Devil's Nightmare

This one has a memorably tasteless opening sequence of a man stabbing a newborn baby to death but then unfortunately becomes a little too routine for its own good. Seven obnoxious tourists end up stranded at a secluded castle where they are stalked and murdered one by one by a female succubus who patterns her supernatural killing spree after the seven deadly sins. The castle is creepy. The baron therein acts weird and creepy. The maid and butler are creepy. The wallpaper is REALLY creepy. Thankfully about twenty minutes into this thing the castle doors swing open and in comes an incredible force of nature that almost makes this thing worth sitting through. Said force is an Italian actress by the name of Erika Blanc. Not only very striking in the looks department with a sexy mane of bright orange hair and some killer cheekbones, this lady also has a good deal of natural charisma and acting talent. She's not as popular as some of the other European exploitation actresses in her category, say Edwige Fenech or Laura Gemser, but unlike Ms. Fenech and Ms. Gemser, Blanc can do more than just play a naked, wide-eyed mannequin in peril. She's never afraid of throwing herself into this role, even if it means looking unattractive or unglamorous, which makes her even hotter (and more admirable) if you ask me. People have commented on her makeup being good. Perhaps, but it needs to be said that all they really did was paint her face pale gray. Whatever other makeup effects you may have thought you saw seen were courtesy of Blanc; cleverly using facial contortionism to give off the impression of something much more hideous than a simple coat of makeup. Sadly, other than Erika and her bravo lead performance, this film just isn't very good. The castle is a nice setting and the music score is very atmospheric, but the rest is silly and irritating.

Sexy Erika Blanc famous from Mario Bava's "Kill Baby Kill" and Emilio Miraglia's "The Night Evelyn Came Out from the Grave" plays a seductress and succubus who spends the night in a Gothic castle along with seven unfortunate tourists,some weird servants and a cursed Baron von Rhoneberg.With the use of the Seven Deadly Sins as a motive,she will kill all that are in the castle.Here is where the fun kicks in,as we are witness to several creative deaths ala guillotine,drowning in gold,gluttony poisoning,iron maiden,falling on spikes,etc."The Devil's Nightmare" offers some nudity plus pretty steamy lesbian scene.The killings are fun and Erica Blanc is dressed in one of the sexiest evening outfits in the history of Eurohorror.The stunning cinematography by Andre Goeffers perfectly captures the majestique of the Gothic castle.7 out of 10.

Like many, here, I stumbled across this gem in an 8 disk box set called "CULT HORROR CLASSICS" about 8 months ago. Obviously, I wasn't looking for a TIMELESS CLASSIC. I love most bad 70's horror films the same way I love a puppy that's so ugly, it's cute. After watching "THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE(the title of my copy)", I watched it again, and then twice more. This wasn't a bad 70's horror film. It was an outstanding piece of independent film making. Don't even bother watching this movie with any intention of comparing it to modern cinema. But, if you like horror movies from way back,you will be pleased. Many have said that the dubbing and the acting(of the "other" characters) are neck and neck for the worst thing about this movie. I've excused the acting as poor translation from European to American audiences. The dubbing, I blame on the lack of guts needed to put some money into the American release. I even excused that because the film industry still seemed to think that art should be safe, back then. My least favorite thing about this movie was the video re-mastering. In some spots, it bordered on cartoonish. OK, seven tourists=seven deadly sins get stuck in creepy castle where butler lays the family curse rap on good and thick. The creepy castle and family curse were horror movie staples. But, in cinema, the 7 Deadly Sins were a lot less cliché, in 1971, than they are, now. For me, the biggest scene stealer in this movie was, despite the bad re-mastering, the cinematography. Lon Chaney(Sr. and Jr.) would have applauded the way their art form was used(with a step from one light, into another) to take you from gazing on Erika Blanc's stunning beauty to the faced that exposed the ugly, inside. In other scenes, she took it to a higher level with facial contortionism that few Hollywood starlets, of the time, would have risked their "PRETTINESS" on. I'll admit that the first time I watched the infamous girl on girl scene, I enjoyed it on a level that a healthy red blooded American man would be expected to...With guilty delight! By the third viewing, I wouldn't have been surprised to find that, in the film's original quality, this scene bordered on tasteful. Also, this scene is criticized as irrelevant to the story line(if you can put on a better show of two of the deadly sins colliding, stop criticizing and start making movies). The look on Lust's face said a lot after she pleasured Sloth and, when it was her turn, Sloth did her thing...SLOTH. Some SINS made it to a top 7 list for a reason. As others have stated, one of the film's highlights was the guy that played the Devil. Little(if any) special lighting was needed to take this guy's creepy ugliness all the way back around to an, even, creepier beauty. I'd like to sum this up by addressing those who accused this movie's American release as "COATTAILING" The Excorcist for two reasons. 1: This movie predated The Excorcist by a couple years, and 2: If "THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE" had been a full budget Hollywood production, I have no doubt that I'd be here, now, explaining why an, almost never heard of movie called "THE EXCORCIST" wasn't as bad of a movie as today's critics make it out to be.

La Plus Longue Nuit du Diable, or The Devil's Nightmare as it's more commonly known to English speaking audiences, tells the tale of five stranded tourists, the holiday organiser & some woman who all take shelter at the ancestral castle of Baron von Rhoneberg (Jean Servais) somewhere in the rural heart of Germany. The seven travellers are all given a room by Hans the butler & they all bed down for the night. Unfortunately there is an evil & sinister presence within the house that the guests begin to fall victim to... This Italian Belgium co-production was co-written & directed by Jean Brismee & in my opinion is crap. The script by Brismee & Pierre-Claude Garnier is incredibly slow & is pretty stupid. The character's are really bad in this one, apparently each one is meant to represent one of the seven deadly sins. Well, all I can say is that Brismee & Garnier's writing style must be subtle to say the least as I didn't notice this in any regard apart from the sin of Greed which is well represented. I mean if I want to watch a great film about the seven deadly sins then I'll watch Se7en (1995) & not this obscure, abstract, unfocused, poorly written & badly thought out mess of a film. I didn't like it & the even the twist ending which supposedly ties everything up is hard to grasp & frankly I couldn't be bothered to try & figure it out. There is one funny scene here though, there's a scene when a woman is taking a bath & her lesbian female friend walks in & starts to help her wash & generally fondle her body & her excuse is that 'if I don't help you we'll be late for dinner'! Now that's a chat up line, right? I really have to try that one out at some point when the situation presents itself... Director Brismee has a great location at his disposal in a fantastic Gothic looking castle so the film has a pretty good atmosphere, unfortunately it doesn't have a good script which would have helped. I found it all rather dull, slow & forgettable with some of the worst, most stiff & unnatural sounding dialogue your likely to hear. There's not much exploitation, not much nudity & no decent blood or gore at all. What's the point? Technically the film is alright, it is quite well made. Since everyone is dubbed with comedy voices it's hard to determine what the original performances were like, I'll be kind to the script & say that what is said in the English version isn't a direct translation of the original French dialogue. La Plus Longue Nuit du Diable is total crap in my opinion, the story is slow, goes nowhere fast & is pretty abstract. Did nothing for me at all, one to avoid. Also known as Castle of Death, Nightmare of Terror, Succubus, The Devil Walks at Midnight, The Devil's Longest Night & the misleading Vampire Playgirls as there isn't a single Vampire in it.

The movie is about seven tourists who must spend the night in a creepy castle, because of bad weather. There, the owner tells them that a family curse preys upon the mansion. In the middle of the night, when they're having dinner, a strange woman appears (Erika Blanc). And here's when the movie starts to get real good. Sorry, no more spoilers. Watch the movie by yourself to find out what's going on. This was a nice revelation! I wasn't really expecting much of it, but was pleasantly surprise. It's creepy and well made. The story is very original, the music is spectacular, there's a good amount of nudity as well (sorry, no Erika), and the steamy lesbian sequence is sure to please the sleaze crowd. The direction could have been better though (the camera work was sometimes too flashy and messy) and the acting (aside from the excellent Blanc) was very bad. A special mention deserves the excellent make-up Erika had when she played the succubus. Very well made and chilling. A nice piece of Euro horror that gets a 8/10 from me.

All I have to say is Erika Blanc is the queen of facial expressions. Much like Crispin Glover can move his face in the slightest way to make it look horribly grotesque and then absolutely charming a second later, Blanc is the master of her face. She is stunningly beautiful and also cringingly disgusting. If you want to see some genius facial expressions, watch this film. Her make up was pretty great, too. Aside from this, the movie was just ok. Pointless lesbian make out scenes never get a good grade in my book. But the cynical old man was pretty cool, I must say. Not really recommended unless you are amazed by faces that are cooler than yours!

Wow...get a load of the opening titles. The film company must have spent at least 75 cents to get these done! Heck, most YouTube videos have much better production values! Fortunately the rest of the film looked a lot better. This film is about a group of seven travelers who represent the seven deadly sins all being killed off by a demonic succubus. While that's bad, at least the folks all have a good time before being sent to Hell. It all starts when a tour group is stranded and is forced to seek shelter in a creepy mansion owned by a Baron. Once there, two hot members of the party take a quick break for some gratuitous hot lesbian sex. While probably considered soft-core today, back in 1971 this was very hot and I am surprised the film received an R rating. I always thought it odd that there are so many Italian horror films that mix * with horror--it must have been a very popular genre back in the 1970s. It's not really a style of film I like to rent--it just looked like a normal everyday horror film from its description on Netflix. Is there anything to it other than just a convenient excuse for some skin? Well, at times no--there is more gratuitous nudity here and there--including a weird but very sexy succubus. But at other times the film does a great job of capturing the mood--it is scary and very well-crafted and didn't need all the nudity to be worth seeing--even if many of the characters are one-dimensional and silly. It's not exactly film to show your kids or mother-in-law--that's for sure! I'd give a 5--it has its moments but all the nudity seems irrelevant and the film's quality varies wildly at times--from wonderful to cheesy.

The first time I saw this film was years ago on the USA channel's "Saturday Nightmares," even before the days of "Up All Night." This is the perfect movie for a show like that, something you'd like to find just before midnight deep in the summer after you've just cracked open the first beer. The plot's got a campy "7 Deadly Sins" theme (which is pulled off a helluva lot better in this fairy tale-like setting than in some rotten police investigation "Se7en" trash), the setting is classical without being droll (an old Belgian castle minus things that are supposed to look scary, like banister-ends carved into the faces of little computer-morphing children), and the girls are all beautiful but not wholly character-less (Erika Blanc's very original look and manner steals the film). The backdrop of WW2 and dirty family secrets, and the fact that the Devil beats the proud young seminarist in the end, serves as extra icing on the already sweet and delicious cake. This one is a gem in the truest sense, a great oft-unwatched movie you'll find buried in the dust and bones of video store trash ("trash" with a small "t") that has probably been left unrented for years.

"La Plus Longue Nuit Du Diable" aka. "La Terrificante Notte Del Demonio" aka. "The Devil's Nightmare" of 1971 is an admittedly cheesy, but overall delicate piece of Eurohorror that no lover of Cult cinema should miss. Jean Brismées film has the overall reputation of being more or less a piece of crap, but while the plot is doubtlessly incoherent, the film profits from sinister characters, a macabre mood, a nice Gothic atmosphere, as well as some gore, sleaze and creepiness, and, last but not least the beautiful Erica Blanc in a genuinely demented role. The film starts out in the final days of Nazi Germany, when Baron Von Rhoneberg (Jean Servais) kills his newborn daughter after baptizing her - for unknown reasons. Two and a half decades later, a bus-load of tourists come to visit the Baron's castle. We learn that, 700 years before, an ancestor of the Baron's had made a pact with the devil, which resulted in every first-born Rhoneberg daughter becoming a Succubus, a female demon in service of the devil. And, apparently, the infanticide committed by the Baron years ago did not stop a devilish creature to come into existence... Erika Blanc is a stunning beauty, also in this film, but she looks creepy as hell as the Succubus. The most intense, creepiest moments in the film are those when she turns into the succubus, especially when she does so for the first time. I do not want to give too much away, but i can assure that these scenes alone make it worth watching the film. Blanc is best known to Horror fans for her roles in Mario Bava's 1966 masterpiece "Kill Baby... Kill!" (aka. "Operazione Paura") and Emilio Miraglia's Gothic Giallo "The Night Evelin Came Out Of The Grave" of 1971. This is another film a lover of European Horror/Exploitation cinema should not miss her in. Apart from Blanc, there are several other beautiful female cast members. Praise also goes to Daniel Emilfork - man, what a CREEPY-looking fellow! One would not want to run into this fellow by night, I can assure. "The Devil's Nightmare" is actually less sleazy than I expected it to be, with a rather small dose of occasional female nudity, sex and lesbianism. However, the film is as macabre as one could possibly hope, with loads of insanity, demented characters and a generous use of bizarre execution/murder devices. And, all the cheese aside, this also has quite a dose of creepiness All said, this is probably not the kind of film that will appeal to those who strictly fall for the "Citizen Kane" type of cinema, but all my fellow fans of demented Eurosmut should have a great time watching this. Highly recommended!

I saw this as one of 10 horror films on a collection from brentwood DVD called;fright night,its an awesome collection of fright films.anyway the devils nightmare is a Belgium/Italian made shocker about a group of tourists(each one represents one of the 7 deadly sins)they get stranded at the castle of an ex Nazi officer.there's a family curse,gruesome murders,lots of nudity(surprising for 1971)and a very good soundtrack. I'm usually a sucker for good European horror movies especially with the sexy beautiful Erika blanc,who starred in many Italian horror films.sort of like a rival of Barbara Steele.the murders are very gruesome.the dubbing is sloppy but thats expected.i saw this years ago on the USA cable network,of course it was chopped up by the censors. it was hosted by commander USA.who used to show very strange movies. watch the uncut version for the full effect.ignore the critics because most of them dismissed this film as junk.you be the judge.believe me its kind of scary.8 out of 10,Erika blanc gets 10 out of 10 because she was hot.