Il était une fois le diable

After watching this I wondered if the director had actually ever seen a film before. Because this seems to ignore any and all of the conventions of film making we've come to expect. Plot, character development, subtext, all are dashed against the rocks of chaos here.

The movie starts with a mutant dressed in Nazi attire madly tearing his way out of a tent. We then have a prolonged shot of the victim of the mutant bleeding on the ground. Then as the mutant storms of into the woods to kill some one else his foot gets caught on the tent rope and he scuffles with it. Was that intentional? I don't know but they left it in. That question "Was that intentional?" is something I found myself asking a lot throughout the entire movie.

This is one of those film that has to be seen to be believed. There's a demonic cat that lives in the mountains. There's an old witch that controls the Nazi mutant. There's an old man with a shotgun that seems to have an endless supply of bullets. There's an Egyptian mummy that comes out of an old galleon which is magically drawn from the inside of a mountain by a devil horse.

I Liked it. Despite hearing myself sighing throughout I would definitely watch it again.

Again this is one of those movies that everybody wants to see but can't find. it is a french movie never released on DVD and only available on VHS copies. But still if you search The Web you will be able to find some copies. As I watched it I just didn't know what I have seen. Some parts are too long, some parts are gory, someparts are childish. For sure it's a extreme low budget flick, dubbed in English with Greek subs. it's still strange that most of the OOP's and well sought after movies are available in Greece on VHS dubbed English with the unremovable subs. That doesn't bother me, it's the movie that you want anyhow. The parts too long is the part with the cat. He still appears but nothing really happens during that time. The gory parts are the killings, it is a for a low budget and a flick of that era rather gory. The killing itself is mostly done off camera but the result is shown in all their glory. Childish for me was the mummy, anyway. And why that man is trying to shoot that horse and isn't able to do it is still an enigma. Also being made in France it's strange that their is no nudity involved. But still, when the movie starts you will keep watching, even the dull parts.

That's French (it takes place in the French countryside)and that's a horror film, so it is accordingly a real turkey. And this one is incredibly bad: it gathers devilish animals, a monster borrowed from a slasher or Texas chainsaw Massacre, a mummy, a living dead, and especially a nonsensical editing. The story is just absurd and the actors appalling. Well a must see if you want to have a great laugh. Of course this is a rare z movie, so you have to deserve it. It's not very far from Jean rollin, it is much worse actually (and that was hard to be!), but at least you never get bored: it's too dumb and completely crazy. Yes, that is the craziest horror French movie ever.

This is a rather incoherent film, with abject sound design. It seems the sound effect budget stretched to one owl hoot and one horse whinny, but with unlimited usage, so they tried to get their money worth.

Just cutting back on those sounds could have made the film 1 star more watchable.

So - is it a slasher, or is it a french gothic horror? The Venn diagram of that question is miraculously both and neither. I'm not even sure it's so bad it's good. It's just like two disparate and unrelated movies were told they had to sit together in class and cooperate.

A deformed creature (son of a "gypsy" cliche) stalks people in the woods, killing them. But then we learn of a lost ship carrying Egyptian treasures, and a mummy turns up for good measure. Then there's the repeatedly whinnying horse of satan that may be a harbinger, or may just be a cliche.

All of whom are faced by the woman who leaves the safety of a chateau dressed only in her nightwear for no explicable reason.

And all the subsequent exploits this may or may not entail.

I seriously can't tell if this 80s French z movie is ridiculously inept or intentionally a surreal cheese-fest. Either way, it's lack of plot, inane pacing, bad acting, gore, and horrific dubbing are stupidly entertaining. It's like Ed Wood meets Fulci...