Die Todesgöttin des Liebescamps

If a quasi-mythical, strange odyssey into a distorted matriarchal society marked by strange hippy ceremonies and sexual torture of all and sundry sounds like your desire for the night this might just be your choice viewing material. Its an intriguing oddity marketed in some countries as porn (Divine Emanuelle), in others as some sort of crime/action film. Its reminiscent of the "cult" films like Guyana and the real events on which they were based like the Jonestown cult: ie, kooky dnacing, chanting and solemn ceremonial garb soon ripped or torn like some Greek melodrama/historical play with bouts of murder and violence mixed with sexual power games. It is an undeniably luscious cheap film in terms of design and location with kinky indulgence in various fetishes from whipping to stalking plus generous doses of nudity both male and female. Its a quirky flick starring the Nubian-like Queen of exploitation (Black Emmanuelle) Laura Gemser wielding her power generously upon a vast array of dutiful and punishable subjects as she seeks further power and wealth. A film for exploitation/film-porn junkies with a sense of humour.

Yes she does! Well Laura Gemser does, in this rather enjoyable little slice of soft-core sleaze.

This plays along the lines of a "Jim Jones"/"Raj-Neesh" sex cult, with Gemser as the conspicuous Sex Goddess of the group. Giving orders from from her luxurious setting (Complete with man servant in gladiator gear?!?!). She gives orders to enlist people of magnitude and wealth, so as to extend her own wealth and not much more.

If you get into this sort of exploitation, I recommend you give it a whack. The settings and photography are well done and the "Love" song continuously played throughout is REALLY annoying. Though it gets used by the actors at times, which is quite funny.

While this film does contain some better than usual sex scenes in the series, they can't offset one dimensional comic book type characters and melodramatic acting, especially the cult queen's muscle bound bodyguard/executioner, Tanga, and her snow white boyfriend, played by Christian Anders. The sadism and violence are extreme even compared to other Emmanuelle films. Anders also directed and not very well. His theme song sounds very much like a Beatles tune, All You Need is Love.

Well, it's blatantly obvious that this film has absolutely nothing to do with the Black Emanuelle series and is just a cash in on the name since it stars the great Laura Gemser. However, that should not be held against the film too much as Gemser is cast in a slightly different role as the all-powerful 'Divine One' - the Goddess of a camp of free loving hippies, and I'm not going to argue with anyone who puts Laura Gemser in that elevated status! Despite not being an official part of the series; Divine Emanuelle is still a more than decent little film with plenty of sex and nudity as well as an interesting, though not particularly original, plot line. We focus on a group of hippies ruled over the by The Divine One. They preach free love but really it's only a front to make money in the form of 'donations', which people give for sex. Things are shaken up when the daughter of a powerful US senator is inducted into the group because she fancies the slimy blonde cult leader, who is more a pimp than a preacher (and looks a bit like Owen Wilson).

The film benefits from a style that suits the breezy nature of the free love ideal. We've got a soundtrack decked out by catchy jingles, the film is full of beautiful people making love in beautiful locations and we even get a few strange dance sequences. Laura Gemser is the standout, of course, and this role requires something a little different from usual from her as unlike most of her characters; this time she's the one completely in charge. It doesn't suit her as well as playing Emanuelle, but it's a change and seeing Laura Gemser on screen is always good. The plot is stronger than what Emanuelle fans will be used to and this is a benefit to the film. There's still plenty of sex and nudity but it's not overused and the plot does actually seem to be coming first! The film moves along at a steady pace for most of the duration and the ending contains no real surprises, although we do get treated to a hilarious fight sequence. Overall, I would quite categorise this film as 'good', but it's not that bad and there are certainly a lot of worse examples of films like this!

Those of you familiar with the the various "Emanuelle" films featuring Laura Gemser will be somewhat disappointed with "Divine Emanuelle". Its comic-book approach is somewhat unique: Ms. Gemser floats in as the figurehead of a "love cult", and she comes complete with a pumped-up bodyguard (borrowed from an old Hercules B-movie!) and not enough young, vivacious followers. The storyline is dull and predictable, but who cares... in these films, it's the nudity that counts! Unfortunately, this one comes up short (as compared to, say, Emanuelle in America). Sure, Gemser looks great, and there is one requisite lesbo scene that's not bad; otherwise, it's a bit of a snoozer. I would say that if you can find a rental copy without too much trouble, then sure, it's worth a look.