Lee Eisenberg Italian cinema brings to mind Federico Fellini* and his ilk. Connoisseurs of this probably don't know that Italy spent the 1970s releasing a series of sleazy horror flicks. "Il plenilunio delle vergini" ("The Devil's Wedding Night" in English) is probably most readily available as part of Elvira's Movie Macabre. The Mistress of the Dark spends the whole time commenting on the movie's lack of an obvious plot...and then her Auntie Virus comes and tries to steal the show! The movie itself - about a castle in the Carpathians to which a collection of five virgins gets drawn and never seen again - is fairly enjoyable. There's no shortage of sex and gore. In a way, these horror flicks hearken back to Italy's famous paintings showing scenes of torture and suffering.I don't know if it's possible to obtain this movie on its own. It's the sort of movie that only Elvira, "Mystery Science Theater 3000" or Joe Bob Briggs could present. It's some authentic good times. There's a reason why I got Elvira's autograph at Wizard World last year.Anyway, enjoy Miss E's presentation. Unpleasant dreams!*As it turns out, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira's portrayer) had a brief appearance in Fellini's "Roma".

Witchfinder General 666 Italian Gothic Horror films from the 60s and 70s are usually as elegant, eerie and rewarding as Horror can get. While Luigi Batzella's "Il Plenilunio Delle Vergini" aka. "The Devil's Wedding Night" of 1973 is certainly no highlight of the genre, it is an enjoyable little slice of Sleaze that my fellow Eurohorror buffs should enjoy. Even though there are some brilliant Italian Gothic Horror films made in the 70s, one might say that the sub-genre had its heyday in the 60s, when filmmakers such as the inimitable Mario Bava, Antonio Margheriti and Riccardo Freda delivered the greatest contributions to the genre. In the 70s, the main focus of Italian Horror/Suspense cinema was on the equally brilliant and elegant Giallo-Genre; however, there were still plenty of Gothic Horror films being made, and those went with the time and were filled with the delightful sleaze that is omnipresent in 70s cult-cinema. "The Devil's Wedding Night" is a good example for this.One has to admit that the storyline is not the film's strongest aspect, as it doesn't make a lot of sense. In search of the legendary Ring of the Nibelungen, Karl Schiller (Mark Damon) comes to Transylvania where he inspects Castle Dracula, claiming that he does so for architectural studies. The stunningly beautiful and sinister Contessa Dolingen De Vries (Rosalba Neri), who owns the castle, immediately seduces him. However, the sexy Contessa has some unholy secrets... In the meanwhile Karl's identical twin brother (also Mark Damon), has followed him to Transylvania in order to look after his safety...As stated above, the story doesn't make a lot of sense. The film starts out extremely cheesy, but it gradually gets better and more entertaining. Italian directors have always had a particular talent to make their films visually elegant, even when the budget was low, and this film is no exception. "The Devi's Wedding Night" is beautifully shot in nice locations full of elegant and macabre set-pieces. The ravishing Rosalba Neri (credited here as Sara Bay) who is best known for her roles in other sleazy Italian gems such as "La Figlia Di Frankenstein" ("Frankenstein's Daughter", 1971) and "La Bestia Uccide A Sangue Freddo" ("Slaughter Hotel", 1971) and who is once again more than willing to take her clothes off, fits in the role of the Vampiric Countess very well. The rest of the female cast members are also beautiful to look at, and all have exhibitionist tendencies. Apart from her beauty, Rosalba Neri also has a great screen presence and the talent to be effectively eerie. The film includes all the essential ingredients of 70s Eurosleaze, such as gratuitous female nudity, lesbianism and lesbian Vampires, and bloody and perverted Satanic rituals. Leading man Mark Damon was in the greatest of Gothic Horror films in the sixties, including Bava's "I Tre Volti Della Paura" ("Black Sabbath", 1963) and Roger Corman's "House of Usher" (1960). He continued to be in the sleaziest of Gothic Horror movies in the seventies, including the visually stunning "Byleth - Il Demone Dell'Incesto" and this film. Overall, "The Devil's Wedding Night" is no must-see, but it certainly is a fun flick to watch for a fan of low-budget Eurohorror. 6.5/10

InjunNose "The Devil's Wedding Night" is a perfect example of everything that bugs me about Eurohorror. It boasts every cruddy cliché you can think of--magic rings and amulets, chanting Satanists, goofy-looking fake vampire teeth, and nudity out the wazoo--but has none of the style or atmosphere of, say, a Mario Bava film. Nothing inherently wrong with nudity, of course...but director Luigi Batzella pads this clunker with too much of it, hoping that T&A will prevent the viewer from dwelling on the lack of scares. No such luck. Mark Damon (who looks as if he'd done some hard living after starring in "House of Usher" and "Black Sabbath" a decade earlier) plays twin brothers Franz and Karl, both of whom are menaced by a beautiful but sinister countess (Rosalba Neri, who appears here as 'Sara Bay') in her gloomy castle. The countess has a scowling lesbian servant and a bald, apparently mute henchman whose cuspids are each about a foot long; eventually, some naked virgins and guys in executioners' hoods show up for an ill-defined, Black Mass- type ceremony which takes place once every fifty years. Or something. None of it makes a hell of a lot of sense. If you're not picky about your horror, or if you just want to have a good laugh, I guess "The Devil's Wedding Night" is an acceptable way to pass eighty minutes of your life. Everyone else is advised to steer clear.

MARIO GAUCI This is another disreputable "Euro-Cult" item of the Horror/Erotica variety: its director, in fact, is likened to Renato Polselli – whose vaguely similar THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL (1973) I recently watched. Mind you, this is nowhere near the incomprehensible mess that ISABEL was – but the plot also concerns vampires, sacrificial victims and lookalike protagonists (in this case, Mark Damon as twin brothers).It all starts with the search for the mythic Ring of the Nibelungens, currently residing in Transylvania(!)…which, of course, is the home of Count Dracula. When one of the Damons goes there, he finds a Countess ("Euro-Cult" starlet Rosalba Neri) living in Castle Dracula; having lost his protective amulet, he soon falls under her spell and is himself turned into a bloodsucker. Soon after, though, his twin turns up at the castle but, being the more studious of the two, he resists Neri's advances and, thinking something's not right with the place, spends a good part of the running-time roaming its various corridors and, naturally, the crypt (virtually a given for Gothic chillers)! As it turned out, the brothers happened to pick the time when five local virgins are to be sacrificed (presumably for the reincarnation of Dracula); the film's most erotic yet visually impressive sequence, as a matter of fact, shows the blood of a freshly-slain girl being spilled on the naked Countess – residing in one of the crypts – by her zombie-like black maid (yes, various horror myths are thrown in for no very good reason and with little real impact!). Anyway, it all ends with the afflicted Damon being initiated into the ways of the vampire – but he's actually been disposed of and replaced by his heroic sibling who, in no time at all, manages to disarm the various diabolists (who turn up out of nowhere) at the ceremony. Meanwhile, Neri retreats to the castle tower and, with the aid of the ring, draws the intended sacrificial victims to her – but Damon disturbs her plans even here, and she eventually perishes thanks to some providential lightning. The hero leaves the castle with a local girl he had befriended but, in a clichéd downbeat conclusion, she has been turned into a vampire (off-screen) as well – given that the driver of the coach is none other than the sinister-looking character occasionally seen prowling the castle grounds… To be fair, the tone of the piece is characteristically dream-like and it all looks pretty good for the little budget the director must have had at his disposal; on the other hand, being at once insufficiently-plotted and highly derivative, it's not memorable enough to live in the memory.