Steve_Nyland

Decent Euro Horror outing from Belgium of all places, produced by Italians but with a unique sense of place. Very well written story about an Arkload of stereotypes representing the seven deadly sins obliged to spend the night in a rural castle with a history of occult happenings. Each meets their demise in ironic accordance with the sins they represent: Gluttony, greed, lust, vanity, infidelity, and envy get the main focus while a handsome seminary student is bombarded by temptation as a test of his faith.

Much of the film's success should be attributed to genre film favorite Erika Blanc as the castle's resident succubus, ushering in the fates of the passengers like a Greek chorus. Her presence highlighted not only by the daring one-piece temptress from Hell costume they poured over her fantastic body - No false curves on this one, that's all natural and it still hurts when she bends over, yow. The genius of her makeup during the succubus scenes would have been futile without Ms. Blanc's ability to distort her facial countenance in a manner which is downright eerie. It's a genuine actual performance which comes through regardless of language translation, not just a willing pair of tits in a daring costume.

The other performance of surprising merit is Daniel Emilfork bookending the film as the Great Deceiver himself, superbly cast to not just make the most of his uniquely shaped head but the lightness of his gestures and look of spry delight as he brings torment onto the novice priest. You never make a deal with the devil, especially one who seems so polite, reasonable, and unthreatening.

The other attribute about the film which had slipped the mind is the claustrophobia which pervades almost every indoor scene, with the action stuffed into windowless bedchambers, endlessly curving turret corridors, airless basement kitchens, and stuffy cobweb thick attic spaces. They're even locked in the castle with no way out, or at least they are in the narrative of the priest's satanic nightmare which gives the movie its (English) title.

The film exists in several versions and due to a copyright lapse found its way onto innumerable bargain bin DVD pressings during the 2000s, most of them showing the uncut print. Best bet is to stick with whatever BR release is circulating, it may even feature the re-structured version titled THE DEVIL WALKS AT MIDNIGHT as a bonus, though there is also more than one version of that as well. Which is part of the movie's fun if you ask me: Great art should be able to take a re-fit and still come across as effective.

He has a thick beard, and several scenes in the film are dedicated to him filling, lighting and thoughtfully smoking the pipe as the young lady sits there, stark naked, observing him enjoying his pipe. They nod to each other in appreciation of what a fine pipe it is, and how much he enjoys his pipe.

Her name is Carmen Serret and she delightfully wanders through a significant portion of the movie absolutely naked. No imagination required, though I wonder what the pipe scenes are really about.

Then there's Victor Israel, playing himself. During the movie's most blasphemous scene he evokes a likewise completely naked female to sneeze. How that came to the mind of anyone is likely best left up to commentary tracks on Blu Ray DVDs by horror movie historians as an audio option. But it was a first for horror cinema to befall mine eyes: That was new.

There are also zombies who devour several supporting cast members and a troupe of satanists on bicycles, who likewise spend a significant portion of their allotted screen time completely naked. If one is concerned about a sexist agenda fret not as both genders are equally objectified, paraded around from all angles, and then devoured by the zombies.

The formula works even when stuck without a language translation, mostly because the film's objectives are limited to the above and the dialog minimal to begin with. There is nothing to be learned except what the leading actress looks like with absolutely nothing on, for which we commend her greatly. Thank You!

The film also boast a uniquely odd electronic music score, including use of a Vocoder type voice synthesizer producing passages of other worldly sounds which transcend the gutter in which the film's ideas are content to wallow. As far as garbage grind house latter-era Euro Horror exploitation cinema goes, it's a quiet sleeper masterpiece that has patiently awaited re-discovery. Though for most people it's just a low budget foreign made zombie movie with lots of naked girls. You can do worse by either measure.