Las amantes del diablo

I am an enthusiastic fan of European Horror in general and I LIVE for Italian and Spanish Gothic Horror productions in particular. That being said, one will always be in for one disappointment or another, regardless of genre, and this is definitely the case with "Las Amantes Del Diablo" aka. "Feast of Satan" (1971). My expectations for this flick weren't very high, since fellow Eurohorror buffs had already warned me that it wasn't very good; however, I tend to love trashy flicks that others find silly. While I expected this film to be silly, I did not expect it to be boring. Well, it is.

The film's premise isn't all that bad and could have actually made a cool flick, had it been executed with a little more love. The film is about a young woman (Krista Nell) who, in search of her disappeared sister, comes to a small coastal village where she encounters the sinister Dr. Tills Nescu (Espartaco Santoni)... The title already gives away in which direction the film is going, and though it is only 90 minutes long, it seems to go on forever. There is zero action and zero suspense, and endless periods in which literally nothing happens. European Horror cinema is generally known to be as atmospheric as cinema gets. Sadly this isn't the case with this yawner, which features hardly any atmosphere-building settings (with the exception of one somewhat eerie-looking castle). The ridiculous and absolutely out-of-place elevator music doesn't help. Unlike most European Horror / Exploitation flicks from the 70s this one is almost gore- and sleaze-less. The highlight of the film is a scene in which the yummy leading actress Krista Nell (who sadly passed away far too young from leukemia) bares her breasts for about two seconds. The female cast members, particularly Nell and the equally ravishing Teresa Gimpera, are nice to look at, but then, there's about 10.000 other Eurohorror films of which one can say the same, and which are a hundred times more recommendable than this one. The film's most entertaining moments are those which are (unintentionally?) funny, such as the mustached dwarf who simply is there for no reason whatsoever. The film also features Julio Peña, who might be known to Eurohorror fans for being in several films starring the late Spanish Horror legend Paul Naschy (R.I.P.). The film catches up a little in the last 15 minutes, but this doesn't make up for first 75 minutes of boredom. There isn't much else to say about this film, other than that it is dull as ditchwater. Not Recommended.

For someone who has bought "Pierrot le Fou" (1965), "Massacre pour Une Orgie"(1966) "Affare Beckett l'" (1966), "The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance" (1975) in the hope of seeing Christa Nelli (most often billed as in my title), this 1971 film is the best film I have seen of her.As it is some 32 years old it has been out of circulation for some while and hitheto has been a difficult title to find.However a German company, "Marketing Film", has recently brought out a new 2003 Dvd reissue edition (89 mins) under the title "Tanz Des Satans".This is an excellent product with crystal clear pictures and Dolby sound.There is no grainy picture as on some old videos and it looks as if it could have originally been filmed this year.

Instead of her black beehive hairstyle most often seen in her mid-sixties films, Krista Nell sports here a lovely head of light auburn hair and dresses very fashionably in different outfits for most of her scenes.Basically the story involves two sisters, Maria and Hilda (Krista Nell).Maria works as a nurse and is due for a long holiday which makes her very happy indeed.She only just manages to escape and is rescued from a traumatic event and is then rushed to a sanataorium to recover.Someone has evidently played with her mind!However the evil and hypnotic Dr Tills Nescu (Espartaco Santoni) will not be denied and with inside help, manages to abduct her from the sanatorium, taking Maria back to his forbidding castle.Hilda resolves to find her beloved sister and with the help of the local police and Interpol together with a friendly and helpful doctor from the hospital, she manages to track down where Maria was last seen.Dr Nescu has a secretary Andrea, (Teresa Gimpera who looks very much like Jill St. John) and who is obviously very much in his power.He is something of a playboy what with his yacht and trappings of a millionaire.Andrea also has to suffer all the girlfriends of her boss around his yacht much to her displeasure.Soon however Dr. Nescu has fallen for Hilda who he sees as special, much to the resentment of Andrea whom we suspect has lesbian feelings for Hilda herself (although this is never consummated).

To find out more, Hilda follows Dr Nescu and his entourage back into his castle where grisly horrors await.I will not divulge any more of the plot but it does involve devil worship.A good film I rated it 6/10.Please bear in mind the original language is Spanish but my Dvd came with German/English dubbing options.One gripe however.Italian Krista does not provide her own English dubbing as in "Affare Beckett l'??" and I wish these type of European Continental films provided proper credits so one can read the cast list, production values etc. as in most British/American films.

This is actually more a Spanish horror movie than an Italian one (so it's really more "paella horror" than "spaghetti horror"). I'm sure there was probably Italian co-production money involved, and the cut I saw was obviously not a Spanish one (since it had some brief nudity). But most of the cast was Spanish except for the Austrian actress Krista Nell, who was usually relegated to supporting roles but acquits herself well here as the lead. She plays a woman whose sister has gone around the bend after accidentally becoming involved with a satanic cult, so for some reason she tries infiltrate the same cult with not much better results.

As far as the plot goes, the movie is pretty weak. The directorial style doesn't begin to approach either the best Italian horror/gialli films or the British Hammer films, but it's not bad for early Spanish horror, and this is one of the few Spanish films that could actually be described as "psychedlic" in places (Spain's dictator at the time, Francisco Franco, had little use for the kind of decadence sweeping the rest of Europe that period, but, hey, if it's a bunch of satanists doing it. . .). The acting in general is unremarkable, but Nell and Teresa Gimpera, who plays the jealous girlfriend of the cult leader, are better than average. This is one of those movies I wouldn't look to hard for, but it's worth watching if you somehow run across it.

Euro-sleaze from the 70's doesn't get any more prototypic than "Feast of Satan", with its lurid atmosphere, scantily clad women running through the woods all petrified, horrible dunning, sinister organ music overload, shamelessly borrowed influences of American landmark horror movies and the thinnest possible storyline imaginable. When her sister Maria is repatriated from a vacation resort in a severe state of mental shock, with the characteristics of being petrified still noticeable on her face, Hilda Salas travels to the area to investigate what happened. She gradually becomes entangled in a world of occult mystery. The more Hilda gets acquainted with the local high society, and particularly the hunky Dr. Tills Nescu, the more her life is endangered. As said, "Feast of Satan" is pretty standard guff and thus predictable, derivative and largely boring. The film is surprisingly – and unfortunately – very sparing with nudity and gore, so you simply have no choice but to pay attention to the decrepit plot. Due to the complete lack of action and suspense, the film seems to go on forever without revealing any clues regarding the denouement. That is especially annoying since the title pretty much openly gives away what will happen at the end: one giant satanic orgy, of course! Though I have to admit the final couple of twists and red herrings, as well as the climax sequences, uplift the quality level of the movie in general.

Here's a tip in case you really get too bored to be bothered with the actual film. Keep an eye open for the Dr. Tills Nescu's short-sized and mustached employee. He makes the highest amount of pointless cameo appearances I've ever counted. It's like he came for free with the camera!

Not much happens that doesn't involve talking. The women are all quite lovely and can act too and the locations are also pretty, though zoom happy camera-work/direction mar this.

There is one pretty fun dream scene but it takes almost an hour to get to it. Lots of zooms to people's eyeballs. You'll lose count. The villain plays the organ a lot, no reason other than I suppose so you know he's the villain.

Some brief nudity but very little violence, it's well enough done to keep you going but just barely, there isn't any psychological dept to the situation and the plot is pretty straight forward--you'll be ahead of the lead investigation almost all the way so that adds to a level of, "Oh let's get on with it." But despite the zoom's overuse this is well produced, but more of a mystery I suppose than a thriller and if you think you're in for a Satan movie.... Well, look elsewhere to scratch that itch. Rather silly gray hair in some scenes, when you see it you'll know what I mean. Mostly for those who need to see everything but there are worse films out there. Too much talk is this one's downfall.