticipation. Lisa seems set with Ducha offering him a "last" glass of wine which chokes him. She in her succubus makeup is looking over him as he dies. Gluttony!!!
 Lisa then works on Nancy who she leads to a room full of gold dust, she is amazed until she realizes that she is sinking in it  Nancy gone beneath the gold Greed!!!
  Howard and Corinne are getting it on but at the same time are too loud for Mason to sleep.  They decide to change locations and Lisa is fast on their heels. As the two lovers play hide and seek, Lisa finds them forcing Howard into the guillotine we saw earlier. Chop! Corinne forced into the Iron maiden is killed by Lisa also, Lust!!!
  Mason comes out of his room to see Lisa turn a corner down the hall. Following her angry at the noise he searches for her. She though circles behind him, then leads him on to a dead end. Trapped and in her scary make up she pushes him out of a tower window. Wrath!!!
  The ever sleeping Regine lays in bed while a snake conjured by Lisa closes in on her. This is cut with Sorel and Lisa scenes and really is about one last look at the actresses lovely body before she dies. A victim of her own Sloth!!!
  In the library the sleeping Father Sorel is awakened by Lisa. She is making him nervous with her beauty. She closes in on him trying to find his weakness, showing skin. Regine's scream at waking to see the snake brings out the ghoulish Lisa and he sees through her disguise. He finds the dead girl and is confronted by Lisa she tells him who she is. He raises his cross and prays causing her pain. He flees to outside where a hearse drawn by a horse arrives. It is the Devil, the same man that directed the bus to the castle. The Devil (Daniel Emilfork) follows Father Sorel to the chapel but can't end. the Devil says he will get him. Sorel offers his own should for all the souls already taken this night. His pride is showing but he makes the offer anyway. He signs the deal with the Devil.
  Morning Sorel is woken by a shouting Ducha. He joins the group at breakfast and everyone is there including Lisa.  She starts playing the organ as the Baron and hans train with epees in the yard. her sudden playing makes him hesitate and he is wounded by Hans. He wishes to confesses to Sorel that he killed his child all those years ago. The final piece of information we get is that the aid admits Lisa is a bastard child of the von Rhonebergs. She talks to Sorel in the chapel, he will stay behind with her. As they watch from the balcony the bus leaving we see it crash over a cliff and exploding. WTF! Well maybe there souls are saved but not there bodies.
 I saw the Redemption Films version of this movie, which has a  long tacked on introduction with a Vampire Hostess over acting and being way too serious. Some strange topless cannibal women that have absolutely no connection to the film that followed. Advertising it seems that was just added on without thinking about if it matched the film or not. It added 10 minutes of really useless trash. The theme of a succubus killing because of some of the seven deadly sins was pretty cool. Long before the film Se7en (1995) where a serial killer used the same theme for his kills. This is seventies sexploitation and a very mild form of that. The one sex scene between Corinne and Regine was the majority of the sex, some boobs and moaning filled out the rest. The talent is primarily three actresses, Blanc, Novak and Corrigan with Corrigan showing off her impressive body through nightwear most extensively.  Still all of these scenes are through a man's eye always titillating and lingering. That is not to say that women do not have agency in this film. Corinne clearly wants Howard and initiates their tryst. Lisa is the main antagonist of the film and as the succubus relishes hunting her prey. Even Nancy with her greedy desire has the agency to seek the wealth she dreams of only to be punished for her agency. Really the film is a slow paced Gothic horror that is not so great but certainly representative of its era. Not horrible mind you but I think with the change in pacing that movies have taken on in the 40 years since this film was made just makes this unwatchable for a modern audience.

Kill Baby ...Kill! (1966) Horror Ghost

Kill Baby ...Kill! (1966) - "Operazione paura" (original title), from Italian master Mario Bava it is a ghost tale set in the 1800s in the small fictional Italian village of Graps. I love Mario Bava as a film maker. He weaves a tale that takes the viewer winding down narrow passages where you loose your orientation and at times feel lost, but right before you are going to panic you see something familar and can relax. This tale starts with a curse, a village woman is distressed and crying but seems to be driven on by an unseen force. We hear a child's laughter as she weaves up a staircase and with blurred eyes views a wrought iron fence below her. Then she launches impaling herself on the fence dead. The music by Carlo Rustichelli is classic horror themed and since he had already been writing scores for film for twenty-seven years the sound scape is full and rich. Working with Bava before (the recently reviewed The Whip and the Body is an example) they seem to know what is needed and it is delivered with expertise. The story of the curse and how it is broken is then told accompanied with a great score and wonderful visuals by masters of film making.
     Dr Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) is summoned to perform an autopsy on the young victim. He arrives with a warning from his coach driver. "Have you ever seen the like?" the driver says pointing at the abandoned and dilapidated church as they arrive on the outskirts of the town. He will not drive into that town. "When a place is as bad as this its been cursed I tell you. And strangers should keep their distance if they know what's good for them." he says leaving him outside the village. Like in the later Bava directed Lisa and the Devil, Eswai like Lisa passes through an arch symbolically leaving the real world and moving into a world where magic and ghosts exist. He is the counter-force to it and brings his medical training and rational thought to a village steeped in fear of magic and the afterlife. There at the request of Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli), Paul is the outsider who shouldn't but will inevitably interfere. 

 As the ghostly proceeding take place we learn that the towns people believe they are cursed by the ghost of a girl who died during a town festival. Chasing a ball into the street she was trampled by some horses. Bleeding to death she pulled herself to the church and reached for the bell rope but failed to have the strength to pull it and bled to death on that night while the drunk villagers never noticed her. So she haunts them driven on by the emotions of her grieving Mother the Baroness Graps (Giovanna Galletti) the girl drives villagers to kill themselves as punishment for their failure to save her. The driver of the story is Paul who as an outsider and man of science does not believe what he is hearing and his arch must be to come to grips with the supernatural events that are taking place around him. On this journey with him is recently returned former resident Monica Schuftan (Erika Blanc) Blanc in her seventies is still working to this day with 101 IMDB credits. Monica has a secret that she does not even know. It is a weird twist that may not really have been needed as it does not seem to change the outcome of the story. She has returned to the village after leaving as a child and is the love interest and damsel in distress for Paul.
  Also playing into the story is the village sorceress Ruth (Fabienne Dali), who tries to help (?) the villagers when they are afflicted by the ghost. Her secret alliance with a main character is so she can protect the burgomeister Karl (Luciano Catenacci), the love of her life from the haunting death. In the end though she must help stop the curse and is key in the climax to the film. 

  Paul and Monica slowly learn the whole story and Bava does a great job seeping the knowledge out in bits to keep a mystery to this film. As we learn more the stakes grow until Paul and Monica are pulled fully into the Supernatural world of ghosts and murder. Along the way are some really cool directorial choice as well as some clunky coincidences. Not a perfect film it does have some great moments though. One where trapped in the Villa Graps, Paul is trying to find Monica who has been separated from him. He sees a figure ahead of him and chases him into the next room. then the next, but the rooms start repeating as he closes in on the male figure ahead of him. When his catches him the figure turns and is the spitting image of Paul. Very cool stuff . The later Monica is fleeing the laughing ghost child Melissa, and she runs down long spiral stair case, beautifully lit with levels of different colors then too suddenly seems to be repeating sections of the endless stair. Running until she passes out to wake in the tomb of the dead girl. The lights and zoom of the camera do a great job of showing the craziness of her situation.

  Overall the film is a cool ghost story, a bit pedestrian in plot but executed with skill and vision. The print being streamed on Netflix is a bit shitty and at time feels very old. I guess it is old but I really would have liked to see a clearer version of this film. Certainly entertaining it is a period piece ghost story that still has legs after all these years. Bava knows how to create mood and make interesting shots out of the most ordinary of tales. So a healthy recommendation from this blog, keeping in mind that I am a fan of Mario Bava. A side note IMDB does not Lamberto Bava as assistant director in their credits, but he is listed in the movie credits. This would be some really early training for him at the age of twenty two.