Les vierges de la pleine lune

Italian Gothic Horror films from the 60s and 70s are usually as elegant, eerie and rewarding as Horror can get. While Luigi Batzella's "Il Plenilunio Delle Vergini" aka. "The Devil's Wedding Night" of 1973 is certainly no highlight of the genre, it is an enjoyable little slice of Sleaze that my fellow Eurohorror buffs should enjoy. Even though there are some brilliant Italian Gothic Horror films made in the 70s, one might say that the sub-genre had its heyday in the 60s, when filmmakers such as the inimitable Mario Bava, Antonio Margheriti and Riccardo Freda delivered the greatest contributions to the genre. In the 70s, the main focus of Italian Horror/Suspense cinema was on the equally brilliant and elegant Giallo-Genre; however, there were still plenty of Gothic Horror films being made, and those went with the time and were filled with the delightful sleaze that is omnipresent in 70s cult-cinema. "The Devil's Wedding Night" is a good example for this.

One has to admit that the storyline is not the film's strongest aspect, as it doesn't make a lot of sense. In search of the legendary Ring of the Nibelungen, Karl Schiller (Mark Damon) comes to Transylvania where he inspects Castle Dracula, claiming that he does so for architectural studies. The stunningly beautiful and sinister Contessa Dolingen De Vries (Rosalba Neri), who owns the castle, immediately seduces him. However, the sexy Contessa has some unholy secrets... In the meanwhile Karl's identical twin brother (also Mark Damon), has followed him to Transylvania in order to look after his safety...

As stated above, the story doesn't make a lot of sense. The film starts out extremely cheesy, but it gradually gets better and more entertaining. Italian directors have always had a particular talent to make their films visually elegant, even when the budget was low, and this film is no exception. "The Devi's Wedding Night" is beautifully shot in nice locations full of elegant and macabre set-pieces. The ravishing Rosalba Neri (credited here as Sara Bay) who is best known for her roles in other sleazy Italian gems such as "La Figlia Di Frankenstein" ("Frankenstein's Daughter", 1971) and "La Bestia Uccide A Sangue Freddo" ("Slaughter Hotel", 1971) and who is once again more than willing to take her clothes off, fits in the role of the Vampiric Countess very well. The rest of the female cast members are also beautiful to look at, and all have exhibitionist tendencies. Apart from her beauty, Rosalba Neri also has a great screen presence and the talent to be effectively eerie. The film includes all the essential ingredients of 70s Eurosleaze, such as gratuitous female nudity, lesbianism and lesbian Vampires, and bloody and perverted Satanic rituals. Leading man Mark Damon was in some of the greatest of Gothic Horror films in the sixties, including Bava's "I Tre Volti Della Paura" ("Black Sabbath", 1963) and Roger Corman's "House of Usher" (1960). He continued to be in the sleaziest of Gothic Horror movies in the seventies, including the visually stunning "Byleth - Il Demone Dell'Incesto" and this film.

Overall, "The Devil's Wedding Night" is no absoulute must-see, but it certainly is highly recommended to my fellow fans of low-budget European Gothic Horror..

Two brothers searching in Transylvania for the legendary 'Ring of Nibelungen' fall under the spell of the sexy and evil Countess De Vries(Rosalba Neri)who uses the ring to attract the local virgins to her foreboding castle where they fall victim to her bloody rituals.This soft core piece of Italian erotica offers plenty of sleaze and nudity.Rosalba Neri is the convincing bloodsucker that spends much of the film in an advanced state of undress.In one memorable scene the Countess writhes around in a coffin in the pink while the faithful maid slowly pours a pitcher of fresh virgin blood over her naked body.Unfortunately the action is quite dull and there is almost no suspense.Still if you like lesbian vampire movies you can give it a look.7 out of 10.

The kind of movie one has to not think about, just sit back and enjoy the lush visuals, and abundant nudity. Great looking topless girls in this Euro shocker/ sex flick, about Dracula's oversized joke shop ring, with a red amulet almost as large as girl's hand, and the various people are hoping to possess it. Film is kind of like an old Hammer Horror, with a bit more graphic sex and nudity: beautiful lesbian vampire lures young girls to castle to frolic with them, then offers them as sacrifices to the devil.

Several sequences are devoted to prowling through the old castle, to show off the film's well done sets and eerie lighting and smoke effects. Several scenes are devoted to showing off the female cast members' ample tits. Both held my attention.

Good fight between Shiller and vampire ghoul, defeated by a stake driven through his heart and a fall out a window, but mostly just an excuse for atmospherics and nudity.

Mark Damon and his twin brother Mark Damon are academic types out to find the ancient ring of Nibelungen for reasons that passed me by. The two are quite different - one is a bookish, academic type who has an amulet to protect him and the other is a hunky type who steals the amulet and heads off to a creepy castle, stopping on the way to bed a local innkeeper's daughter. He gets her in the sack when she tells him that the local creepy castle calls five virgins from the village every year who fall into a trance and walk up to the castle. Hunky Mark effectively says he'll save her life by popping her cherry - looks like another Italian film with a feminist agenda is well underway.

He gets to the castle and finds a dozy-looking maid who tells him that the sexy countess isn't around and he might as well have a trippy walk around the castle. After finding the tombs, and hearing strange screaming,he finds the maid dead in one of the coffins, and heads back to the castle to find sexy Rosalba Neri who is definitely not an evil vampire. Rosalba hits it off with Hunky Mark when she introduces the alive again maid, but to keep your mind off of why nothing up to this point makes any sense, Rosalba gets Hunky Mark in the sack for some filthy squeezy, then turns into a giant bat and bites him.

By this time Nerd Mark arrives at the castle and doesn't believe Rosalba when she says his brother wasn't there. Just when you think the last scene is going to repeat itself Rosalba gives Nerd Mark some drugs and while he's rolling about laughing gets the maid in the sack instead and has her pour blood all over her naked body. Up periscope!

This is all leading to the big virgin sacrificing scene where one brother has to rescue the other brother from a sexy vampire and although Luigi Betzella is associated with bottom of the barrel trash like the Beast in Heat, this is a decent film with a lot of effective scenes, and one particularly hilarious one of someone superimposed in front of a giant real bat. I'm not the hugest vampire film fan in the world so if I like it then it must have something good going for it.

There are also a huge amount of nude scenes in this one too, most of them by Rosalba Neri. There's a rat staring at me. Not much else to say, except that the image of Roslba emerging from a crypt nude and covered in blood is one you won't forget in a hurry,

Il Plenlunio delle vergini (THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT) is probably only interesting as a late example of Italian Gothic horror. By 1973 most Italian horror films were following in the footsteps of Alfred Hitchcock and Argento's giallos (eg. THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMMAGE, 1970), including those of the original gothic filmmakers, Riccardo Freda (THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE, 1971) and Mario Bava (HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON, 1970 and BAY OF BLOOD, 1971). Also of interest to cult and horror film buffs, the film was photographed by Italy's (probably inferior) equivalent of Jess Franco, Joe D'Amato. Other than that, this film has little to recommend for it. The photography is a mediocre homage to NOSFERATU, the sets pale in comparison to those of earlier gothic horror films (for example, Bava's BLACK SUNDAY), the story is dull and inconsistent, the nude scenes are neither necessary nor particularly erotic, and the atmosphere is less-than-spooky when it isn't unintentional comical. They don't make 'em like this anymore, and we should be thankful for it.