Camp d'amour

What a funny ride! Written, directed, produced by and starring Christian Anders, then one of Germanys foremost "Schlager" singers ("Schlager" being a low-brow chanson-like musical style popular with the elderly and nowadays fondly paid tribute to by "remember the 70s" disco-night revivals), it's main attraction undoubtedly is Laura Gemser in the role of a love cults' divine goddess destined to bring love to the people – or else, if that won't work. Anders, who is of course also responsible for the half-cheesy, half-stolen soundtrack, later, under the influence of eastern religious philosophy, wrote a book on "The Sense of Life", claiming that 30ft high apes once made love to other monkeys, and out came – mankind. His aims looked different back in 1981 (good picture quality on the DVD, by the way; I'm referring to the full uncut release), for "The Death Goddess of the Love Camp" (literal translation) resembles everything you would expect from a cheap, exploitative soft-sex movie out there to do nothing else than make money. The story looks a bit as if the Jim Jones tragedy meets early 70s porn, complete with some musical numbers (badly dubbed) and lots of nudity, and there are even a few torture-like scenes. Direction is terrible, but the film has it's entertaining moments, has Laura Gemser, and is weird enough to be watched at least once.

This is one of those hippie/"free love"-type films that were big in the early 1970's (complete with some truly insipid musical numbers) except that it was made in 1980 and was also obviously influenced by the very unpleasant series of Nazi prison camp movies that were big in the mid to late 70's. The resulting hybrid is truly bizarre. Members who violate the "free love" ethos of the cult (i.e. by trying to have monogamous relations or refusing to prostitute themselves to perverted outsiders for money)are whipped and tortured. Laura "Black Emanuelle" Gemser is the main attraction here, playing the supreme leader of the cult. I'm sure no one has ever complained about her numerous nude and sex scenes, but she does seem a little miscast as an Ilsa, the Wicked Warden type (she's a svelte, submissive Asian, not a tall, dominant Teutonic type). The plot (in so much as there is one) involves a naive senator's daughter who is seduced into the cult by Gemser's ridiculously blonde, male second-in-command. The movie plays out like a softcore version of "Hair" with an occasional beating and torture sequence and maybe a nod here and there to the Manson Family and the then recent Guyana tragedy. Not really recommended, but if you enjoy this sort of thing.. .

This is by far the worst Laura Gemser movie i have seen. Also Gemser is miscast as the lead evil- doer rather than the heroic investigative reporter. Everything is atrocious but not to level of so bad it's good. Just plain awful and boring.

The sex scenes are not appealing. The violence is mundane. Really little or no gore or special effects. Instead watch Emmanuel And The Last Cannibals or any of the Gemser- Joe Dmato films.

GEMSER just poses as a statue in this movie. She doesn't act, move or interact with other characters. The supporting cast is just a joke. There is the constant presence of a juiced up bodybuilder out of a 1950s Hercucles movie. It's just a horrible hodgepodge of everything and it just doesn't work. Certainly not worth any money and not worth time to watch it.

Whatever lurid expectations the title conjures, Die Todesgöttin des Liebescamps delivers on the sleaze but not much else. This 1981 exploitation flick is more concerned with flesh and fantasy than coherent storytelling or filmmaking craft. The film bathes in a cheap, sun-drenched aesthetic, relying heavily on soft focus, overexposed jungle lighting, and bare-bones set pieces that seem borrowed from a low-budget travel documentary. The atmosphere aims for exotic danger but ends up feeling like a disjointed fever dream, stitched together with clumsy transitions and directionless pacing.

The performances range from wooden to outright baffling. Laura Gemser, who has carved a niche in Euro-erotic cinema, does her best to lend mystique to her role but is let down by a script that gives her little to work with. Her magnetic screen presence almost rises above the material, though not enough to save it. The rest of the cast fluctuates between stiff line deliveries and awkward physicality, with many scenes bordering on accidental parody. One could argue that the acting suits the tone, but when every dramatic beat lands flat or veers into camp, even that defense wears thin.

Technically, the film is a mixed bag. The camera lingers more on bodies than landscapes, and what few action sequences exist are clumsily staged. Dialogue is often drowned by dubbed-over music, which ranges from kitschy synth to vaguely tribal rhythms, adding to the disorienting mood. Whether intentional or not, the film often feels like a series of disconnected tableaus loosely threaded together by barely motivated characters and exploitative shock value.

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.