Maldición

After years of churning out cheap, badly made sci-fi "epics," director Bert Gordon turned to sex comedies and "erotic" thrillers. I haven't seen any of his sex comedies yet--I shudder to imagine what they're like--but this combination horror/softcore sex film was surprisingly better than I expected. Few modern actors can do world-weary burn-outs better than Robert Forster, and the combination of his solid acting skills and the staggeringly beautiful Lydie Denier in various states of nudity more than make up for the script's shortcomings, which really aren't as overwhelming as Gordon's usual opuses. The story is actually a bit more coherent than you'd expect in a Bert Gordon film, there's a fair amount of tension and suspense throughout, and as noted, Denier thankfully begins to strip down whenever the picture starts to lag. Overall it's really not that bad, and worth a look.

A burnt out cop (Robert Forster) searching for a missing woman runs afoul of a woman possessed by a demon that seduces men into her lair and then brutally kills them. Why Caren Kaye and Robert Forster ever made this beyond me. They do what they can, but they are not enough to keep one entertained in this poorly made, cheap looking film with scant effects. Rated R; Sexual Situations, Graphic Violence, and Profanity.

Retired police detective Lou Cherney is searching for his missing daughter.Lou finds that the missing girl has been taken as the lesbian lover of Canadian modelling agency owner Nicole St James,the titular Satan's Princess of black magic.I wanted to see "Satan's Princess" because of Lydie Denier.She and Sherilyn Fenn were the sexiest actresses of late 80's and early 90's."Satan's Princess" mixes crime thriller genre with occult horror.There is plenty of violence and naked female flesh provided by Denier.Unfortunately the climax is utterly hysterical and stupid.Still if you are a fan of Lydie Denier you can't miss this enjoyable exploitation film.8 sexy demons out of 10.

Apart from the always solid, Robert Forster, this film features some very telegraphed performances, an uneven script, connect-the-dots direction and the sizzling Lydie Denier, who steals the show every time she peels off an article of clothing, which is in just about every second scene. Kudos to director Bert Gordon for at least understanding that when you're dealt a bad script, there's always the lovely Lydie to keep the interest levels up.

My review was written in December 1990 after watching the movie on Paramount video cassette.

Fifties sci-fi maven Bert I. Gordon is back with the sexy horror film "Satan's Princess". Okay performances lift this mundane direct-to-video release.

Robert Forster comfortably essays his familiar role as a down-and-out detective hired by Nick Angotti to find his missing daughter Leslie Huntly.

Trail leads to vampiric beauty Lydie Denier (a stunning Canadian actress) who runs a modeling agency. She turns out to be over 500 years old, periodically killing people to stay young.

Plenty of nude scenes keep the viewer awake until Forster predictably fights fire with fire by unleashing a flamethrower on Denier in the final reel.

Alternately running through several shooting titles, including "Heat from Another Sun", "Princess of Darkness" and "Malediction" (last named referring to a 17th Century painting Denier owns), film is poorly structured. After reels of searching for the alluring young Huntly, Forster accidentally bumps into her at the modeling agency, chases her and she commits suicded rather than be apprehended.

Typical epilog to set up sequel possibilities is trite. A subplot establishing Denier as a lesbian is not followed up but merely included for its titillation possibilities.

Forster, Denier and underutilized heroine Caren Kaye all deserve more challenging assignments than this potboiler.