Les week ends maléfiques du Comte Zaroff

The original 1932 masterpiece THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest P. Schoedsack, and starring the great Leslie Banks as one of the most memorable villains ever in cinema) is an all-time favorite of mine. Being a huge fan of (especially European) Exploitation and Trash-flicks from the 70s, my admiration for the original film will certainly not lessen my enjoyment of the numerous sleazy rip-offs. And this ultra-sleazy French take on the story, LES WEEK-ENDS MALÉFIQUES DU COMTE ZAROFF (aka. SEVEN WOMEN FOR Satan) of 1976, for which Michel Lemoine served as director, writer and star is a sleazy one indeed. As a matter of fact, this highly sadistic little slice of sleaze has an incredibly confused and nonsensical plot, and mostly doesn't make the slightest sense. However, the film should nonetheless be entertaining enough for my fellow Eurosmut-fans to enjoy, as it is a good example for the sleaziness and sheer insanity of many European B-Movie-makers in the era.

Michel Lemoine plays a descendant of the original Count Zaroff; unlike his diabolical, but ingenious ancestor, this Zaroff is a totally bonkers nut-job who brings gorgeous young women to his medieval French castle, where he gives them champagne and fondles their naked bodies before suddenly flipping out and murdering them in bizarre manners. Zaroff's butler is played by the great Howard Vernon, the super-prolific Euro-Exploitation regular best known for starring in many of Jess Franco's films.

Michel Lemoine, to whom this film owes its existence, looks extremely demented. Judging by his mere looks, he would be perfect to play an insane killer; the man's acting skills, however, are not exactly breathtaking, which makes the thing unintentionally comical at times. Howard Vernon is always somewhat creepy, and always good to see for Exploitation-buffs like yours truly. Lemoine and Vernon had worked together on some movies before, including Jess Franco's NECRONOMICON (1968) and the hilariously inept German Sleaze-Horror flick DAS SCHLOSS DER BLUTIGEN BEGIERDE (CASTLE OF THE BLOODY LUST, 1968). The women in the film are entirely gorgeous, and they all get naked at any given occasion before most of them meet violent deaths. This is Eurosleaze at its sleaziest and most politically incorrect, the film is more or less a continuum of sex and violence (the victims being predominantly hot women).

As most French Horror films, LES WEEKENDS MALÉFIQUES DU COMTE ZAROFF is very well-photographed on atmospheric original locations. The psychedelic score is also very good, even though it is very obvious that parts of it were inspired by Morricone's brilliant score to THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. The incredibly cheesy dialogue serves mainly as an explanation for the sleaze that follows. I saw the English dubbed version, and lines like "Would you like some champagne to help you dream pleasantly; or would you rather that I pour it on your body and sip it slowly as if your substance were of crystal" are hilariously inept. Overall, this film is one to see for the sleaze and violence and for the involuntary fun-factor. However, it certainly has its lengths, and tends to get tedious in-between in spite of a running time of only 85 minutes; don't expect anything eerie, let alone suspenseful, and be entertained.

Michel Lemoine's glassy-eyed face is well known to Eurocult fans, as he spent years appearing in almost all genres, including several striking, if little-known titles, like "Sex on the Beach" and "Death on the Fourposter". As a director, he made several softcore erotic features (including the noteworthy Les Desaxées) before drifting into hardcore. But he had an irresistible urge to dabble in the fantasy genre, although it was generally frowned upon in France -- and this title is the result. His directorial stylings imitate those of his mentors -- Franco, Benazeraf and Rollin -- naive, dreamlike, disorienting -- but he lacks the idiosyncratic, iconic style of his betters, making many of his sequences risible in their pretentions. In fact, Peter Tombs claims in his notes for the DVD that the intention was generally parodic (or at least something of an homage). To most eyes it will play as a rather crass, but sumptuously enjoyable, wallow in exploitation tropes, lacking narrative logic or thematic consistency, but delivering the naked and the absurd in spades, along the lines of Polselli or Brismee.

Seven Women for Satan (1976)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Bizarre French film is a sequel to The Most Dangerous Game. In this film, Count Boris Zaroff (Michel Lemoine), the nephew of the psycho from the first film, has sexual fantasies dealing with him seducing women and then murdering them. Because the screenplay allows it, several women soon fall into his hands and sure enough he begins to make the fantasies real. I'll admit that this is a pretty strange film from start to finish and there are some pretty good moments scattered throughout but sadly things run out of gas around the half-way mark and things never pick up. The bizarre thing is that the film goes for a Luis Bunuel like feel where the viewer never knows if he's watching something that's really happening or if we're in some sort of strange fantasy or dream sequence. The movie has a rather nice atmosphere and we get all sorts of sleaze from countless naked women to some strange death scenes. We also get some laughable death scenes including one early on when Zaroff attacks a woman. She takes off running and he begins to chase her in his car. There are woods all around and all she would have to do is duck in them and she'd be safe but instead she just keeps running through this open field. This scene certainly made me laugh as did another one where the woman is attacked by a dog. There is one gruesome scene where a couple goes to their death in a torture chamber that is quite effective. Director Lemoine gives himself the leading role and I thought his performance wasn't decent if nothing overly good. He fits the role just fine but it's clear no one is going to mistake him for Brando. Howard Vernon plays his servant and gives his typical performance. Nothing great but it's always fun to see him. The film's biggest flaw is certainly it's screenplay as the weirdness eventually runs out and we're not left with much of anything.

This is barely worth it's given rating but despite the slow pace, the nonsense story, the pretentiousness and the dialogue I liked it. I guess the well shot nudity helped but also the slightly odd angle (to call it surreal would be far too flattering) and surprising jolts of violence amid the sleepiness. The way the Count turns upon his first victim is a real shock and the couple trying out the historic torture instrument certainly get a surprise, as do we. Hard to recommend though because it is hardly quality stuff and certainly does not live up to Mr Lemoine's claims for the film. But then if you are not expecting too much and know something of the genre you could do worse. It's certainly as good as many of the below par and over rated Jess Franco movies.

You just got to love opening sequences like the one in "Seven Women for Satan" … During the intro there's a naked girl running through the woods, chased by a hunting dog and a malignant looking dude on a horse, until she falls off a cliff and splits her head open on a rock. Then the camera zooms out on the face of the guy and we notice how he's simply sitting behind a desk whilst his secretary waiting for him to sign some papers. "Oh I'm sorry, I was lost in my thoughts…" he then says! Sweet, I have stumbled upon yet another completely bonkers movie. Even if you only understand a minimum of French and have a look at the original title, you immediately know that "Seven Women for Satan" hasn't got anything to do with Satan or ritual sacrifices, but simply revolves on the flamboyant escapades of a perverted and mentally unstable count during his weekend in the countryside. This is, in fact, another sleazy variation on the classic milestone "The Most Dangerous Game" about a lunatic's disturbing hobby of hunting people – preferably hot naked chicks - in the forest for sports. Well actually, this is more than just a variation on the 1932 classic, as writer/director/actor Michel Lemoine had the pretension to directly link his protagonist to Leslie Banks' legendary villain in "The Most Dangerous Game". Count Zaroff supposedly is the original Count Zaroff's son but he exchanged his private island for the remote French countryside. He also can't afford to be unemployed anymore, so he's an office clerk from Monday to Friday and a maniacal killer during the weekend. Zaroff is a genuine weirdo who hallucinates about dancing with deceased woman but actually runs his car over the live ones. His butler once pledged to prevent the Zaroffs from killing, but he's obviously doing a lousy job. There isn't any depth in the screenplay and the build-up certainly doesn't pay attention to suspense or sinister atmosphere. Really, the only useful thing to do during this film is count the girls that are lured for Zaroff's deceptive trap and hope they'll reach seven rapidly. Half of the film is pointless and tedious padding footage, like the overlong erotic dance act in which a statue inexplicably transforms into a muscular black guy (???), and the other half exists of psychedelic sleaze that eventually grows tiresome as well even though all the girls look ravishing. I have the impression that it was Michel Lemoine's intention to imitate his pal Jean Rollin and make a deliriously kinky sex-thriller. "Seven Women for Satan" is a French production, so inevitably it also stars Jess Franco regular Howard Vernon ("The Awful Dr. Orloff", "Zombie Lake"). Lemoine himself surely has the looks of a crazy killer, but not the talent to depict one.