Au service du diable

A neat little Belgian-Italian horror flick brimming with atmosphere. Complete with a kinky wardrobe, Erika Blanc is perfect as Lisa Miller, the succubus. She displays supreme sensuality in her "normal" guise, then transforms into a murderous demon with such face-pulling, over-the-top relish that your skin will crawl. If she's not enough, Daniel Emilfork is on hand to complete things as a corpselike vision of the devil. The deaths are creative and brutal, the Gothic castle is very creepy, and the ending has a shock-twist that you'll never see coming. Julie sings the haunting theme song, which will stick with you long after the picture is over. The only debit is the moralizing angle, which is faintly offensive, but can be overlooked in light of everything else. Very well done on a small budget and beautifully photographed in wonderfully cheap, grainy color.

I saw this movie on videotape under the title Succubus. This tape is an absolute mess--videoburned title, scenes trimmed, scenes out of order toward the end--and should be avoided. It turns a fun, entertaining Euro-horror into a throughly frustrating experience.

Trivia: Though it was released in Europe in 1971, this film did not hit the U.S. until 1974, when Hemisphere released it as Devil's Nightmare to coattail The Exorcist.

Movies such as "The Devil's Nightmare" are exactly the type of cinematic smut I live for! It's got everything to magically conjure a gigantic smile on the face of every slightly deranged horror/cult/exploitation fanatic. There's bad & incoherent plotting, macabre set-pieces, a mild Gothic atmosphere, demented characters, shocking themes, lousy gore effects and – not to forget – authentically gratuitous lesbian sex! This Belgian/Italian co-production (love the combination since I myself am Belgian and Italy is my favorite movie-making country) is messed up beyond proportions and describing the essence of the plot would take up at least a couple of pages, so I won't go too much into detail. Let's just say the main storyline revolves on an ancient family curse that turns every first born daughter of the Von Rhoneberg generation into a succubus (= female servant of the devil), and a group of tourists stranded at the family castle are just in time to "celebrate" the devilish pact's 700th anniversary. Furthermore, the baron practices alchemy in his basement, there are Nazi child-executions, a gruesome murder story for every room in the castle, the random torture of cats in the attic, negotiations between a priest and the devil himself and a wide variety of shlocky massacres. A lot of the on screen events don't make sense, and there's no building up suspense whatsoever, but it has to be said that the screenplay does also feature a couple of ingenious and rather clever elements. For example, the Succubus (a luscious Erica Blanc) makes sure that every tourist's death symbolizes his or her biggest sin, whether it's greed, unfaithfulness, curiosity … The killings are very nasty, though hardly scary, and follow each other at an incredible pace, barely allowing you the time to wipe the sinister grin off your face. And if all that isn't enough just yet, wait till you witness the far out climax sequence. Oh yes, "The Devil's Nightmare" is pretty bad… So bad it's freaking brilliant! Easily one of the most entertaining European exploitation movies ever made. It's ten times more exciting than all Jess Franco's movies combined, sleazier that Jean Rollin's horribly dull vampire movies and more demented than … well, anything you've ever seen. It's a damn shame Belgians and Italians didn't collaborate more often back in the 70's, because this crazy puppy is a real keeper.

What exactly would be considered a nightmare for the devil? Would it be going to heaven perhaps? Regardless of the confusing title The Devil's Nightmare has nothing to do with Satan's lack of sleep rather it concerns a family curse in the Von Rhoneberg bloodline which condemns the firstborn daughter to an existence as a Succubus. After the Baron sacrificed his daughter following the death of his wife during World War II he retires to the family castle where he studies alchemy in the basement. The story picks up some thirty years later as seven travelers become sidetracked by a road closure and are guided to the Von Rhoneburg castle to stay the night. Upon arrival they are each given rooms where the begin to act in the manner of whatever deadly sin is assigned to them, i.e. gluttony constantly stuffs his face, sloth is always sleeping etc. One of the seven happens to be a priest, which sin he represents I have no idea, who is wary of Lisa, another unannounced guest, who seems intent on corrupting the man of God. Turns out Lisa is a Succubus who dispatches the guests in the very act that defines each character. At least it starts that way as the glutton is fed a poisoned meal and the greedy woman is drowned in gold dust which if I'm not mistaken is what happened to Scrooge McDuck on the series finale of Ducktales. When the priest refuses the sexual advances of the Succubus, I would have failed in the first minute, he has to not only battle her but the Devil himself who more resembles a dying cancer patient rather than the living embodiment of evil.

At least Devil's Nightmare knows how to keep your attention as it features plenty of scantily clad women while the meandering storyline ratchets up the action. One of these tactics is a lesbian tryst between two of the doomed guests when the gorgeous blond refuses to sleep alone. Plots and story lines give way to bras and panties which I'm not complaining. What saves this film from the countless other Eurotrash horror movies is the performance of Erika Blanc as Lisa the Succubus. While either in her seductive form complete with her tight, flesh baring dress or the pale skinned monster herself Blanc absolutely commands every scene she's in. The makeup used to mark her darker side, while not much, is still pretty effective as she switches between sexy vixen and fearsome beast. My one complaint is taking away the main trait of the Succubus which is the loss of life via the act of sexual intercourse. Erika Blanc screwing to death the guests would have made a better film in my opinion. Still, this is one of the better Gothic horror movies with the right amount of sleaze and gore to keep you interested. Should of been called the Devil's Wet Dream.

I saw this as one of 10 horror films on a collection from brentwood DVD called;fright night,its an awesome collection of fright films.anyway the devils nightmare is a Belgium/Italian made shocker about a group of tourists(each one represents one of the 7 deadly sins)they get stranded at the castle of an ex Nazi officer.there's a family curse,gruesome murders,lots of nudity(surprising for 1971)and a very good soundtrack. I'm usually a sucker for good European horror movies especially with the sexy beautiful Erika blanc,who starred in many Italian horror films.sort of like a rival of Barbara Steele.the murders are very gruesome.the dubbing is sloppy but thats expected.i saw this years ago on the USA cable network,of course it was chopped up by the censors. it was hosted by commander USA.who used to show very strange movies. watch the uncut version for the full effect.ignore the critics because most of them dismissed this film as junk.you be the judge.believe me its kind of scary.8 out of 10,Erika blanc gets 10 out of 10 because she was hot.

This is an above average example of the type of metaphysical horror film that seemed to proliferate in Europe in the 1970's.

It's simply the story of the Devil, his minion (the succubus) and seven tourists (each representing one of the seven deadly sins) who are forced to spend the night in a sinister castle.

The first hour is rather plodding due to an over abundance of exposition and very little action. Viewer patience is rewarded however during the final half hour when Ilse (the succubus) starts doing what she does best.

Erica Blanc is superb in this role and her transformation from sexy seductress to ghastly succubus is a highlight. Another highlight is Daniel Emilfork as the Devil. His performance is a real stand out when compared to the rather wooden performances delivered by some of the other cast members.

Director Jean Brismee also deserves kudos for several delightfully imaginative flourishes during the death scenes.

All in all it's worth watching if you're a fan of this type of film, but it's definitely not one of my favourite Euro horror films from this era.

6 out of 10.