Le Bal du vaudou

This movie is OBVIOUSLY (and quite blatantly) inspired by Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". In fact early in the movie, right before a family is attacked by a group of "droog"-like bikers with bull-whips, they are actually settling down to watch "A Clockwork Orange" on TV!(it's hard to imagine even in a futuristic film like this THAT movie showing on television in what was still Franco's Spain at the time). There's also other blatant references to other Kubrick movies. The female protagonist has a copy of the infamous Vladimir Nabokov novel "Lolita" on her nightstand, and the film adaptation of that was also directed by Stanley Kubrick--and Kubrick's "Lolita", of course, was played by Sue Lyon, who plays the female protagonist of this movie! So pat yourself on the back if you notice all this and then move on.

I kind of have a problem with people that simply dismiss Italian and Spanish films like this as "rip-offs". First they seem to assume that bigger-budgeted Anglo-American/Hollywood films are all completely original (nowadays Hollywood "remakes" a lot more Spanish films than vice versa). Moreover, they don't seem to realize that a lot of these movies were blatantly aping popular Hollywood films on the surface, but were often doing something quite interesting and even subversive underneath. The most interesting part of this movie, for instance, isn't Chris Mitchum and his "droog"-like gang, nor is it Lyon's boyfriend (played by Jean Sorel) who works at a "Clockwork Orange"-type behavior modification institute. The most interesting part is Sue Lyon's character, a respectable nurse and "pop" art collector, who likes to pick up beautiful young men, take them home to bed, listen to the post-coital beating of their hearts, and then stab them to death with a surgical scalpel! The director of this Eloy Inglesias was a famous gay Spanish director. The bizarre scene where Lyon dresses up as a man and picks up an effeminate (but closeted) homosexual, or the scene where she picks up a narcissistic and (even more closeted)male model give a very noirish psychosexual--and decidedly homoerotic--ambiance to this film that has little to do with "A Clockwork Orange" and a LOT to do with the rest of the director's oeuvre like his most famous film, "Cannibal Man" (aka "Week of the Killer"). Inglesias didn't make a whole lot of films, but I would advise anyone to check out some of the ones he did before dismissing him as some kind of rip-off artist. He was, in fact, one of Spain's most interesting and courageous directors.

The English-language title of this, "Murder in a Blue World". is interesting, but even more interesting is the Spanish title which loosely translates to something like "A Drop of Blood for Dying while Making Love" . This colorful title serves to connect this film (despite its futuristic sci-fi elements)to the Italian/Spanish giallo genre. This is basically a homoerotically-charged, futuristic dystopian, psychosexual giallo, which makes it pretty damn interesting--and original--in my book.

Passable Spanish/French co-production dealing with a gang of young people (Chris Mitchum , Antonio del Real ,David Carpenter ) with gaudy hulls and riding in a sport car , determined to wipe out the entire families , and executing panic and ravage at homes where assault , rape and mistreat inhabitants . Meanwhile , a notorious surgeon (Jean Sorel) undergoes a peculiar therapy on delinquents (Clockwork Orange similar style) and falls for a beautiful nurse called Ana Vernia (Sue Lyon ) . But things don't always go the way you expect .



This interesting story contains suspense , grisly killlings by stabbing with scalpel , noisy action-packed , motorbike racing and lots of violence , if not much continuity . Thrilling and exciting screenplay by expert Antonio Fos , Antonio Artero , Eloy De La Iglesia himself , and the traditional writer/director José Luis Garci . The film pays tribute to ¨Clockwork orange¨ (1971) by Stanley Kubrick , at the time this Kubrick film was prohibited in Spain and ¨Una gota de sangre para morir amando¨ (1973) was nicknamed the ¨Clockwork mandarine¨ . There is also a homage to ¨Lolita¨ based on novel by Navokov and played by Sue Lyon and directed by Kubrick . It results to be a surprisingly solid little film , including some action scenes very skillfully staged . Agreeable all action seventies Euro-nostalgia trip , being fast paced and rightly developed . An action filled European nail-biting flick in which the suspect protagonist, who is executing a criminal spree , falls in love for youth and there are some moving car/motorcycle pursuits along the way before the final takes a slight twist . This motorcycle chase bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Un verano para matar¨ directed by Antonio Isasi and also starred by Chris Mitchum . Successful crime thriller that follows Clockwork Orange as well as Giallo style . It's certainly violent and exciting , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time . Mid-seventies Madrid comes across as an ordinary European location and serves as an excellent backdrop for most of the action . The plot was a satisfying mix of set pieces and unexpected plot twists . A fun and romantic snapshot in time and place in which a doctor falls in love with his nurse , but problems emerge and things go awry . It stars Sue Lyon giving an average acting as the suspicious nurse whose identity is a mystery and she may not be quite what she seems , as she results to be a killer who makes love with good-looking boys . Chris Mitchum with his usual stoic acting -similarly his father Robert- pulls off a lousy performance . The picture is full of Spanish secondaries usually playing the typical co-productions of the 60s and 70s as Euro Westerns , terror , Euro-spy genre , thrillers , such as : Fernando Hilbeck , Charly Bravo , Saturno Cerra , David Carpenter , Eduardo Calvo , Fernando Sánchez Polack , Luis Gaspar , Alfredo Alba , Fabian Conde and future director Antonio del Real.

Colorful and glimmer cinematography in color-scope and Technicolor by Francisco Fraile . Even by today's standards, it would be good, provided someone cared to restore it's brightly colour , perfect editing, and natural sound . Moving and stirring musical score Georges Garvarentz in the 70s style . Well and lavishly produced by José Frade , whose name shows up on the credit titles greatest than the filmmaker himself . This sensationalistic film "Murder in a Blue World ¨ (international title) was regularly directed by Eloy De La Iglesia , being his only Sci-Fi movie and his biggest budget . The director was defending his name and career , but also his money in more ways than one , as he was one of the producers investing in the project . Most his films dealt with sex including shots of nude males , homosexuality , politics and forbidden lovers . De La Iglesia was a notorious communist militant , drug addict and homosexual , these personal characteristics were widely shown in his films . Eloy was a talented Spanish movies director , he began working in cinema in 1966 , at his 22 years old , he debuted in a kiddies production , ¨Fantasy 3¨(66) . Following a sordid melodrama ¨Algo Amargo En La Boca¨ (67) and a boxing story , ¨Cuadrilatero¨(69) . De La Iglesia realizes a lot of thrilling pictures with erotic background as ¨Techo Cristal¨(70) , ¨Nadie Oyó Gritar¨ (72) , ¨Gota Sangre Para Seguir Amando¨ (73) , and scabrous tales as ¨Juegos Amor Prohibido¨(75) , ¨Otra Alcoba¨ (76) . And concerning youthful gay : ¨Placeres Ocultos¨(76) , ¨El Sacerdote¨(78) and politicians : ¨The Deputy ¨, ¨Mujer Del Ministro¨ . Although he became notorious in the years of the Spanish transition to democracy with shocking and polemic films as ¨El Pico 1¨ and 2¨ , ¨Cólegas¨ , ¨Navajeros¨, ¨La Estanquera De Vallecas¨ (87) . All of them dealt with druggies , dope sellers , delinquency , terrorism , underworld suburban and generational problems are the habitual subjects in his films , and specially dedicated to the underworld of heroin ; as well as the gay world . Passing of time hasn't had mercy with most of those movies , but they represented a time and a way of life in the history of Spain ; and now they may seem a little bit naive . His last films were an academic rendition based on Henry James' novel : ¨The turn of the screw¨ and ¨Los Novios Búlgaros¨. This film also titled : Murder in a Blue World , or La clinique des horreurs , Clockwork Terror , or To Love, Perhaps to Die has a rating : 6/10 . This is a movie that both entertaining and enlightening . Certainly worth watching if you're in the mood for something other than typical exploitation fare.

On the surface, Eloy de la Iglesia's MURDER IN A BLUE WORLD is set in a future where young gangs are directly influenced by Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, and pull off home invasions almost exactly like that movie, banned in Europe during this time...

Meanwhile, handsome doctor Jean Sorel is experimenting on a way to shock criminals into submission to become normal citizens, also like the Kubrick classic, one of his most controversial since LOLITA...

Enter that film's teenage starlet turned thirty-something beauty Sue Lyon, who went from studio films to exploitation b-movies, wherein MURDER aka CLOCKWORK TERROR is the epitome of...

But the best scenes exist beyond the whole CLOCKWORK juxtaposition, centering on Lyon, as Sorel's head nurse and semi-girlfriend, who's so rich and lonely she murders equally lonely (and equally beautiful) men in scenes straight from a kind of melancholy/arthouse giallo that BLUE WORLD mirrors more than the offbeat sci-fi homage/satire intended...

More scenes should have been given to Sue Lyon as the surreptitious costume-wearing, nightclub-frequenting, bedroom-seducing, black-widow-like killer providing a slow-burn intensity perfectly suited for a cult starlet usually prone to victims, and less to her own personal stalking blackmailer in a bland Christopher Mitchum, member of a "droogie" style gang that he seems to both co-lead and be bullied by...

Enveloped in this deliberately doubly-ironic curio where one of the most famous Kubrick starlets not only exists in a violent CLOCKWORK ORANGE-style death WORLD, but at one point even reads that book by Nabokov before broodingly yet delightfully adding to the body count - that's all her own.

If there's one thing Spanish and Italian filmmakers in the seventies loved, it was making their own versions of popular American classics. Rip-offs of films such as Jaws, Dirty Harry and The Exorcist almost became genres in their own rights as so many films were made. Perhaps a less obvious to rip-off is Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 'A Clockwork Orange', but director Eloy de la Iglesia obviously thought it was a good idea. It wasn't though as this exploitation/sci-fi garbage has little in the way of interest and doesn't manage to create anything worthy of the great ideas brought forward in the superior Kubrick film. The film appears to be trying to make some sort of social commentary and although similar ideas worked well in the 1971 film, here they're portrayed with the use of a daft looking biker gang and it doesn't really have the same impact. I was surprised to see Jean Sorel among the cast members; as one of the better known European actors at the time, I'd have expected him to have a bit more sense. God knows what the scriptwriters were thinking; sometimes you can see glimmers of a good idea in there somewhere but clearly the film is just a load of nonsense and I wouldn't recommend anyone sees it.

I took a chance on this because of Sue Lyon and the references to Stanley Kubrick. And yes, it's there in good fun. Apparently the original script was more focused on the nurse character, and less of the gang. But when A Clockwork Orange was released, De La Iglesia saw a way to tie it in, and no doubt try to capitalize on it. However the gang is just 'goofy'. Like the boy scouts trying to be the Hell's Angels. But the member David (Chris Mitchum) is interesting, as he solely witnesses Ana's (Sue Lyon) disposing of a body and proceeds to craftily blackmail her. The men she chooses to lure and dispose of is interesting as well, but not really fully explained. And the exterior environment and its 'futuristic' look is barely noticeable. Yet, Ana as a respected and dedicated nurse by day, and luring and unremorseful serial killer by night is a good story in itself. And the blackmailing, and how to remedy that is intriguing as well. But the ending is without any resolve or reason. Other than violence and murder cannot be readily detected or cured. So in taking away Kubrick's influence, lack of budget, and loose threads all around - the integral story isn't half bad. And there are some good haunting shots that show integrity and vision above a cheaply thrown together 'knock off' as it was panned. Not the greatest movie, but worth a watch and to have knowledge of.