Have you ever watched a horror film and wondered what would
have happened if the characters had taken a different road, had they turned
left instead of right? I have, quite often as a matter of fact. Devil’s
Nightmare is such a film. It would make a nice double feature with Vampire’s
Night Orgy as it opens with a bus full of travelers who instead of ending up in
a village full of Vampires; they end up in a castle with a devil worshiping succubus
running loose.
Berlin, 1945. A Nazi Officer witnesses his wife dying while
giving birth to a baby girl. Having wanted a boy, he takes the child down out
of site and stabs it with a bayonet.
Flash forward 25 years. Seven travelers get lost while on their way
through Germany. The group is made up of people who would probably never be
caught dead in the same place otherwise. Along with the driver are a bitchy
older man named Mason (Lucien Raimbourg), Albin, a student priest (Jacques
Monseau), a married couple that seems to hate each other , Howard and Tanya
Foster (Lorenzo Terzon of Lady Frankenstein and Colette Emmanuelle in her film
debut), and a couple of sexy euro tarts Regine and Corinne (Slinktastic Shirley
Corrigan, from Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf and Ivanna Novak, of The Big Bust
Out).
They stop to ask directions from a creepy gaunt man on the
side of the road (Do yourself a favor, If a stranger looks like Gollum, don’t
stop). Lurch says that they can travel no further tonight and directs them to a
nearby castle where they can take refuge for the night. They take Gollum’s
advice and backtrack towards a castle he spoke of. Once there, they are greeted
by the worst room salesman ever (trust me, most people wouldn’t stay in a room
shown by him).
Before dinner we spend a little time with our travelers to
get to know them. Not very interesting at first but then we get to a couple of
scenes that put the TRASH in EUROTRASH. The Fosters argue yet again.
Howard can’t keep it in his pants and wants an Italian meat sandwich and Tanya
isn’t invited to dinner! She accuses him of marrying her for her money and he
doesn’t exactly deny it. Moving on to the source of trouble on the bus, Corinne
uses one of the all-time great pick-up lines to hook up with Regine (I’m
scarred to sleep alone in this big old castle, shall we share a room?) Well they
waste no time, we find Regine laying in her
undies on the bed in front of Corinne who watches her intently before offering
to help her undress and segueing into a little girl on girl action.
After working up an appetite in one way or another, our
guests get to dinner where they meet the Nazi Baron von Rhoneberg (Jean
Servais) once again. He engages his guests with stories of his family and the
curse that follows them. Every first born female born to the Rhoneberg family will
become a succubus. Just as he is explaining his story, in walks the always off
the hook Erika Blanc wearing an almost not there kinda gown. She finishes
telling the story of the succubus and how she uses her sexuality to kill. But
wait, she kinda fits the bill right? An alluring female that is known to the
home but unwanted. Who is this beautiful creature with an insatiable love for
the dead? Well it’s not living dead girl. You get the idea.
The Devil’s Nightmare came out in 1972 and is the finest
example of Eurotrash Cinema, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.
Erika Blanc owns this film as she does most films she
appeared in. She is however given stiff competition from Shirley Corrigan, who
really looks like an Italian precursor to Brittan’s Natalie Dormer.
I know what you’re thinking, hey, what about Jean Brismée,
doesn’t he get any credit? Well, I have to admit that I don’t know his work
well and found him very hard to research. He definitely didn’t do a bad job here
but nothing stands out either. This film really relies on sex and mild gore to carry
it. The cast are really only there as plot devices, after all, Erika needs
reasons to walk around and be sexy/deadly. And though she does get some
competition from Corrigan, Novak and Emmanuelle, they are not really given
anything to do after the first 30 minutes.
On the upside, the score is a high point for this
exploitation classic, being composed by Alessandro Alessandroni , of Sergio Leone
fame and the set pieces are adequately spooky especially the Iron Maiden set.
Like I said in the beginning, it’s a nice film to watch with
Vampire’s Night Orgy and explore the possibilities. Ya never know how different
your life will turn out if you take that other road.
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