La miel del diablo

I do know Fulci as a horror buff from his splatter flicks but I even knew him from his sometimes almost porn look-a-like flicks. This here doesn't fit in one of those categories.

There isn't any blood to see in a gory fashion but it do gives the viewer a lot of nudity. Weird for being made in the late eighties that armpits are still hairy and bushes aren't trimmed. Nevertheless, for me this is a pure sleazefest. We do see some kind of masturbation done by a saxophone and we do have a close up of a pussy being satisfied with lipstick. If that isn't sleazy enough one guy is being wanked off by his girlfriend while riding a motorbike. Corinne Cléry is almost naked the whole flick and it is as gratuitous as it can get. It also contains the Stockholm Syndrome.

it's a weird story full of sex and torture towards the end. Fulci fans do search this rare to find flick but it's findable on fleamarkets in the Netherlands and Belgium on VHS. Most copies that are being sold on DVD do contain Dutch subs.

As I said before, not a typical Fulci but not boring at all.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 3,5/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

I've seen overall 30 Lucio Fulci's movies, horror and non-horror, and have to admit that Devil's honey did surprise me. Many people doesn't like this one, because it's so different than Fulci's better known splatter-movies, but I have to disagree with that. Even though movie differs very much maestro's earlier works like for example Zombie flesh-eaters, Beyond, City of the living dead or even notorious New York ripper, doesn't make it bad. Sure there's different kind of elements involved this time, but movie is still worth to watch.

Basically Devil's honey, as it is titled in most English language countries, is a story of a love and disappointment, which leads eventually to a kidnapping and a torture. It's a story of a disappointed young woman, who kidnaps a doctor who failed to save her boyfriend and who tortures the doctor to the limits to get her satisfactional punishment. There's some sadomasochistic elements involved too, because doctor falls in love with his torturer and starts to enjoy his punishment. Many people see this as a main thing in this movie, but it isn't. Although the story behind the torturing is very simple and little twisted (like many other Fulci movies too), sadomasochism isn't playing the leading role here.

I'll give Devil's honey 8/10 just because it's nice to see that Fulci can handle this kind of erotic thriller as well as his earlier horror flicks. recommended.

Cecilia (Blanca Marsillach) is in love with the sax player Gaetano (Stefano Madia) who has an accident with his motorbike. Later, Doctor Guido Domenici (Brett Halsey) supervises the operation, but he makes a fatal mistake because he doesn't pay attention. He has problems with his wife Carole (Corinne Clery) who wants a divorce. Understandably, Cecilia doesn't care about the doctor's personal problems - she only knows he is responsible for the death of Gaetano and wants revenge. She phones him, threatens him, then abducts him, tortures him and says she will finally kill him. However, as they spend a lot of time together, a strange relationship begins to form... (Note: the names of the characters are different in the original Italian version compared to the English version.) Although this may have similarities with "9 1/2 Weeks" on the surface, "Il miele del diavolo" reminds me more of the deeper, obsessive films of Andrzej Zulawski or even Luis Bunuel. Stylistically, this is quite experimental, as Cecilia sees her dead boyfriend walking around and has flashbacks like visions. Beyond the obvious bits of exploitation, this is an ambitious and interesting work by Fulci (who briefly appears as a talisman seller).

Lucio Fulci's films are not known for their great scripts, and indeed the storytelling in "Devil's Honey" is often sloppy and the ending is weak. They are known for their gore (almost completely absent here), and their directorial flair (some of which is present here). Of course this is a rather atypical outing for Fulci (his answer to "9 ½ Weeks", perhaps?), and it works mostly thanks to Blanca Marsillach's surprisingly good performance: she's a beautiful young woman with a perfect body who walks around in the nude a lot, but beyond her looks she gives more depth than you'd expect to her character, making her innocent and curious (and easily aroused!) at first, sadistic and vengeful in the second half (I loved those little smirks that showed how much pleasure she got from her power over her male captive), but always very human underneath. Although she is 3rd-billed, make no mistake: she is the star of this film (2nd-billed Corinne Clery has a relatively small part, but she DOES get fully nude as well!). This is why this erotic thriller is so much more "erotic" than "thriller": who wouldn't want to be captured by a woman like Blanca and become her plaything? **1/2 out of 4.

This is a movie that opens with a man erotically blowing a saxophone up against a woman's vagina. That's really all you need to know. If that offends you, best to leave now before your head explodes. If it sounds like a hoot to you, come sit by me.