THE DEVIL'S KISS (1975)
Director: Georges Gigo
Image Entertainment

Spain has given us some of the most interesting horror films of the past 35 years, filled with rich gothic flavors, comic book color and titillation. A good example would be the films of Amando de Ossorio (of "The Blind Dead" series fame) and most of the monster romps of the legendary Paul Naschy. But in between all the worthwhile Spanish genre efforts, there are mishaps like Miguel Madrid's GRAVEYARD OF HORROR and the film in question here, THE DEVIL KISS (aka THE WICKED CARESSES OF SATAN).

Hyped as a "lost" film, THE DEVIL'S KISS concerns a raven-haired medium Claire Grandier (Naschy regular Silvia Solar--CRIMSON, NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST) who is actually a Countess. She wants to enact revenge on Duc de Haussemont (José Nieto from FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR) who was responsible for her husband's suicide. After a very 70s fashion show in Haussemont's gothic castle, she performs a seance with her assistant (Olivier Mathot) and both are invited stay in the castle to perform experiments in the cellar.

Things get really strange as Claire takes in a longhaired dwarf endangered of being crushed by a lynch mob. She gives him some dinner and allows him to watch her undress (though the camera cuts away for us, the viewer). He then dreams about her riding buck-naked on a horse. Later, Claire and her assistant dig up a corpse and through black magic bring it back as a bald, shirtless zombie who roams the castle and strangles people through demand by telepathy. He sort of looks like a cross between the monster in the Italian film, FRANKENSTEIN '80 and Peter Cushing's cannibalistic son in THE GHOUL.

Later, the owner of three castle is killed and a younger playboy-type owner takes over with his fashion model girlfriend. The monster keeps haunting the castle at night, and the busty maid (who gets naked on more than one ocasion) is also turned into a pasty zombie. Sound interesting?

THE DEVIL'S KISS is quite boring and fails to entertain despite all the bizarre stuff going on. Most of it drags, and any nudity, sensuality and gore at hand is not enough to give us an acceptable piece of exploitation. Apparently, the director only made one film, and it's easy to see why. This one is only recommended for Spanish horror completists, who will find a number of familiar faces in the film in smaller roles: Víctor Israel (HORROR EXPRESS), José Lifante (LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE) and María Silva (CURSE OF THE DEVIL) to name a few.

Image Entertainment has presented THE DEVIL'S KISS on DVD as part of their "Euroshock Collection." It is Anamorphic and letterboxed in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The picture is quite good, with bright colors and sharp detail throughout and only minimal print damage. Both the English and French audio tracks are present with optional English subtitles. Overall the sound is adequate, despite some scratchiness from time to time. There are no extras, but Video Watchdog's Tim Lucus provides some brief and to-the-point comments that embrace the back cover. (George R. Reis)

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