Devil's Kiss

The relatively unknown Spanish exploitation film-maker, Jordi Gigó's deserves more credit for unleashing his funkadelic freak-fest 'The Devil's Kiss' (1976) upon an unsuspecting world! This hyperbolic hybrid of schlock horror eccentricity gleefully appropriates myriad B-Horror tropes with the avidity of fellow traveller, Andy Milligan! No rabidly trash-loving terrornaut should miss out on watching this grungy Gothic creature feature. Gigo's mindlessly entertaining, grisly-groovy horror hysteria evokes the similarly freaked-out 70s phantasmagoria of inventive iconoclast, Jess Franco's 'The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein'. Deliriously mad, Jordi Gigó's luridly Luciferian 'The Devil's Kiss' demonstratively disproves the felonious filmmaking adage that 'less-is-more'!

The intensity of slinky-sexy sorceress, Claire Grandier's (Silvia Solar) obsession to avenge the death of her beloved husband manifests itself in a sinisterly Satanic series of sanguineous slayings! Fatefully combining Black Magic and the equally profane pseudo-scientific improprieties of psychic Professor Gruber (Olivier Mathot) they crudely reanimate a criminal's corpse to commit foul murder! This maniacal meddling in eldritch forces engenders an audaciously bonkers climax within the imposing château of their debonair host, Duke De Haussement(Jose Nieto). Once you have experienced the exquisite psychotronic intensity of 'The Devil's Kiss' your B-Movie bedevilled lips will never quite feel the same again!'

Long, long, very long and boring pseudo-horror spanish movie hits the bottom of the barrel. A zombie is created for the vengeance of Silvia Solar against the men who drove her husband to suicide. This zombie takes his time to climb up the stairs to his female naked victim then suddendly rushes onto her and strangles her off-screen. Pathetic. Even of a euro-sleaze product, it's not titillating enough to be fun to watch, not enough horror moment to sustain attention. All you get is...nothing happens on the screen. Huh...not really : watch out for the mannequins in their wild 70's clothes, dancing for a fashion show in the caves of the gothic catsle where it all happens. It lasts 5 looong minutes but it's a blast.

But afterwards...Yes, it is boring as hell and as boring as any most of Eurociné's horror flicks filled with hideous women taking their clothes off all the time coz' there's nothing else to do and coz' the screenplay has been lost somewhere in the rest rooms.

Printed on toilet paper, played by idiots, written by stupid : it is pure 70's nonsense with not enough wild moments to keep it interesting til the very end. Better watch LA TERRIFICANTE NOTTE DEL DEMONIO to get some real and devious fun.

Superwonderscope says : 2

Devil Kiss belongs to that substandard group of Euro Gothic Horrors that include films like "Vampires Night Orgy", "Hannah Queen Of The Vampires" or something from Jess Franco. Its got all the prerequisites that someone going into a film like this would want - a castle, a crypt, an evil bitchy Vampiress type woman, resurrected dead, crudely shot, badly edited sex scenes - heck, there's even a weird very 70's fashion show. But it somehow fails to generate suspense, hold interest, or entertain, even in a "bad movie" kind of way. It certainly is no Hammer production, that's for sure. If you have a soft spot for these types of crusty European horror flicks, you might want to hunt this one down and watch it in the background while you have something else to do. All others are advised to check out one of the hundreds of better titles in this genre (Castle Of Blood, Slaughter Of The Vampires are two good examples) before accepting an inadequate "kiss" from this haphazard "devil".

It's surprising (and disappointing) to see how low the score is on this fabulous slice of '70s Euro-Gothic sleaze. My suspicion is that the wrong people are checking this out; who knows what they're expecting? Anyone with eyes can look at the ad art, read the synopsis, and understand what they're getting. If viewers hate erotic '70s Euro Gothics - why did they choose to watch it? Don't tell me they thought it would be overproduced, over-budgeted, over-hyped junk like "Star Wars!"

"Devil's Kiss" epitomizes what the second half of a drive-in bill used to look like. It's quirky and refreshingly unpredictable, thanks to its modest European indie-film pedigree. It's dripping with atmosphere, making it perfect for late-night viewing. It's visually appealing and at times, quite titillating. So what's not to like?

As with classics like "Kill, Baby, Kill," one doesn't watch this movie to see a life-altering, soul-shattering plot. One watches to willingly succumb to the dreamy erotic spell of a cinematic witch's brew.

Ten stars.

Claire Grandier (Sylvia Solar) and her cohort "The Professor" (Olivier Mathot) use mad science and eeevil occult means to exact revenge on an unsuspecting Duke. They start digging up graves right away to create a killer zombie.

DEVIL'S KISS has every element that a schlock movie fanatic wants: See! The pre-credits voodoo dance! Witness! The ultra-mod, polyester fashion show! Watch! The resurrection of the hideous Franken-ghoul! Gasp! As someone takes their clothes off about every five minutes!

What are you waiting for?..