Le Nid du Serpent

SERPENT'S LAIR is ostensibly a horror movie on paper (with shades of ROSEMARY'S BABY in the set-up) but it plays out as one of those late night softcore thrillers of the kind that Shannon Tweed made a career of starring in during the 1990s. This one has Jeff Fahey, one of the more underrated stars of the era, playing one half of a couple who buy a new apartment only to find it haunted by a succubus with designs on the hubby. All of this leads to the usual gamut of softcore fumblings and nude sequences, which quickly become tiresome to all but the hungriest of erotic film fans. Fahey does his best, but I found this one tiresome before long.

In SERPENT'S LAIR, Tom Bennett (Jeff Fahey) and his wife, Alex (Heather Medway) move right in to their dream apartment This, in spite of having seen the burn marks and a message on the wall -written in red!- left by the former occupant.

Weirdness starts right away, accompanied by weird music that lets us know that it's only going to get weirder! There's even a neighbor who's, you guessed it, a weirdo! Hell, even their new cat seems to act... weirdly.

Meanwhile, Tom's dreams turn into soft core cheeeze, and a cat-caused "accident" puts poor Alex in the hospital.

Enter Lilith (Lisa Barbuscia), a sizzling hot woman who claims to be the former tenant's sister. Lilith winds up alone with Tom for the evening, and it's not long before he forgets that he's married to what's-her-name. For some reason, more cats materialize, and further "accidents" occur.

For her part, Lilith isn't one for small talk. She's also very persistent. Tom doesn't know what he's up against, since Lilith isn't what she appears to be. Will Tom ever snap out of his Lilith-induced coma?

More cats appear.

A movie like this is all about building sexual tension, with the consummation thereof leading to total destruction. Lilith being insatiable and unstoppable certainly brings things to a lusty boil! For the most part, Tom is just a goggle-eyed rube with weak knees.

QUESTIONS: #1- Will Alex get out of the hospital before Lilith reduces Tom to a smiling sack of dust? #2- Will the cats ever stop multiplying? #3- How will Tom and Alex afford the food and litterboxes for their growing feline multitude?

BEST SCENE: When Lilith "surprises" Tom at work, and an office chair becomes a recreational instrument! This scene proves to be as ludicrous as it is sensual!

Let nothing stop you from witnessing the final, fiery, demon-cleansing showdown!...

Here we have one of those nice young couples who have found the apartment they've been searching for, only it has a sinister past. But heck, they say, so what if a guy killed himself and wrote some strange words on the wall. We'll just throw a mirror over that. But there are also a few amenities they didn't count on, like a multitude of vaguely menacing cats. Plus the apartment comes equipped with its own sexy succubus--not what every wife would want for her husband.

There is more sex than scares in this movie, though neither will have you on the edge of your seat. But things do pick up a little toward the end. Jeff Fahey, B-movie vet, stars as the husband and Lisa B (didn't she used to play for Prince?) is the bedeviling demon lady. Taylor Nichols ('Metropolitan' and 'Barcelona') also has a small role.

Released in 1995, considering the subject matter, is actually quite tame, and boring in parts. A man, Steven, kills himself in an apartment, and sets a fire. Later, Alex and Tom move into the apartment. There are still burn marks and red writings on the wall. And there is a black cat that seems to want to make their place his home. The cat manages to trip Alex down the stairs and sends her to the hospital. By this point, the music used really detracts from the film, not an asset to the film. Anyway, along comes Lilith, says Steven was her brother, and she is there to collect his things. The number of cats around increases, and so does the ardor of Lilith for Tom, and the make up used is quite good showing that his strength is being drained away, along with other things from him. She is a succubus, but will Tom be able to resist her long enough to survive? The copy I streamed was not particularly sharp.

Horror movies buffs will be very disappointed with this flick.It is never never frightening,and the derivative screenplay borrows from "the exorcist" "Rosemary's baby" "the tenant" "the omen" and more.The first scenes ,notably the moment when the young couple enters their brand new flat (complete with a fountain in the yard) where a man committed suicide directly comes from Ira Levin/Roman Polanski 's story.All in all it is rather a -very soft -erotic movie where Lisa B. tries her best to be at once sexually attractive and threatening.The lines are very vulgar and use the word "f...." a lot more than they should.Do not bother.