No es nada, mamá, sólo un juego

A splendid rather exploitation like directed by Jose Maria Forgue who also did, In the Eye of the Hurricane (1971) with Analia Gaye and Jean Sorel and then Game of Murder (1973) with Sue Lyon, Fernando Rey and surprisingly Gloria Grahame. David Hemmings is excellent with this although it is a bit nasty with plenty of sex and violence especially at the beginning a horrible start. His father who used to treated his women as fun on his estate and Hemmings his child seems as if he also began to create his own fantasies. His mother played by Alida Valli is fantastic and over many years made 100s of film including The Killer Nun (1979), The Antichrist (1974), Eye Without a Face (1960) and The Third Man (1949). The girl who has a terrible life with Hemmings as a sadistic playful is wonderful as Andrea Rau who never really did big films but was in the great Daughters of Darkness (1971) as the lover of Bathory's lover. It's Nothing Mama, Just a Game, also known as, Beyond Erotica and the titles are rather good as well as the film.

This is vaguely arty film which criticizes the decadence of landed nobility in Latin America and explores the perverse dialectic between power and sexuality. And of course, it's also a convenient excuse to show beautiful (and frequently naked) European actresses being abused and sexually degraded. David Hemmings is the spoiled and sexually-warped heir of a decrepit and nearly-bankrupt Venezuelan hacienda. His doting mother (Alida Valli) hires peasant girls from the nearby village to indulge her son in his perverse "games". His latest victim is played by Andrea Rau (who was Delphine Seyrig's vampiric lesbian sidekick in "Daughters of Darkness"). He locks her in a pen and starves her until she gives in to his sexual demands. He then plays various humiliating games with her--forcing her strip and dousing her with a hose, feeding her a maggot-filled loaf of bread, making her dress up like a bunny and run through the woods while he "hunts" her on horseback. Of course, he gets his comeuppance in the end but not before the requisite amount of nudity, sex, and misogynistic degradation has been achieved. I certainly wouldn't recommend this film to feminists (or to the vast majority of women for that matter), but it is fairly tasteful and restrained compared to many other films of its ilk. If you're into this sort of stuff but can't handle the rougher WIP, nunsploitation, or Nazi death camp movies, this one might be for you.

BEYOND EROTICA is a very strange Spanish exploitation movie that stars our very own David Hemmings, of all people. This was made between his fraught turn in the compelling FRAGMENT OF FEAR and his starring role in Argento's iconic DEEP RED the following year, and he's perfectly cast as a messed-up mummy's boy with a penchant for hunting humans. Yes, this obscure effort turns out to be a spin on that old favourite THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, albeit with an exploitational spin: the objects of pursuit are typically women, often naked. Yet the film's more interested in depicting the masochistic relationship between Hemmings and a new servant girl, the actress one of the DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. It's pretty low key stuff, unremarkable outside of Hemmings' performance.

The other review here pretty much expresses most my feelings. I'd like to add that the film serves as a wonderful showcase for Andrea Rau. Rau was a model turned softcore actress in Germany who got a big break in DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. This film, which I saw on VHS as BEYOND EROTICA, was made a few years later and even the lousy full screen cropped video quality cannot dim the love the camera has for this woman. She's very good here and the other lead actors are fun to watch. Hemmings and Valli are slumming here but seem fully committed to their roles ( a sick mother - son cliché relationship ). The details of Hemming's character's obsessions are nicely drawn though, even if their motivation lacks imagination. There is a lot for exploitation fans to enjoy here, not much violence but plenty of human hunting, sickness and depravity to spare, copious nudity and yes, bunny outfits. Director Forque also made the worth a look giallo's IN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE and TAROT. The film is poorly served by the current VHS versions. This film really should be out on DVD, hopefully soon.

Descriptions of It's Nothing Mama, It's Just a Game (or Beyond Erotica) often mention the woman hunting aspect. While this is the most memorable section, the film is better described as a family Gothic.

On a struggling plantation in Venezuela, a family runs a business butchering rabbits. The oddball son, Juan (a miscast David Hemmings), has taken it into his head to take a female worker, dress her in rabbit ears, and hunt her. This may have something to do with, as a boy, having seen his father have sex with the help or it may be because the son saw his father die in front of him. Whatever the reason, the son is a loony. His mother (Alida Valli), the matriarch of the plantation, indulges him and the film implies possible incestuous longings. The third member of the family is the dead father's brother (Francisco Rabal), an obnoxious sort but rich and much needed for the continuation of the plantation.

As the film begins, Juan is hunting one of the female workers (she is in a bunny costume of course). When the victim is caught in a trap, Juan's dogs maul her as Juan watches remembering his father's death. The family concocts a story to cover the "accident," and Juan turns his eye on his next potential victim, Lola (played by the lovely Andrea Rau). However, Lola proves a more formidable adversary.

Viewers expecting a sleazy horror film like Seven Women for Satan will be disappointed. As a thriller, It's Nothing Mama is mostly build up. True, the film does deliver on nudity (Miss Rau), some violence (mostly at the beginning and end), and plenty of anti-social behavior (Juan has to break down Lola's will). Nonetheless, the film's pacing could be described as leisurely. Also, clearly some of the film is supposed to be humorous in an off-kilter way, but the humor does not quite come off. The ironic ending could have been better handled as well.

It's Nothing Mama, It's Just a Game can probably be skipped by most. It is far from essential viewing. However, fans of Andrea Rau might want to give it a try.