L'amante del demonio

Rosalba Neri and her two girlfriends visit a remote European castle that is supposedly owned by Satan himself.That night she comes across a portrait of a woman who looks much like her.While sleeping she has is transported back to the 16th century where she has nightmares of her past which include:cave dwelling rapists,sadistic vampires,inquisition and a mysterious red-hooded,cloaked,disappearing swordsman."L'Amante del Demonio" is watchable Italian Gothic nonsense.There is a bit of sleaze and nudity plus incredibly sensual Rosalba Neri,the Queen of Italian Gothic horror.The film mixes Satanic horror,vampirism,sex and torture,so fans of Italian exploitation should definitely check it out.However the action is suitably dull and the climax is terrible.A generous 7 out of 10.

Lucifera: Demon Lover (1972)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Italian horror has three women (led by cult favorite Rosalba Neri) going to stay at a house that is said to be the home of Satan. They talk the caretaker in letting them spend the night when the Neri character sees a portrait that takes her back in time several hundred years where the three women are now in their own battle with the Devil. Fans of MARK OF THE DEVIL or THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT will probably be tempted to try this out as will fans of Neri but both parties are going to be disappointed because the movie is pretty much dull from start to finish. The entire story doesn't make a bit of sense and to make matters worse is the fact that director Lombardo didn't have much experience behind the camera and this clearly shows with the incredibly slow pacing. It also doesn't help matters that we have several Ed Wood moments where it will be light outside but then they'll cut to the next scene where it's dark and then cut back to light. This happens at least during two different scenes taking place at different times. The plot doesn't make a bit of sense but for this type of film that's really not overly important as long as we get good stuff. That good stuff being either violence, sex, nudity or in the best case all three. This film doesn't offer any blood and has very little nudity. We do get a pretty fun orgy taking place in a castle and fans of Neri and her nude scenes will have to wait until the very end to get just a little peak. The performances are all rather bland but you really can't blame them as I'm sure they were all aware that this thing wasn't going to turn out too well. Satan has invaded Italian horror films countless times but this here isn't the best out there and should pretty much be avoided by everyone unless they just have to sit through even the bad ones (like myself).

The heyday of the Italian Gothic Horror genre was the early-to-mid-1960s; even so, the style lingered on well into the next decade but the results were often far beneath what could be accomplished at its best. Naturally, this is one such example: actually, we start off here with a contemporary setting and the heroine ("Euro-Cult" favorite Rosalba Neri) dreams herself back at least two centuries – under the influence of an old mansion where, legend has it, the devil used to reside! An element these later efforts certainly took advantage of was the relaxation in censorship, except that then we tended to get copious nudity at the expense of plot (and even atmosphere): at one point, for instance, a couple of nubile girls are gang-raped and forced to copulate between themselves inside a cave, a sequence that has no bearing whatsoever on the central plot! For what it is worth, the narrative involves two girls (one is Neri and the other is played by a companion of hers in the modern 'bookends') who both love the same man; when he chooses Neri, the rival (herself pursued by another, played by Robert Woods) turns to a witch who puts a curse on the former. This results in Neri being seduced by a stranger (Edmund Purdom), losing her lover to him and getting burned at the stake for the latter's death…all on her wedding night and, surprise surprise, the interloper is eventually revealed to be Old Nick himself! While the lethargic pacing is decidedly characteristic of such fare, the inept handling is not and, in this case, makes the film a snooze-fest as opposed to the mood-piece its creators probably intended! When I first came across this one, I was intrigued by its description as "the greatest Rosalba Neri movie ever"; however, having checked it out for myself now, I regret to report that things could not be further removed from the truth!

You can't go totally wrong with a movie featuring the mouth-wateringly luscious and genuinely talented 70's Italian cult actress Rosalba Neri (aka Sarah Bay), but this is not one of her better films.

It starts in modern times (as of 1972) with Neri's character "Helga" and two of her blonde, generously breasted, mini-skirt clad girlfriends coming to tour a castle that is supposedly owned by Satan himself. For reasons that eluded me, they all decide to spend the night there (apparently it doubles as a bed-and-breakfast?). That night "Helga" has a dream where she is transported back to the 16th century where she is a virginal bride about to be married. While she is trying on her wedding-night garments, she sees a man looking through her window. It is apparently an ill omen for another man to see these garments, so she tracks the man down--perhaps not a good idea since he is wearing a crimson robe and hood, and, of course, turns out to be the Devil. The Devil demands she kill her husband on their wedding night and then join him as his lover. Meanwhile a spurned female lover of her husband is plotting to kill her. There are several subplots involving other characters (I don't know about anyone else, but I'm usually in ALL the scenes in my dreams). Perhaps the best is where an old witch lures her big-breasted virginal friends (all the characters in the dream are the same characters as in the modern story a la "The Wizard of Oz")to a cave where they are assaulted by two randy highway-men in a kind of defloration/orgy.

In a way this is the opposite of the standard Italian Gothic horror film. Where your typical Italian Gothic has a dumb or nonsensical plot, but an effective atmosphere and visual style, this has a fairly decent plot, but it's very hamhandedly executed style-wise. Some of it was no doubt the print I saw, which messed up the day-for-night shooting so that all the scenes seemed to take place in broad daylight (even while some on-screen characters remark on how dark it is!). A lot of it though is the fault of director Lombardo, who maintains a positively glacial pace and seems to cut away to a boring subplot every time the main plot threatens to gather any momentum. After a (very long) hour you do get to see Neri's incredible nude body, but it was used to better effect in at least a dozen other Italian horror movies and giallo thrillers. Neri herself isn't bad, but she's just a lot better playing a wicked villainess than an innocent virgin (and she was also about thirty-five at the time). This is not a bad movie if you like Italian Gothic horror, but it is kind of a disappointing one.

Three women stay the night at a castle supposed owned by the Devil - in the night, one of them has a dream where she is transported to the 16th century where a bunch of odd events take place.

The main selling point of this movie has to be Rosalba Neri. This Italian actress appeared in a number of genre films from around this time and always added quality to proceedings, in terms of her sensuality, sexual forcefulness and genuine acting ability. She's probably the best thing in this film too. Its an example of an Italian gothic horror film, at the latter end of the sub-genre's cycle. And on paper it does include a lot of promising elements - sexual deviants, vampires, religious fanatics, a red-hooded devil, a witch, beautiful maidens and ornate, crumbling locations. But director, Paolo Lombardo, was hardly a master at this kind of thing and, in fact, only helmed a further two minor films. The result is a fairly lethargic picture on the whole, with the odd interesting moment. If you like Italian gothic, it is certainly good enough for a whirl and Neri is always worth seeing in anything.