Yes, this is an XXX rated film, with naked people, and naked undead and supernatural creatures, doing the kinds of things that naked people usually do in such films. Adult films parodying, exploiting or just plain ripping off more mainstream fair is hardly a new occurrence. What makes KÖTTETS LUSTA worth looking at is that not since the 1970's, with films like FLESH GORDON, has a project of this sort been undertaken with such respect and admiration for the original source material not to mention a decent budget.
KÖTTETS LUSTA is both a gentle parody of and a fond tribute to the movie monsters of the 1930's, complete with all the now clichéd elements, the dank castles and dark forests, the unheeded warnings and the twist endings, deliberately included. Nearly the entire roster of classic monsters is represented: Dr. Frankenstein and his creations, Dracula, a werewolf, Dr. Jekyll and the Mummy are all here. In fact the only founding member of the movie monster club who fails to put in an appearance is the Invisible Man.
Each monster is featured in its own segment, which, in homage to George Romero's CREEPSHOW, is introduced and exited from, via the panels of a comic book page. Not surprisingly, the quality of the individual segments vary somewhat. It is quite evident that when extra money was spent in one area, another one felt the pinch. Despite this, it is also quite clear that a great deal of effort, and a fair bit of money, was spent on the production of this film. There is a significant amount of location filming, complex prosthetic makeup, some fairly impressive special effects and mainstream caliber cinematography and editing. In truth, the hardcore elements could be easily jettisoned and the film would have worked just as well, and been more accessible, as a softcore release.
This is obviously not a film that will appeal to everyone's tastes and interests. Regrettably, even those who might wish to give KÖTTETS LUSTA a look may well have trouble viewing it as it has seen only limited DVD distribution in Europe. Perhaps even more regrettable is that with the flood of horror film parodies being dumped onto the North American cable TV and direct to DVD markets these days, almost none even approach the levels of artistry and effort lavished upon what could be casually dismissed as a porno film from Sweden.
