Nuda per Satana

I don't agree with those who say this film is just another sleaz-fest. Is it Exploitation cinema? Heck yes! But like many films of that sort, there is more to it than just showing a beautiful woman's bare bodkin. There is interesting cinematography and actual honest to goodness character development. I'm not saying there was a crime committed by shutting this film out of the Oscars, but I think it's a good film.

The lovely Rita Calderoni does a good job in her double role as Good Susan/Bad Evelyn and thank God we get to see her without being bludgeoned or maimed (al la Delerium). This is perhaps the best and most inspired work of director Batzella and is a must see for all fans of the genre.

Another classic from the director of SS Hell Camp and The Devil's Wedding Night.

Writer and director Luigi Badzella doesn't waste time on plot. Instead he focuses on such beauty as Rita Calderoni. There is a plot, if you are interested.

It seems that Dr. Benson (Stelio Candelli) and Susan Smith (Rita Calderoni), a woman he found in an accident, have a dark side. They are Evelyn (Calderoni) and Peter (Candelli), who reside in Satan's (James Harris) castle.

OK, you have a story, but I'm sure you are here to see how many get nude for Satan. They do that so much that you can make a drinking game out of it.

There is weird music, horny spiders, and people getting nude for Satan.

A man stops at a castle to get help for a woman he just discovered at a car crash. He is greeted at the door by someone who looks exactly like the woman.

Pretty poor, even by the low standards of 70s exploitation-horror. Random, farcical plot. Jumbled direction. Weak performances. Some laughable special effects (the giant spider...). Really has nothing going for it.

Doctor William Benson (Stelio Candelli) is driving to see a patient when he almost runs down a woman, who promptly disappears. While looking for the mysterious lady, he hears a crash. Investigating, he finds a beautiful woman (who we later learn is named Susan) unconscious in her car. The doc goes for help, happening upon a nearby castle, where he runs into several strangers, including a lady (who we later learn is named Evelyn) who is the exact likeness of Susan. Meanwhile, Susan arrives at the castle where she runs into Peter, who is the exact likeness of William. Much confusion follows (for the characters and the viewer). Susan and Evelyn (both played by Rita Calderoni) get naked a lot, as does a mysterious servant girl (Iolanda Mascitti) who pops up to indulge in lesbian sex and be flogged by a butler (Renato Lupi, whose blacked-out 'missing teeth' are not in the slightest bit convincing).

As its title suggests, Euro-horror Nude for Satan features lots of T&A, kicking off immediately with a pre-credits scene in which a naked woman runs in slow motion through a foggy wood. Once William has entered the castle, there's a steady stream of nudity, mostly courtesy of Calderoni, who has a splendid set of breasts and a wild '70s bush. Writer/director Luigi Batzella's trippy story and surreal visuals result in a film that is largely incomprehensible, and not even the copious amount of skin on show can prevent it from being a colossal snoozefest. A bizarre scene where Susan falls into a massive spider web and is terrorised by a pipe-cleaner arachnid is hilariously bad, but outstays its welcome, the spider inching slowly closer and closer to the screaming woman (who does well not to burst into fits of giggles).

For his final act, Batzella gets seriously arty, with lots of slow motion dancing from a couple of scrawny naked chicks and two blokes painted blue on one side. None of it makes a jot of sense. A copout 'It was all a dream, or was it?'-style ending wraps up this sorry mess.

Undoubtedly the key word to fully describe "Nude for Satan" is … RANDOM! The film opens with images of a girl randomly running through the woods naked, but there's absolutely no connection with the events later depicted in the story. After the opening credits, a male doctor and a ravishing female randomly crash their car on an open road and they both end up – once again … randomly – in an old ramshackle castle inhabited by no less than Satan himself and a couple of His sex-orientated disciples. The doctor and the women are both enticed by doppelgangers (have some random sex in the meantime) and it takes them quite a long time before they realize they're trapped inside a nightmarishly psychedelic and satanic paradox. Then later in the film, and purely for reasons of padding, there are random sequences involving a hilariously fake giant spider and the doctor aimlessly running through the caste's gardens. Now we all know that sleazy (Italian) 70's exploitation movies are not so much about substance but mainly about style, but Luigi Batzella really exaggerates here. I challenge anyone to find a movie is more confusing and pointless than "Nude for Satan" and, besides, it's not even that stylish or trippy as it hopes to be. What the film does offer plenty, however, is gratuitous sleaze and nudity. The DVD version I own, a brand new fancy Dutch release, even has X-rated footage (randomly, héhé) edited into the story. This is quite a hilarious sight, as the actresses as well as the decors obviously differ from the rest. But even without the pointless adult material "Nude for Satan" is super-sleazy stuff. Main starlet Rita Caldana walks around for half of the movie with one of her breasts hanging out of her top, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all. Then there also is some slightly more tasteful lesbian action and the movie ends in a gigantic orgy. Lovely, ain't it? The horror elements in "Nude for Satan" fail miserably. The aforementioned paper-mâché spider looks like a big potato with straws for legs and red berries for eyes. It doesn't move its legs, yet it "frightfully" approaches the poor dame in distress. I wouldn't recommend watching this film unless you're an avid fanatic regarding 'lost' cult treasures of the rancid 70's, and even then it isn't priority viewing. Mindless, undemanding fun for sick puppies like myself.