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Director: Jordi Gigó
Screenplay: Jordi Gigó
Cast: Silvia Solar (Claire
Grandier); Olivier Mathot (Professor Gruber); José Nieto (Duke de Haussemont);
Evelyne Scott (Loretta); Daniel Martín (Richard); María Silva (Susan)
Synopsis: A widowed countess Claire Grandier (Solar) plans to revenge the suicide of her husband on Duke de
Haussemont (Nieto), the man
responsible for his demise as shown in electric blue hued flashbacks. With the help
of Professor Gruber (Mathot), a
scientist with telekinetic powers, and a dwarf she saves from being lynched,
she intends to combine black magic and science to bring a zombie to life to
kill the man responsible.
The small European country of
Andorra has less films made in its borders than even the nation of Aruba
according to its IMDB page. The well
known one in availability is The Devil's
Kiss. A troubled production, it's an incredible mess in terms of its plot,
but an exceptionally entertaining one, the passion project of its Andorran
director Gigó who desired to bring
about an industry in his home country but was scuppered while making the film
and the final result being delayed in its released. Thankfully, the only one of
the couple of films he made you can get hold of easily, was a fun one for me. Openly,
this is not for everyone. Produced by Eurocine,
who produced various Euro kitsch genre films and a few Jess Franco productions like Nightmares
Comes At Night (1970), this is a scrappy production which combines various plot ideas - magic,
brainwashing, Frankenstein, softcore sex, camp - into a messy bowl. It's charm
is a lot of what saves the final product for me.
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By way of magic and science is a
diabolic combination I cannot help but enjoy, trying to cram so many random
plot threads around a story that culminates in a thin Tor Johnson lookalike
wandering corridors of a mansion randomly strangling people as the film occasionally
cuts to Mathot's dynamic ways of
showing Gruber having a psychic headache. I have a passion for Euro horror
films to the point that not only do the gems of the genre stand out more but
even the daft ones like this entertaining. It's as a simple as loving the women
who populate these films, as much time spent on the maid character Loretta (Scott) and her various escapades with
her lover or wandering around the Haussemont residence even if it's pointless titillation,
and adoring the seventies sets and dated aesthetics. A film like The Devil's Kiss could only have been
made back in the seventies, a film that rambles within the softcore as much as
with the same gothic vein of Hammer
movies and fellow Euro horror films of the time. There is a blind devotion to
the plot as well, as it goes along and adds Haussemont's dandy son into the
fray later on, where it doesn't matter how ridiculous it gets that charming
too. Many things that could be off-putting or annoying in other films - the
softcore being emphasised over plot, the slow pace - is no longer a problem
with these films unless you're dealing with the truly terrible because, as in
this case, the sincere silliness of the film's premise and what style it has is
likeable.
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The film has the same airy
atmosphere of other European genre films of that time of being unstuck in their
exact geographical setting and time, as much French as Spanish with actors from
various nationalities. The exact time frame is as subjective, almost all period
Gothic storytelling in a castle mansion only for a random fashion show of women
of cat suits or a car to break the presumption. The film is camp, one foot in
fifties sci-fi with its conviction of a telekinetic zombie being a sound
revenge tool, the other in the area like other Eurocine and Euro genre films where they are completely
unpredictable in even what the score is like. There's no Mystery Science Theatre 3000 irony with the film for me in terms of
this enjoyment, instead an entertainment in its delicious eccentricity. It's a
film as much for people just to enjoy Silvia
Solar watching one at her machinations
in heavy makeup and alluring gowns as it is the random plot ideas. It's the
kind of film where the dwarf assistant gets his own prolonged erotic fantasy in
his sleep, in the same blue hue of her flashbacks, where he imagines the
countess riding a horse naked for the sake of the moment. I appreciate the film's conviction even if the
plot is a cross-stitch of ideas all over the place.
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Technical Details:
For every stylish Euro horror
film of this era, there are others which have a similar style to them in how
they look, the same as with Hammer's
lesser films, where there's few elaborate camera pans, the frame usually stuck
in one place only for each shot and basic editing of scenes. What the likes of The Devil's Kiss have, over most Hammer films for me personally, is a
more entrenched sense of glamour and distinction even if they are ramshackle. No
matter how cheesy and tacky these sort of films can be, they have a lushness
from the music to the location sets that stand out more. Just alone the mansion
for the film makes up a great deal of the atmosphere for the film as does the
dubbing make up a great deal of the entertainment value.
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Abstract Spectrum: Psychotronic
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None
Despite its telekinetic powered
zombie, cat suit fashion shows and the dubbing, this is far from abstract as
you can get. There are a lot of quiet scenes of dialogue exchange or still
moments setting up a horror moment which dissipates the elusive atmosphere you
need to create a mysterious mood. The film also splices in a lot of softcore nudity
and sex which also disarms any mood to the film that is beyond the gothic
b-movie charm. Instead its more ridiculous than weird.
Personal Opinion:
Far from the best of Euro cinema,
and some may raise an eyebrow for me giving this film the praise I have, I did
enjoy The Devil's Kiss immensely. The
fact that it's one of the sole films even to come from a European country, even
if it was a co-production, does add some addition goodwill to the film. The
director-writer was trying his hardest to create something memorable, to the
point it was partially funded by his father's money as well, and he managed to
still get the film made despite the problems that were said to be happing
during its production. Maybe this is letting the film off lightly for major
flaws, but since I have a sweet tooth for absurd, silly Euro pudding films from
these decades, I was already biased in its favour unless it made the cardinal
sin of boring me.
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