Stockholm Sex Report

Stockholm Sex Report

Original title: Rapport från Stockholms sexträsk

Directed by: Arne Brandhild

Sweden, 1974

Documentary/Mondo, 69 min

Distributed by: Klub Super 8

Mondo fans rejoice! You may know about Luigi Scattini’s Svezia, inferno e paradiso (Sweden: Heaven and Hell) 1968, but you have probably never seen Rapport från Stockholms sexträsk (Stockholm Sex Report), a smut fest that shows the real Sweden and it’s dirty, sleazy nightclubs, as they where in the early seventies. Just before the self-sanitation and clean up of several sordid areas.

Ok, so in all honesty Stockholm Sex Report was most likely shot with a documentary idea at its heart, but comes off as an exploitative curiosity relying on its sensationalistic content and a truly groovy, vinyl static ridden, soundtrack. It’s basically a series of lurid night club acts (think Bunny Yeager/Irving Klaw acts, but dirtier) where chicks strip down and shake their strut or hairy couples interact on stage, interwoven pseudo documentary footage telling of the many sex clubs in Stockholm, what goes on behind the closed doors, how the businesses are run, and what to expect during a visit. Pornographic comics and magazines are discussed, content and quality wise. Classified ad’s get a chapter and the obligatory tour of sex shops and all their kinky devices on display. There’s an interesting segment of where some geezer – possibly Brandhild - picks up prostitutes, drives them around Stockholm and candidly talks to them about sex trade of the day. The frank conversations become something of a fascinating interview and document of the oldest profession in the world, revealing what the prostitutes feel for their customers, what their ordinary life is like and how they emotionally handle the work. To some extent the narrative tries to give some kind of justification as the hookers come off as happy and content, and well off for dosh. One woman brags about her income and how she’s going to go buy a midnight blue Chrysler with a hard top. It’s possible that the dialogue is bogus and was written by Brandhild, but it’s certainly sleazy fare and one can only fantasize what a full fledged exploitation, or Swedish Sin film as they where to become know as, from Brandhild’s pen would have been like.

Arne Brandhild was a man of many talents. He was first and foremost a cinematographer who lensed stuff like Torgny Wickman’s Inkräktarna (The Intruders) 1975 and Ta Mig I Dalen (Girl on her Knees 1977 – both available from Klub Super 8), Ragnar Frisk and the Mats Helge Olsson produced Attentatet (Outrage 1980, which starred Christina Lindberg in one of her last roles before her twenty year absence from theatre screens).  He also edited several films for Mats Helge Olsson and Ragnar Frisk. But it didn’t stop there, he also wrote the script to Claes Fellbom’s Agent 0,5 och Kvarten – fattaruväl! But if’s mainly Brandhild’s camerawork and self made short films that make up his legacy if we where to designate him with one. There’s no real record of the amount of shorts he shot, but some of them are still around, and even one of them – Girlography, a 14 min short from 1986 where Brandhild cruises from inner city to archipelago of Stockholm checking out the chicks and sights – is included as a bonus on this release…

…and talking bonuses, holy fucking sleazebag, this disc is a treasure chest of filth, musky odours and sexy dancing. Funny loops, seedy reels and even a randy documentation of the nightclub show at the sex club Chat Noir. The short “Where the Action Is” was a strange souvenir film available to buy in the establishment after spending the evening watching live acts, stripteases and corny magicians to take home and watch at your own leisure. With this release you get Where the Action is a couple of Danish and Swedish stag loops, facsimiles of gentleman magazines of the time, an interactive map of the smut parlours of Stockholm, and the hilarious, Nana’s Christmas Cabaret, where strippers and nightclub dwellers sing Swedish Christmas carols.

Out now in Sweden, Rapport från Stockholms sexträsk (with a cover designed by yours truly) is obligatory viewing for Swedish sin and Mondo fans, or even those perversely curious to what really went on in the seedy underbelly of beautiful Stockholm in the seventies. English Subtitles in English are optional on this release, as they are on KlubSuper8’s other titles in this batch; Gunnar Höglund’s Vill så gärna tro (Want So Much to Believe) 1971 and a double shot of Mac Alhberg, Molly – Familjeflickan (Sex in Sweden) 1977 and Jag en Markis (The Reluctant Sadist) 1967.

As the tagline states: “Reveals all, shows all!” Get it here!

The Swedish Sin...

Now I’m not going to waste your time telling you about these smutty little movies or divulging into some pseudo analysis of narrative and characters, because that’s not gonna happen, despite how interesting it might have been. Instead, I’d like to tell you about these smutty little movies and why they should be part of your collection.

Naked Scandinavians, funky soundtracks, pristine restored prints, come on it’s fun!

If you like movies in the Swedish Sin fold, then these will be right up your street. Not only is Ta mig i dalen (Girl on Her Knees) 1977 the last of Swedish sexploitation king, Torgny Wickman’s movies - his importance is so understated in the annals of Swedish history - but it’s also a movie that shows the break between kinky soft sexploitation and the start of the deep end. One frisky take on the ways of life on a farm. Think Emmerdale with a healthy lashing of shagging, Yes Emmerdale and shagging, because Chris Chittell, who plays Eric Pollard in British countryside institution Emmerdale Farm since 1984 to now, starred in Ta mig i dalen as Richard.

Chittell appears under the stage name Charles Canyon that he used on all three of the Swedish blue movies he starred in. Ta mig i dalen was the second for Wickman - the first being The Intruder (Swedish Sex Games) against eminent stars such as Stellan Skarsgård in 1975, and Mac Ahlberg’s Molly (Sex in Sweden) 1977 against Marie Forså and Eva Axén… yes the same Eva Axén who get stabbed in the gut in the start of Dario Argento’s Suspiria 1977. See the Swedish Sin is our version of Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, everything in Sweden connects back to the Sin flicks.

Fans of doe eyed starlet, Christina Lindberg, might want to give Swedish/Danish co-production Nyckelhålet (The Keyhole) 1974 a gander, as the leading lady of that movie, Marie Ekorre, is definitely a worthy competitor for the title of queen of Swedish Sin, and here in her first leading role. You may have seen her in bit parts in Arne Mattsson’s still missing from a decent release masterpiece, Smutsiga Fingrar (Dirty Fingers) 1973, or Mac Ahlberg’s Jorden runt med Fanny Hill (Around the World with Fanny Hill) 1974, in which she co-starred as a fashion model with none other than Ms. Lindberg.

I’m happy to see distributor KlubbSuper8 return from a lengthy hiatus, as they are an important part of preserving Swedish cinematic heritage – come on, there’s so much more to Swedish cinema than Ingmar Bergman, and if you are a frequent reader you will know that I hold no grudge to Bergman and the fantastic legacy he left us with, but I do have issues with the shadows he casts upon the rest of Swedish cinematic history.

But where the spotlight really should be directed on these current releases is that the new titles – unlike the previous releases – all have English subtitles so that fans of Swedish Sin outside of Sweden can enjoy the dialogue too! But that’s not all, because if you take the time to go through the extra features, you will find, rare press materials, production documents, short movies, tons of trailers, and deleted scenes! Who the hell seeks out deleted scenes from an old skin flick? Yes, the dedicated troops of KlubbSuper8, and that's the kind of enthusiasm that I can admire!

The release of Ta Mig I Dalen is something of a treasure trove of lost material as they have also assembled the remaining material of Wickman’s never completed 1975 film Drömdoktorn (The Dream Doctor). After finding Wickman’s original shooting script and the uncut original negative, KS8, have reassembled the movie, which was discarded when the camera broke after 70% of the movie was in the can. This painstaking feat took two years of hard work to reassemble, and bring to life. Think about that the next time you rush through the special features on your discs, there’s someone who’s dedicated hours of hard work to get that on there. But it doesn’t stop there, because there’s also three tracks composed by George Riedell and Janne Schaffer.

Nyckelhålet also has its share of extras, not only a remastered version but also enclosed is a shoddy dodgy American grindhouse version complete with trashy film grain and shoddy tracking distortions. But keep in mind friends this is the real deal, no contemporary digital effects tampering, but authentic trashy grindhouse quality. And to make your acquaintance with Ms. Ekorre more pleasurable, there’s the gallery of her gentlemen magazine photographs for you.

Among the last batch of releases you can also find Blåjackor (Sailors) an Arne Mattsson musical from 1964, Bengt Blomgren’s moral dilemma drama Hällebäcks Gård 1961 (with the recently deceased Sif Ruud) where modern technology and lost love cause serious problems on the farm… without people shagging each other.

Finally the last release of this batch is another lost movie salvaged by KlubSuper8, Arne Ragneborn’s presumed lost forever anti-drinking propaganda movie Paradiset from 1955. On the bonus features here’ you’ll find interviews with colleagues, friends and co-workers who discuss just what a badass Ragneborn really was. Of the five movies he directed the most of them ended up being banned as they all dealt with topics like violence, criminality and the ever-popular Swedish pastime alcoholism… you have seen Luigi Scattini’s 1968 documentary Svezia, inferno e paradise (Sweden: Heaven and Hell) haven’t you?

Now for overseas or, “utanför tullarna” readers, I can see that this might be a tad on the narrow side even for you (not the skin flicks of course), but if you do live in Sweden then you should be picking these up anyways because these movies all have a part to play in our cinematic heritage, and if nothing else we should support KlubSuper8 as they have some really interesting titles hidden away for future releases, and we don’t want them vanish before the Dante movie or those fantastic Calvin Floyd movies are released now do we?

I’d suggest that you pop over to KlubbSuper8 and roam their web shop for some great movies filled with superb extras! Go get some!

Exorcism

Exorcism
Original Title: L’éventreur de Notre-Dame
Directed by: Jess Franco
France/Spain/Belgium (1974) 1979
93min, Thriller/Sexploitation
Distributed by: Extreme - WorldWideCinema

Jess Franco gets a lot of undeserved critique for making quick and dirty movies – technically too - and amongst the movies that get the most complaints are the Eurocine movies. It’s no understatement he made more “lesser” movies than “better” movies with Eurocine – but at the same time it’s also the studio that produced some of Jess Franco’s absolute finest moments. Such as the magnificently sleazy, depraved and violent Exorcism or The Sadist of Notre Dame or Demoniac depending on which version you actually get to see. This is one of Franco’s wildest, darkest and strangest movies, and a shocking, disturbing and outstanding tour de force of Jess Franco cinema.

Pulp author Paul Vogel – or Mathis depending on which version you are watching [Franco] is writes seedy, sensationalistic crime stories for The Dagger and Garter Weekly. His latest short, The Torture Chambers of the Inquisition, tells the exploits of a sadist who Vogel claims to be based on a real character, hence the absolutely authentic details - which the readers love! Office clerk Anne [Lina Romay], who also participates in the opening nightclub performance, works in the Venus Publications offices too. The meeting ends on a sour note, when Anne and boyfriend Raymond (or Pierre depending on which version you are watching) [Pierre Taylou] candidly without knowing he’s still in the hallway, mock Vogel.

Vogel stalks Anne and her friend Maria [Monica Swinn] going as far as renting an adjourning apartment with a view right into the two young women’s room. From his, room with a view, he get’s his voyeuristic kicks whilst oogling the two women and their lesbian lovemaking. It’s classic Franco voyeurism and wonderfully shot from an adjourning location, creating frames within the frame and presenting a metaphorical space between Vogel and his “prey” - a space soon to be closed.

Next Franco establishes the complexity of the Vogel character. He’s not only a man who gets pleasure from his voyeurism, he’s also driven by the compulsion to cleanse the women he watches, and he has to make someone pay for the sins. Vogel rushes down to the local bar, picks up a barmaid and after sloppily making out with her – or rather having a minor breakdown on top of her naked body – Vogel proclaims that he’s must exorcise the devil out of her… which obviously means she’s gonna’ die! It gives a dimension to the character, which may come as a surprise for haters, but it is there and it’s a fascinating character with more depth than most the generic shite produced today. I’ll get back to the complex character of Vogel in a moment.

This is where a subplot concerning Satanism, black magic and occult rituals is started off and then runs throughout the rest of the movie. The barmaid tells Vogel of a satanic cult that have invited her to a Black Mass, and Vogel is shoved gently towards the brink. It’s an interesting subplot and a useful one as the Satanism and occult obviously contrasts against the many religious paraphernalia and recurrent praying of Vogel’s world. As we know all about Vogel’s religious morale and mission to clean out Satanism and sin, it becomes a conscious provocation and we know that he will have to react to it. It builds an inner tension within the Vogel character, which soon will need a reaction.

Vogel sneaks around the grounds of a mansion and witnesses the Black Mass invoking a brilliant clash within the character. We already know he’s on a one man mission to clear the world of sin and sinners, so stumbling upon a cult of Satanists who not only perform a ritualistic sacrifice, but also where participants freely start sessions of heavy petting and later end up in one huge sweaty snake pit of carnal frenzy, is an absolute point of no return for Vogel. The cultists must die, and obviously he starts with the high priestess and her husband, one of the most violent and haunting moments of the movie.

There’s bitter irony to be found here. As we have understood the black Mass to be merely another act, we realise that Vogel’s “exorcism/sacrifices” of the cultists is unjustified. There is no real threat to “our/Vogel’s” religious foundation; hence the sacrifices are merely murders. His misinterpretation of the ritual, leads him into an accelerated frenzy of disgust. He commits his gory assassination of the Countess [Francine Nicolas] and the blood remains are what lead the cops to take their manhunt for a sadistic killer whose methods - according to one young detective - are identical to that of the exorcism ritual of the early inquisition. It’s another obvious religious reference, but also the jump-start of an investigation plot. But instead of going the traditional way, Franco mind-fucks us. We know all about Vogel and his mission, and at the same time Inspector Tanner [Olivier Mathot] and cohorts are not too sympathetically portrayed. It’s as if Franco is manipulating the audience into empathising with Vogel instead of rooting for the police force, as we know the “sadist”, have an insight into his complex character and compared to the inefficient police grasping at straws, Vogel is the most effective character.

As the second act introduces the “antagonistic force” of the police – yes they can be an antagonistic force, after all they are out to bust the leading character, Vogel, who in this case is a classic anti-hero type just like Dracula. Think about it, I’ve mentioned it before on this blog, vampire movies have a complicated problem, as the vampire; i.e. the classic monster – most often becomes the one we root for… the protagonist. It’s the same here, it’s Vogel we want to see more of and we want to see his sleazy killings go on for ever… well at least till he starts pawing Romay, then we will have had enough.

Following this suave manipulation, Franco moves into the final act, the one that will take us though to the climax. It obviously see’s Vogel “peeping” on Anne, committing even more murders, whilst Anne and friends all become increasingly paranoid and worried about the killer stalking Paris. It’s all a build of anticipation, as we kind of already know where it’s all going. Vogel has to encounter Anne and when he does it pure ecstatic Franco concentrate.

Having kidnapped Anna, Vogel rants about how she’s too is possessed by the devil, but at the same time he loves her and waits for the right moment to rid her of Satan’s evil influence. With his object of desire finally in his possession, he can’t just kill her off in cold blood, instead he keeps her chained to his cupboard and toys with her instead, and after all he is the Sadist of Notre Dame.

The culmination comes after Vogel is confronted by Raymond and Maria who put forward “proof” that Vogel is the killer, as the feel he knows too much about the killings, and it shines though in his pulpy writing. It’s no chance happening, it’s planted earlier on in the movie and it’s a fantastic beat that delivers. They further provoke him with the fact that they are going to have another black mass later that night. Again it’s a provocation that leads somewhere and it has consequences in the climax, a climax that rushes forth like a runaway train.

Opening in a fashion that is true Franco cinema - We take the voyeuristic gaze into a sexual torture scene where one woman dominates a second – and as the scene reaches its climax; the camera cuts away to show a room full of swanky audience members. Franco sets us down right in the middle of the audience, creating the illusion that we are one of them. It’s a trait that returns quite a lot in Franco’s movies.

We’re used to seeing Franco in bit parts in his movies, and we’re used to seeing him play shady, freaky and oddball characters too. But Mattis Vogel is almost a concentrate of all the characters he’s portrayed though the years. It’s a performance that is outstanding. Vogel is a fascinating character. He has some serious skeletons in his baggage, which are let out in portions along the narrative. The first hint at his background comes early on when Anne asks if it is true that he once used to be a priest. He writes explicit crime novels with a sadomasochistic angle, but he’s also a man of the clergy. It gives dimension to the character. As does the conflict in kneeling affront of his bible, praying to God and putting on his priest garbs only to turn around and savagely murdering the prostitute he picked up at the club. It’s also here his profound beliefs come to surface for the first time. It’s also where he exposes his secret of once being expelled from the church due to his extreme ways of dealing with sin and sinners… he’s not even a real priest anymore, and not accepted by his kind, he’s an outsider.

I usually claim that there’s one crown jewel of storytelling when it comes to creating a fascinating character, and the one thing that motivates their actions harder than anything else is guilt! Yes, guilt. It’s obviously Vogel’s catholic guilt that drives and motivates him to kill the women. The guilt over his voyeurism becomes such a burden that he must redeem himself, and what better than sacrificing the satanic sinners of the devil’s cult to God!

Exorcism is all about voyeurism, life, death and religion – the art of killing in the name of God - i.e., which I feel is an obvious General Franco metaphor if there ever was one. The cinematography by Raymond Heil is outstanding. There are quite a few shots that just linger on in long shots. Being accustomed to the effectiveness of Franco’s zoom I was on several occasions waiting for it to bust forth and catch a close up, but it didn’t it just hung out in the back of the room. Really impressive and completely unexpected. Not forgetting the entire kidnapping of Anne sequence, which definitely is amongst the finest ever seen in a Franco movie. Lighting, composition, pacing and even the editing bring it together unlike any other moment. This could be the one single moment that could define the greatness of Exorcism.

Exorcism has a great score by André Bénichou and long time Franco collaborator Daniel White - who originated from Yorkshire, England. Adding that to the mix, makes this a fantastic movie - Exorcism, one of Jess Franco’s most violent, sleazy and hands down most complex movies, a magnificent piece of trash cinema when its at its best.

Image:

16x9 Widescreen

Audio:

Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, English or French dialogue, Dutch subtitles.

Extras:

A really spartan release, and it’s painfully obvious that I’m going to have to start digging into my pockets and get the Synapse releases as I’m guessing they are completely uninterested in sending review samples of several year old releases to some bloke in the wrong region… This disc has noting to offer as far as extras go, not even a trailer. Just imagine what you could have done with "alternate versions" clips on this movie.

Nude Nuns with Big Guns

Nude Nuns with Big Guns
Directed by: Joseph Guzman
USA, 2010
Exploitation, 85min

In the wake of Quentin Tarantino and Roberto Rodriguez Grindhouse double feature of 2007, the amount of movies trying to pinch a piece of the sleazy, crazy, low budget exploitation flavour of the seventies/eighties has been unlimited. A lot have been mere pastiches that leave no real impression apart from an “uh huh” reaction and nothing much more, but some have managed to pull it off and feel just like a third part to that initial retro-redux by the two guys mentioned above.

Joseph Guzman’s Nude Nuns with Big Guns is a splendid example of how Nunsplotiation, sexploitation, dirty bikers and corrupt clergymen all come together in a grande burrito of sleazy bloodshed, drugs and vengeance. Definitely one of the movies that get's the vibe and tone of Tarantino/Rodriguez project and takes it for a spin. And it's one hell of a good spin, that just may make you hurl.

After her lusts for carnal pleasure are discovered, Sister Sarah [Asun Ortega] is forced into the seedy underbelly of a Mexican drug ring where naked nuns process and package drugs for the church. The church sell the drugs to outlaw biker gang Los Muertos, run by sleazebag leader Chavo [David Castro]. During a drug exchange Chavo becomes outraged when one packet of drugs is missing. Needles to say the shit starts to kick as he enters the school bus with nuns demanding that they tell him who the hell stole his drugs. He whips out his gun and starts shooting the nuns until only one single shell-shocked beauty in a habit remains, Sister Sarah. Buying his way out of the swindle, Father Bernardo [Max Siam] offers Chavo to take the young nun with him to cover the loss of the drugs. Chavo drags Sister Sarah away to his strip joint - brothel The Titty Flicker where she’s forced into drug addiction and rapidly becomes a favourite ”Puta” amongst the clergymen of the area.

After one severe beating and a heap loads of heroin too many, Sister Sarah is kicked to the side and left for dead… at least in the eyes of Chavo. Instead Mr. Foo [Maxie J. Santillan Jr], the chapter’s ”witch doctor” takes Sister Sarah under his wings and secretly tends to her. During her time of recovery Sister Sarah hears the voice of God telling her that he has a plan for her, and that plan is to take revenge on the people that did her wrong…

That’s the first ten minute set up of Guzman’s pretty neat and shit-kicking sexploitaton flick Nude Nuns with Big Guns, an interesting surprise to say the least. Guzman also directed the 2009 grindhousey flick Run! Bitch Run, which also deals with Catholicism, drugs and revenge for rape.

There’s a great deal of nudity and some really grim seedy moments that will keep fans of sexploitation satisfied, and there’s enough psychotronic moments to keep the Grindhouse vibe alive, and believe me, if this movie had been made thirty years ago it would be one of the genre classics. And that’s without even mentioning the lesbian subplot.

Sister Sarah isn’t just a plain hot nun out for revenge, no there’s more at play here. Eventually we learn of a strong carnal lust for the same sex that has at one point in time caused Sister Sarah to sin against the lord, and that’s why she was punished by the evil, money hungry Money Magda [Emma Messenger]. The punishment - to work in the drug factories, where paranoia of being ripped off is so profound, that the nuns all have to work naked. Well there’s a pretty decent motivator to getting the nuns out of the penguin outfits and into their birthday suits if there ever was one. Anyways there’s a pretty decent dimension to Sister Sarah as she’s partially torn between giving herself to the lord and her lust for Sister Angelina [Ayicil Yeltan]. And as soon as she’s opened Pandora’s box, going about her Holy Mission, there’s no holding back on her love for Sister Angelina.

Chavo is a great protagonist. Vile, Sinister, Wicked. He holds no respect for anyone, not even his closest men, the gigantic Kickstart [Xango Henry] and Half Breed [Robert Rexx – Who also provided background voices for video game Red Dead Redemption] on which he pulls his gun and threatens to kill on more than one occasion. He doesn’t respect his employers the church either, and really doesn’t want to get drawn into their Holy War when Sister Sarah starts making the rounds putting slugs in the bad guys. He’s no stranger to a bit of depraved rape and sadism either. Something that is depicted more than once, possibly taking it’s peak when he orders the huge Kickstart to shag sister Mary [Kimberly Ables Jindra] the only witness to the murders that have been taking place.

Polarisation works wonders for this movie. All men are depraved, corrupt and misogynistic and look upon women as objects to defile. And the nuns are fair, innocent tormented souls… Well at least some of them, and in-between, the strippers at the nudie parlours are all there for our viewing entertainment.

About the pretty good soundtrack, well I’m surprised that Rodriguez hasn’t been in touch with composer Dan Gross because the grinding guitar and saxophone loop that constantly accompanies most of the seedy moments of the film sounds just like Rodriguez score for Planet Terror.

In a nutshell - sinister bikers, nubile nuns and priests pushing dope! All wrapped up in a splendid cocktail of exploitation traits and Mexican telenovelas, seasoned with loads of naked chicks, gun-smoke and the iron taste of blood. Nude Nuns with Big Guns makes for one heck of an entertaining Grindhouse feature that stands out amongst the otherwise pale competition.

Image:

Widescreen

Audio:

Dolby Digital 5.1. English and Spanish Dialogue. Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian subtitles optional.

Nude for Satan

Nude for Satan
Original Title: Nuda per Satana
Directed by: Luigi Batzella
Italy, 1974
Occult / Sexploitatiom, 90min
Distributed by: Njuta Films


Dr Benson [Stelio Candelli] on his way to an emergency call to the Whitmore house get’s himself lost and instead comes upon a “crashed” car. Being the good doctor that he is, he stops, gets out and finds Susan [Rita Caleroni] amongst the wreck. Promising to return with help he takes off to the large mysterious castle he previously asked directions at. Roaming around the eerie mansion he comes across a woman who looks just like Susan, and she insists on calling him Peter. Peter, who she claims to have been waiting for, for so long… Somewhile later Susan arrives at the castle too only to meet a man who looks just like Benson. With them both in the castle and a sinister strange man, [James Harris], taunting and luring them on, a surreal erotic nightmare starts to unravel as the Benson and Susan wander the dark corridors in search for each other.

Luigi Batzella, native Sardinian and man of many pseudonyms, Nude for Satan as Paolo Solvay, may not have been a great filmmaker, but he certainly made movies that leave an impression. No matter which genre he tried his hands at, he came out making some trashy pieces of low budget sleazy exploitation cinema. With a mere fifteen movies as director and several more starring in minor acting parts, Batazella left a decent legacy of tainted and perverted movies, which more than often brought a heavy dose of sexploitation to the subgenre he was tinkering with.

Perhaps best remembered for his string of Nazisploitation flicks; Kaput lager – gli ultimo giorni delle SS (Achtung – the Desert Tigers) and La bestia in calore (The Beast in Heat) both 1977 it should be noted that Batzella directed movies in the customary Italian Director for hire spheres. Spaghetti Westerns, War flicks, Action adventures, the Nazisplotation flicks and he also co-directed Bruce Le’s Challenge of the Tiger (aka For Your Height Only) 1980. Many of Batzella’s movies saw him working with American B-movie actors Gordon Mitchell and Richard Harrison who found new fame in Italian low budget fares, and Batzella wasn’t directing genre names, he was stood amongst them in the many movies he held smaller acting parts in.

But the movies that possibly are amongst his best, the occult sexploitation pieces Il plenilunio delle vergini (The Devils Wedding Night) 1973 starring amongst others Mark Damon and Rosalba Neri and Nuda per Satana (Nude for Satan) 1974 with Rita Calderoni starring against Stelio Candelli who has some great movies on his resume. Both these films deal with the witchcraft and the devil having it off with some scantily clad lads and lasses and are quite heavy on the old satanic orgy material. Atmospheric pieces that certainly will have any one keen to Satanism, nudity and the corruption of mankind happy. Obviously exorcised by censors throughout the years, it’s quite entertaining to see Nude for Satan restored to it’s full gritty sleazy glory, complete with lesbian romps, satanic shagging and triple-X inserts, even if it is quite dully assembled at times, but I’ll get back to that.

There’s often a lot of flack given to the directors working within the low budget sphere. If it’s not the shabby camerawork or bogus sets, it’s poor plots, bad acting and the recycled footage that frequently returns in their movies. But in all honesty this should be praised instead of criticized, because this is a solid testament to how dedicated these guys where to completing their movies and giving them that little extra fluff. Instead of skipping an establishing shot or a mood image, they simply dug into their archives and pulled out some previous used stock footage and they had the shot they needed. Most likely staying within budget too. It’s much like Bruno Mattei’s stock footage in Hell of the Living Dead or Jess Franco’s constant zooming in his Artur Brauner produced movies during the early seventies, the quick fixes became trademarks and also allow the director to complete the movie within it’s own limitations.

Anyways, returning to Nude for Satan… What a bloody great title that is - it leaves nothing to the imagination, and it's precisely what this movie delivers, nudity and satanic orgies. Yeah it’s cheap and dirty, but it’s pretty entertaining too. It’s no understatement that Nude for Satan is amongst Batzella’s finest movies. Story-wise it’s an interesting piece as there’s a kind of art house narrative going on, where the house acts as some kind of parallel universe run by the Devil [James Harris]. Well inside the house, Dr Benson and Susan separately meet their doppelgangers Peter and Evelyn, seeing both Calderoni and Candelli in dual roles as they try to figure out what happened to each other. Benson wants to reunite with Susan instead of the doppelganger Evelyn and vice versa. At the same time there’s sort of a tragic ghost story going on where the Peter and Evelyn characters long to be reunited. It certainly is trippy, dreamlike and at times, in comprehensive, but that all makes sense at the end of the movie. After confronting the Devil, the screen dips to black, Dr Benson get’s out of his car, located at the spot he slammed his brakes on in the opening, and runs to the aid of the young woman in the crashed car at the side of the road… Susan, but this time holding the medallions from her dream. Yes folks, it’s all been a frightening, surreal erotic nightmare taking place in their heads… or has it? Well whatever Batzelli intended, the ending is kind of a question mark, but at the same time, I wouldn’t have wanted it to end in any other way. How boring would it have been if Benson saved Susan and beat the devil! Instead there’s a window into a world where Satan has corrupted innocence, as Susan obviously didn’t want anything to do with the saucy Satanism until that orgasmic finale complete with laughing Satan, naked dancers and a depraved Paul snogging Susan into eternal damnation.

Batzelli also edited the most of his movies himself, Nude for Satan was no exception, and perhaps this is where some of his greatest talent came into play as the movie is pretty effectively assembled. In all honesty it’s really only the sex scenes that linger on too long primarily due to the graphic inserts. Due to their obvious different actors, sets and sloppy editing, I can't help but asking the question if Batzelli himself actually inserted the scenes, or if it was under protest, driven by some greedy producer or distributor. These scene have obviously not been given the same attention as the rest of the movie. Whatever be the reason, the movie, strangely, failed miserably at the Italian box office at the time.

Starting with Calderoni running naked through the woods in slow motion, whilst thunder and lightning flash and rumble, accompanied by the crooning vocals set to Alberto Baldan Bembo’s score efectively set’s a tone and mood for the piece. It certainly has a great Italian EuroGoth vibe going on and the first fifteen minutes are really atmospheric with Benson exploring the large windy cobwebbed creepy mansion and eerie score until he opens a door, gasps in shock as he stares at the mixed doubles nocturnal activities going on and sexploitation traits take over… but that’s not necessarily a bad thing is it. Although to do the movie justice, it really is more a EuroGoth mystery with some fantastic sexploitation moments than anything else, despite the seemingly random inserts. And there’s a really freaky spider scene that you won’t want to miss.

Strategia per una missione di morte ( Black Gold Dossier) 1979 saw Batazella direct his last movie. Struggling with ill health he retired from the movie-making racket at the young age of 55 and later passed away in 2008 at the age of 83. A renegade filmmaker who churned out some very memorable movies in his mere fourteen years as a director, some of them shot in less than two weeks. But never the less amongst his fifteen movies there’s still a few classic seedy gems, Nude for Satan is a must see movie for fans of crazy genre movies, and The Beast in Heat is still to this day Banned in the UK and forever immortalised as one of the original Video Nasties.

Luigi Batazella’s Nude for Satan in it's extended form is comming to Scandinavian DVD on the 1st of December, thanks to the team at Njutafilms.

Image:
16x 9 widescreen, Color.

Audio:
English dub, with optional Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Norweigan subtitles.

Extras:
Original Trailer, Slideshow and trailers for Sergio Greico’s The Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine, Alfredo Rizzo’s The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance, Enzo G. Castellari’s Cold Eyes of Fear, Walerian Borowczyk’s The Beast and Renato Polselli’s Black Magic Rites.