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3
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6 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
In
contemporary Spain a wealthy family is mourning the death of
one of their own. Maria, wife of prominent landowner Antonio
Aguilar (Navajo
Joe's Aldo Sambrell), has died of a supposed heart condition
leaving him and their teenaged daughter Miria (Jacqueline Dupré)
to grieve. During the funeral, just as Miria is gazing at her
mother, the body spasms in a muscular contraction, terrifying
everyone and traumatizing the girl. Father and daughter reside
in a very well-kept ancestral castle along with Antonio's paraplegic,
wheelchair-bound brother Ignazio and his caretaker Sol (Mariangela
Giordano). Sol is a novice on the path to becoming a nun; although
she cares a great deal for her charge, it is evident she doesn't
hold Antonio in high esteem. Ignazio has no use of his body
from the neck down and his plight is made even sadder by his
clearly lustful feelings for Sol. He takes any opportunity he
can to see her, going so far as to peep at her as she disrobes
for bed.
After
the incident at the funeral Miria seems to be taking her mother's
passing very poorly, appearing quite depressed and confused.
Castle servant Isidro is a superstitious man convinced that
the corpse's spasm indicates Maria's spirit is not at rest.
He thinks that the strange way Miria is acting must be caused
by the restless spirit of her mother attempting to take control
of her... and it starts to look as though he might be right!
The voice of Maria awakens her daughter in the night and draws
her down into the castle's crypt where she witnesses Isidro
in a ludicrous frenzy of chicken blood and feathers (scratch
one rooster), trying to invoke some type of supernatural protection
for him or the girl. Drawn to her mother's body she is horrified
to find it staring at her. Her screams awaken the entire household
and a visit from the doctor results in a recommendation to send
Miria away from home for a few weeks. Miria is violently opposed
to this idea but Antonio and Sol agree with the doctor. But
later that day, as the doctor is embalming Maria's body, the
corpse comes to life and injects him with the preserving fluid
instead, killing him.
In a panic to avoid
the law or any questions about this death, Antonio forces the
others to help him hide the doctor's body, sink his car in the
lake and pretend this "accident" never happened. At
this point Sol finally gives voice to her anger and frustration
with her wealthy employer. This inflames Antonio's lust for
the woman; he tells her in no uncertain terms that he will eventually
have her. (I wonder if this method of wooing women has ever
worked for him...)
Days pass and it looks
as though Miria is becoming more and more controlled by her
mother's ghost. We slowly learn that Maria was a pretty insatiable,
sex-craving lady. Because Antonio had bouts of impotence brought
on by his drug use, she had affairs with just about everyone
in sight. Not only had she carried on with the family doctor
and the formally healthy Ignazio, she had an ongoing lesbian
relationship with Sol as well! Love the one you're with, I guess.
At any rate... Emboldened
by the ease with which getting rid of the doctor's body was
accomplished, Antonio decides to do away with the other irritants
in his life by dumping them in the castle's catacombs. But as
he begins to imprison Sol and his brother to die, Maria (Marina
Hedman) takes control of Miria's body and starts making her
own moves for vengeance.
Little more than a very close remake of 1979's Malabimba
shot on nicer locations, Satan's Baby
Doll is as sleazy a piece of Eurotrash cinema as you're
ever likely to find. Nearly plotless, with virtually nothing
happening for long stretches, it has only two things on its
mind — nudity and scares. On the nudity front the film succeeds
beautifully, with some very nice female bodies on display on
a regular basis. Indeed, the sight of Mariangela Giordano (Burial
Ground) stripping out of her nunwear is very nearly a religious
experience. (And that's not even mentioning the eventual lesbian
gropings in which she participates.) But on the scare meter
the film barely registers. The 'creepy voice calling people
to their doom' moments are not atmospheric enough and the over-lit
crypt keeps any potential frights at arm's length. Not even
the sequence with a mummified corpse struggling up to attack
poor servant Isidro can generate much excitement. There really
is not much of interest here other than the sexy nude women
and the gorgeous location shooting. Even at 73 minutes the film
is overlong and stretched to the breaking point. Boredom was
my constant companion during my viewing, with only one thought
keeping me watching — how much more nudity is there in
this sucker?
Much has been made of the fact that this
was Jacqueline Dupré's one and only film. While certainly
a pretty young thing, writhing around nude on a bed just as
well as Lina Romay in her prime, as an actress she was... limited.
Indeed, I think that there are certain scenes in which the garish
upholstery on the antique furniture is expressing more emotional
range than Ms. Dupré. There were several points where
I began to wonder if she had a problem with her eyelids, as
they were always in half-asleep position. I'm not saying I'm
sad to have watched her perform in this movie but I don't see
that she had much of a future as anything other than eye candy.
Lovely, tawny eye candy, but...
Of course, as a remake of Malabimba
I began to suspect that at any moment the film would plunge
into porno territory, but sadly that was not to be. The major
point of interest for Malabimba
had been the variant version hardcore sex scenes which managed
to be pretty well integrated and fairly erotic. But there are
no such joys to be found here. Although, if you are so inclined,
there is a Region 2 DVD release of a XXX version of this movie
under the title Orgamso di Satana.
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| Severin's
DVD of Satan's Baby Doll is a beautiful
sight even if the film is less than wonderful. An absolutely amazing
print is presented with bright, sharp colors and very little to
no visible damage. The image is widescreen at an aspect ratio
of 1.66:1, enhanced for 16X9 TVs; audio is the original Italian
Mono with optional white English subtitles. Besides the theatrical
trailer there is only one extra, but it's solid. Exorcism of
Baby Doll is an 18-minute interview with director Mario Bianchi
in which he discusses his career, his view of filmmaking and this
project in particular. Still active in TV, he holds no illusions
about the movie but, looking back, seems pleased with it overall.
And certainly, for the minuscule budget Bianchi claims it was
made for, it is impressive. I was disappointed that the
XXX version was not mentioned at all but I suspect either he had
nothing to do with it or wants to leave those kinds of projects
behind. This is an excellent disc from Severin but I do wish there
had been some attempt to obtain the hardcore footage used in the
variant version. 10/17/07 |
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