Satanik

This Spanish-Italian co-production tells an interesting and weird story about Dr. Bannister, a woman that not only has the best years behind her, but also has a scarred face that makes her look like a freak. But in Madrid, a professor she knows has conducted some experiments on animals with a substance which regenerates cells. The experiments were successful, but the animals became aggressive. Because the professor won't allow Dr. Bannister to be the first human guinea pig, she kills him and consumes the substance. She becomes a beautiful young woman, but also a vicious killer when it comes to keep her secret a secret.

The plot of the film is great fun, but Piero Vivarelli had not enough skills and money to make a cool movie out of it. Also, the film becomes boring after a good start and doesn't manage to regain a fast pace even though the film's running time doesn't exceed 83 minutes. And as the setting changes to Swiss city Geneva for the last third of the film, it sometimes even looks like a vacation movie as we see how beautiful Geneva is (which it is indeed - but it doesn't help to push the plot forward...). So, with a more talented director, better actors and a bigger budget, "Satanik" could have become an obscure Italian classic. But, as it is, it's just a lacklustre and boring crime film that isn't really worth looking for. Rating: 3 out of 10.

Many of the other reviewers cite the suspect quality of this release on Retromedia. I just purchased this title from Sinister Cinema and the print quality is very good. The color is not as vivid as one would prefer but is not washed out in the least. Considering the movie is almost 40 years old the color of the print is really quite fine. The print has no jump cuts or jarring splices, the audio and video are in perfect sync and the print runs a full 84 minutes.My rating is specifically for overall print quality. As with most other reviewers, I found the movie a bit tedious but I'm glad that I watched it and own a copy. Kudos to Sinister Cinema as they are a consistent class act in regards to making hard to find titles available in the best possible presentation. Their Krimi releases are especially outstanding!

A brilliant scientist by the name of "Professor Greaves" (Nerio Bernardi) has just invented a serum that rejuvenates cells and reverses the aging process. His assistant, "Dr. Marny Bannister" (Magda Konopka) desperately wants the formula due to the fact that she is scarred and ugly. However, Professor Greaves is cautious and wants to do more research before even attempting to try it out on a human being. Dr. Bannister then kills Professor Greaves and ingests the serum which turns her into the young and beautiful woman she always wanted to be. But there are two important factors which Dr. Bannister failed to take into account. First, the formula unleashes savage and primordial desires into whoever takes it. The second factor is that the serum wears off after a period of time and the person reverts back to their previous form. What follows is a murderous rampage by Dr. Bannister who is not averse to using her beauty to further her evil desires. Although it was originally filmed in Italian, the English dubbing was very noticeable. Also quite noticeable was the fact that a scene or two was cut rather abruptly. This gave the film a kind of choppy feel. Still, Magda Konopka looked great and the film had a nice late-60's atmosphere to it. All things considered I give it an average rating.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Satanik; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.50 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 0.75 Enjoyment: 0.75

TOTAL: 4.00 out of 10.00

The primary element that ruins Satanik is the story - or the lack of one. There's little a director could do when the narrative was defunct. Nowadays, he trusts the CGI Director and their artists to fill in with overly-long eye candy fight sequences, like Justice League. However, in the sixties, all they could turn to was stock footage for stuffing, and that usually had to follow the storyline.

The concept is a passable one. An elderly scientist who has been visibly scared by life is offered a second chance at youth and beauty. One of her colleagues has been working on a fountain of youth serum. However, he's not ready for human trials though it works on the captive animals. There is one flaw. The mutated animals are not merely changed visually; they're mentally altered - they become aggressively violent. Dr Marnie Bannister cannot wait for her fellow researcher to change his mind, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. She kills him and goes all Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. The grim turn of events should have given the writer carte blanche to deliver a dark and moody thriller. Sadly, the writer was lacking in imagination and skill. From the moment Dr Bannister awakens as the glamourpuss Satinik the story takes a steep nosedive into insipidity. Five minutes later, my attention shifted from the youthful reincarnation to other things. I'm unsure if Satanik is a dark force that does good or evil. That is how poor the story is. Even when the writer introduces the drug dealers and Satanik's infiltration of the gang, it's ambiguous as to what her goals are. Is she trying to stop them or trying to take over the business?

The direction is only slightly better. Regrettably, Piero Vivarelli isn't a maestro behind the camera. His cinematography borders on the mundane. Luckily for the audience, he does throw in a few semi-decent compositions. But as one reviewer states, when the action shifts to Geneva, we get a lot of "Holiday" footage showing how beautiful the city is, but nothing of import to the story.

The cast is abysmal, though that could come down to the direction. Magda Konopka is better and more credible as Dr Bannister than she is as Satanik. Satanik is a beautiful but blank individual with next to no personality, whereas Bannister is anxious and worried because she killed Professor Greaves.

I'd advise everyone to stay away from this poor excuse of a story. There are many better and more entertaining thrillers out there. But should you have watched them all, I suggest picking up a book and having a gander at the printed page instead of watching Satanik.

When the kick from the Serum Of Youth wears off, please visit my Killer Thriller Chillers and The Final Frontier lists to see where I ranked Satanik.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Deformed, aged female scientist kills fellow scientist in order to steal formulae for rejuvenating cells and reversing the aging process. She takes it and turns into the beautiful, evil Satanik (Magda Konopka) who goes around, seducing and murdering wealthy businessmen.

She dresses very stylishly in late-60s mod clothes and manipulates those around her, looking a lot like the late Marisa Mell from the DIABOLIK film. Coincidence??

However, in spite of all this, it's amateurish and sloppy without the James Bond pop-art gadgetry that DIABOLIK had had. Even the Madrid and Lake Geneva filming locations don't make up for this.

The soundtrack is by Manuel Parada & Roberto Pregadio and it isn't bad at all, consisting of lush orchestration with a little fuzz guitar used as an embellishment. Perfect for one of those European Loungecore CDs that came out in the 90s.

The Retromedia DVD also uses a substandard grainy color print that's in poor shape, with an explanation at the beginning saying that this was due to the age of the film. Bull ! They either didn't bother looking for a better source or they couldn't find one at all. There are only a few stills of Magda and that's it.

Sloppy & poor all around, this one gets a 3 out of 10.