BA_Harrison The Devil's Nightmare opens in Berlin, 1945, with Nazi officer Baron von Rhoneberg (Jean Servais) brutally stabbing his newborn daughter as she lays helplessly in her crib. The reason for this jaw-dropping act of cruelty is that Gothic horror cliché, the family curse: the oldest daughter of each generation of the von Rhoneberg family is doomed to become a succubus, an agent of the devil tasked with collecting the souls of sinners. By killing his baby girl, the baron is ending the curse—or so he thinks… Years later, seven travellers seek shelter for the night at the baron's castle, and are killed one-by-one by his servant's sexy daughter Lisa Müller (Erika Blanc), the secret illegitimate offspring of his dead brother Rudolph.Any film that starts with gratuitous baby-stabbing gets my attention—it's not often you see that sort of cold-bloodedness, even in a horror—but the demented fun doesn't end there: this devilish Gothic tale from director Jean Brismée has virtually all the ingredients I look for in my early-'70s cult Euro-horror. A stormy night and the Baron's creepy castle provide the perfect setting, the impressive building coming complete with mad scientist's laboratory in the cellar and torture equipment in the attic. The baron's unexpected guests include a pair of gorgeous young women, Corinne (Ivana Novak) and Regine (Shirley Corrigan), who waste no time in stripping off for some steamy lesbian sex. And the deaths are both gruesome (decapitation via guillotine, impaled in an iron maiden and a high fall onto metal railings) and inventive (drowning in gold!!!).Brismée conducts proceedings with plenty of style, delivering enough sleaze and dreamlike atmosphere to keep most Jean Rollin and Jess Franco fans happy, but with the added bonus that it's never boring! All of this is enhanced by a wonderfully haunting score, and the film ends with a crazy twist that comes out of nowhere. What a shame that this was the director's one and only full length film.

morrison-dylan-fan Gathering up Horror DVDs to list on Ebay,I spotted a Gothic Horror title starring Erica Blanc that my dad had recently picked up,which led to me getting ready to experience some devilish nightmares.Berlin 1945:As bombs fall around them,the wife of Baron von Rhoneberg dies in childbirth.Shortly after his wife dies,Rhoneberg kills their new born baby girl (talk about taking things easy for the viewer!)Years later:Planning to visit an erotic island,a group of tourists discover that they have missed the last cruise ship for the day.Searching round for a place to stay,the tourists run into a stranger on the road,who tells them that Rhoneberg may allow them to stay at his castle for the night.Met by Rhoneberg's butler Hans,they are invited in and shown to their bedrooms. Settling down,the tourists meet Rhoneberg over dinner,who decides to treat the guests to some folk tales involving his family,one of which claims that the family have made a deal with the devil,who turns the first Rhoneberg daughters into a Succubus.View on the film:Filmed in a real castle,director Jean Brismée and cinematographer André Goeffers lock the group in with tight winding shots,which along with displaying long corridors in the castle,also creates a smooth atmosphere of impending Gothic Horror doom.Whilst the camera goes a bit jumpy for the ghost/demon effects, Brismée makes up for it by treating the Succubus in a lavish manner,by matching the rotting special facial effects with a keen eye to show ever section of the Succubus naked flesh.Based around the 7 deadly sins,the screenplay by Pierre-Claude Garnier & Patrice Rhomm attempts to make each of the tourist a various sin.Whilst this idea does lead to some nice vicious deaths and a wonderfully jet-black comedic ending,the writers fail to connect any of the tourists to their particular sins,which leads to a long dry build up before the exposure of their original sins. Slithering across the screen, Erika Blanc gives a sizzling performance as Lisa Müller/the Succubus,thanks to Blanc making Lisa's nakedness being a powerful tool for dominance,as Lisa entwines herself around the tourists,and gives them all a devilish night.

gavin6942 A bus of tourists is directed by a creepy farmer to stay in the castle of Baron von Rhoneberg, an ex-Nazi officer who despite his past seems very welcoming. Things seem to be going well until they are joined by an eighth guest (Erika Blanc), who may very well be a succubus.I know a little something about how succubi operate. I dated one once, back when I was young and stupid. Now that I'm old and stupid, I can reflect back and see her succubus charm and how it is hollow... but I digress. Traditionally, a succubus is a demon that seduces men, often in their sleep, and engages in sexual relations with them. Sadly, the so-called succubus here never does anything of the sort. (But there is a lesbian sex scene for those who are into that sort of thing.) According to many sources, the bus passengers are supposed to represent the seven deadly sins, but it is really hard to make that connection. Lust is clear, gluttony is painfully obvious and greed seems clear. But who is the priest? Pride? It's not clear at all. Who is sloth? Who is envy? Wrath? I could make guesses, but it's not clear. Unlike "Seven", where the sins are laid out very clearly, here it's a guessing game and the fates are far less torturous (though no less deadly).Reviewer Theron Neel, who does excellent work, points out this film has been known by at least fourteen names and seems to have a decent following, yet very little can be found about it. I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment. I really enjoyed the story and the characters and the dark twist towards the end... this film could easily get a decent treatment with special features and whatnot. Yet, it seems to be considered largely disposable. That is unfortunate.If you can find this one, I encourage you to pick it up. The version I own is on the "Blood Bath" collection, which is the bare minimum of quality. There's also a version from Diamond that I presume is superior (but don't take my word for it). I'd love to see Dark Sky or Anchor Bay pick this one up and dig up old footage and such.

Coventry Movies such as "The Devil's Nightmare" are exactly the type of cinematic smut I live for! It's got everything to magically conjure a gigantic smile on the face of every slightly deranged horror/cult/exploitation fanatic. There's bad & incoherent plotting, macabre set-pieces, a mild Gothic atmosphere, demented characters, shocking themes, lousy gore effects and – not to forget – authentically gratuitous lesbian sex! This Belgian/Italian co-production (love the combination since I myself am Belgian and Italy is my favorite movie-making country) is messed up beyond proportions and describing the essence of the plot would take up at least a couple of pages, so I won't go too much into detail. Let's just say the main storyline revolves on an ancient family curse that turns every first born daughter of the Von Rhoneberg generation into a succubus (= female servant of the devil), and a group of tourists stranded at the family castle are just in time to "celebrate" the devilish pact's 700th anniversary. Furthermore, the baron practices alchemy in his basement, there are Nazi child-executions, a gruesome murder story for every room in the castle, the random torture of cats in the attic, negotiations between a priest and the devil himself and a wide variety of shlocky massacres. A lot of the on screen events don't make sense, and there's no building up suspense whatsoever, but it has to be said that the screenplay does also feature a couple of ingenious and rather clever elements. For example, the Succubus (a luscious Erica Blanc) makes sure that every tourist's death symbolizes his or her biggest sin, whether it's greed, unfaithfulness, curiosity … The killings are very nasty, though hardly scary, and follow each other at an incredible pace, barely allowing you the time to wipe the sinister grin off your face. And if all that isn't enough just yet, wait till you witness the far out climax sequence. Oh yes, "The Devil's Nightmare" is pretty bad… So bad it's freaking brilliant! Easily one of the most entertaining European exploitation movies ever made. It's ten times more exciting than all Jess Franco's movies combined, sleazier that Jean Rollin's horribly dull vampire movies and more demented than … well, anything you've ever seen. It's a damn shame Belgians and Italians didn't collaborate more often back in the 70's, because this crazy puppy is a real keeper.