My take: This is a lot of cheesy, Italian-gothic goodness. Tropes abound but there are enough scares to keep it fun and interesting.
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Like many of the films I have watched previously, Devil’s Nightmare is chock full of gothic horror tropes:
- There’s a creepy castle (with bonus torture devices in the attic)
- The baron in said castle has a bubbling, smoky laboratory (though he does alchemy, not science)
- There’s a demonic curse on the baron
- A group of tourists get stranded at said castle with said baron
One thing that sets this movie apart from those before it, however, is the blatant integration of sex into the film. While the group of tourists are settling into their rooms, the two young females decide to share a room. And it is not just because they are scared. The movie seems to suddenly change genres and become a 1970s girl-on-girl porno.
Poster for Devil’s Nightmare.
After that scene, sex serves as an undercurrent to the film. The baron’s family lives under a demonic curse: every first-born female is a succubus and serves at the devil’s whim. As you can guess, a succubus appears to spoil the group’s stay at the castle. She punishes each for their sins in turn, while wearing very revealing clothing.
Even through all this cheesiness, the film is downright fun to watch. As a result, I would recommend this to people who like gothic horror and Italian horror.
I bought a DVD copy of the movie from Amazon. Here is the trailer on YouTube:
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