Symptoms

"Symptoms" or "The Blood virgin" is the favourite movie shot by Joseph Larraz, the catalanian director of such horror movies -Whirpool, Deviation, Scream and die or masterpieces as this "Symptoms" or "Vampyres"- that nobody did with their particular sight and their personal style. "Symptoms" is a very traditional horror tale with vampiric reminiscences and a very special study of a crazy lesbian woman obsessed with their dead mistress. The phantom of Cora, their lover is in the middle of this sensitive story and the reason of their crimes around the movie. The atmosphere and climatic shots are superb and the music score by John Scott are wonderfully executed with gothic images and dark places. "Symptoms" appeared in 1976 in british theaters and received cool opinions, specially in "Monthly Film Bulletin" and other prestigious movie magazines in United Kingdom. Twenty five years after "Symptoms" is a disturbing masterpiece of the horror movies and one of the most romantic studies of crazy love that other prestigious directors in the seventies, for example Truffaut, De Palma, Rivette, Richardson or Losey, did in this past prodigious '70 decade. Joseph Larraz, 70 years old now has a clear head yet and a great sense of humor. He is one of this rare spanish directors that made movies in United Kingdom or Demmark. He has their particular obsessions about sex, horror and movies and he showed us their talent in fashion magazines, in spanish comics or erotic pictures of beautiful women as Marianne Morris, Anulka, Lorna Heilborn, Teresa Gimpera, Helga Line, etc. "Symptoms" is a rarely piece for collectors and fans of darkness dreams and inmoral tales. The film has their soul and force in the face of Angela Pleasence as Helen Ramsey, the predator woman that kills everyone around her and use the people to take to their mortal manor where occurs all the drama. The movie is great in the beginning and in the end and offers to the audiences a clever entertainment that intelligent people will love with passion.

Called out to an ancestral house, a troubled woman is invited by her friend to spend time together and strengthen their relationship, but the more they spend together the more the house has an effect on her psyche and mental sanity bringing a deadly resolution for all around her.

Overall, this was a decent enough if somewhat troubled psychological genre effort. One of the better features here is the main descent into psychological instability that becomes the focal point of the film. Since the signs of her unhinged state are given to us from the very beginning through the journal writing and just reserved remarks that present themselves whenever she's on-screen, the seeds are sewn so that the unnerving nature of the house, as well as the surrounding woods on it's grounds, offer the kind of appropriate setup for where this one goes. As the reserved and blank expressions, cryptic sayings about nothing in particular, or just plain odd behavior finally come to a head, the atmosphere built up here features quite the fun turn of events at play here which makes for a fun enough time. However, there are some big issues with this one. The main drawback on display here is that for all the good this does in establishing the psychological breakdown of its main character and what's going on with her, nothing else really happens here. This one becomes incredibly repetitious in the use of a formulaic storyline involving her snapping at something her friend does, blaming it on her psychosis but doing nothing to help remedy the situation, and then trying to rebuild their friendship until the next incident. This produces a dull and generally dreary pacing which is hardly all that memorable or exciting in the slightest, and without explaining anything until a brief conversation at the end to reveal what the twist actually meant means this one is based solely on the atmosphere generated.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

A considerable nonchalance fills the first long stretch of the movie, with nothing more than mere suggestions of anything peculiar dancing around the edges of the picture. At that, the marginal unease is built almost exclusively with out of place sound effects, John Scott's ominous score, or lines of dialogue that do not comport with the beautiful scenery and setting. So it is until just over one-third of the film has passed, as the eeriness begins to coalesce - first with more concrete notions of something amiss in the scenario, and at last with confirmation.

I appreciate the costume design. I think the concept is alright. However, I think the screenplay is regrettably thin, and hollow. Unconcerned pacing and piecemeal, light plot limit our engagement, and dialogue is often ham-handed and unconvincing. These qualities are echoed in the writing and orchestration of scenes, and the characterizations, to which little to no personality is imparted. All this works to restrict the cast, especially stars Angela Pleasence and Lorna Heilbron, from fully realizing the potential of characters. Heilbron is duly pleasant and uncertain as Anne, and Pleasence bears a dark intensity and disquiet as Helen; sadly, that's about all the more there is to be said. Whatever measure of nuance the leads are able to bring to their performances is effectively lost given the indelicate, feeble hand otherwise crafting the feature.

There are strong ideas here, and a strong cast. The end result just doesn't cut it. The atmosphere, thrills, foreboding, and broad entertainment we should get are greatly dampened by what feels like a weak, incomplete writing. I feel as indifferent to the film at its end as I did when I first began watching - save for that I'm also disappointed. There are worse things you could watch, and yet - a horror-thriller should get one's blood pumping to at least some small extent, but as it is, this simply doesn't. I hesitate to say that 'Symptoms' is outright bad, but it's not good, either.

the plot is paper thin but what it lacks in story it makes up for in good acting, excellent cinema photography like visual poetry, and a creepy moody atmosphere. I watched it in black and white and it looked beautiful.. I may watch again in color just to compare. This is the kind of movie that needs to be remade.. fix some of the clunky dialog and establish a more cohesive story arc.. but then again the feeling of being lost as to what exactly was happening on screen is part of this movie's charm.

This was the third Larraz title I've watched after VAMPYRES (1974) and THE COMING OF SIN (1978) – and will be promptly followed by another, THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED aka SCREAM…AND DIE! (1973); it's his second best-regarded effort after VAMPYRES itself and, in retrospect, a reputation that's fully deserved.

Even so, the film is hardly the heady brew of erotica and visceral thrills that was the latter (though it contains similar lesbian undertones and the occasional outburst of shocking violence) but rather a deliberately-paced mood-piece – in fact, it might best be described as REPULSION (1965) in the countryside (with all the inherent eeriness that such a remote setting entails)! In any case, relying as it does on fleeting frissons (the subtle appearance of a 'mysterious' woman roaming the mansion), admirably-sustained tension (the connotations involving Peter Vaughn's character and, of course, the various murder sequences) and a carefully-deployed central puzzle (which keeps us guessing down to the very penultimate shot!), the film is surely a testament to Larraz's versatility within a genre which had all but turned stale by this time (even more so vis-a'-vis the then-crumbling British movie industry).

Interestingly, the lead role is played by Angela Pleasence – daughter of horror icon Donald; just because she's his spitting image, the actress' odd looks are perfect for her mentally unbalanced character (though I doubt Larraz intended it to be a serious case history, there is the singular fact of SYMPTOMS being one of the competing entries at that year's Cannes Film Festival to consider!). Equally thoughtful was the selection of the other principal cast members: the aforementioned Peter Vaughan's burly and stern handyman could, at first glimpse, have been played by just any heavy-set person – but there's no denying that the part benefits immensely from his experienced presence; and pretty Lorna Heilbron (from THE CREEPING FLESH [1973]) as Pleasence's housemate, with short-cropped hair suggesting the then-fashionable androgyny. Affable character actor Raymond Huntley, a veteran of many a British comedy, plays the owner of the village drugstore in what proved to be his last film.

Incidentally, this was yet another picture – bafflingly M.I.A. on DVD as we speak – which I recently acquired on DVD-R i.e. I've had to make do with a full-frame edition culled from TV with forced Spanish subtitles to boot…but which is appropriate in this case, since the director actually hails from that country!