Night of the Damned

"Night of the Damned" has some good things going for it: A beautiful castle, gorgeous fine-grain color cinematography and a rich Gothic atmosphere created partly by the dreamlike score. These are its strongest points and for Gothic purists, will probably be enough.

The script and direction, on the other hand, need some work. Things get off to a sluggish start with the opening scene, which runs a whopping nine minutes and consists of a single conversation between two characters in a contemporary living room. This scene become an endurance test not all viewers can handle.

Once this is over, things pick up quickly: An engaging road trip through the moody Autumn countryside livens things up with smooth mid-century jazz and stunning dusk-hour cinematography. Next, we're in the castle where most of the film is set--and it is beautiful.

As often happens in films of this type, the plot itself is relatively simple and befitting of the dreamlike setting. Unfortunately, the film grinds to a dead stop a couple of times for interminable scenes of lesbians cavorting in a ceremony. Lesbians may appreciate this but a great many viewers will not. Presumably, the producers were too timid to add male coven members to these scenes for more realistic and satisfying smut.

There are a number of fantastic and unexpected makeups created for the film, which are not to be missed. What a shame the production didn't utilize them to greater extent!

Overall recommended for fans of Euro-Gothic classics who are prepared for some slow-going here and there.

Having been a long term fan of Pierre Brice originating from "The Mill of the Stone Women", I went to great lengths to get a copy of this film, finally procuring a French print entitled "Les Nuites Sexuelles" which is more appropriate. Despite an intriguing and promising plot the film is merely an excuse for interminable nude and unerotic lesbian sex scenes between the various starlets cast in it. Brice appears only briefly and has not nearly enough to do in the film to come anywhere near saving it. This is not a horror film so much as a borer film...one would wind up damning oneself on any night when 90 minutes was wasted watching it. Cutting by 70 minutes or more would be a definite improvement. To be avoided at all costs.

Typical for the period horror film, Night of the Damned features a castle, a curse, some nudity, and a few murders (mostly off screen). A reporter visits a sick friend who believes himself cursed. Relatives of the friend are being inexplicably bumped off under strange circumstances. Is this a supernatural phenomenon or the result of an all too human inheritance plot? The film goes down easy enough but is not overly memorable. The color cinematography is warm but there is little atmosphere. The trippy climax is enjoyable but the film could have used more psychedelia. Bottom line: die hard fans of Euro-horror might want to give Night of The Damned a look. Don't expect The Reincarnation of Isabel/Black Magic Rites - a much wilder ride.

Amateur detective Jean Dupris(Pierre Brice)is summoned to the home of his friend Gil.Not long after Dupris and his wife(Patrizia Viotti) arrive Gil dies in his sleep.Gil's companion turns out to be a witch who kidnaps women,engages them in sex orgies and then kills them when she's through.Dupris decides to hang around and help solve these range murders.Unfortunately he doesn't notice that his wife has fallen under the control of the lesbian witch,who enjoys scratching female breasts."Night of the Damned" is a pretty sleazy Italian Gothic horror with beautiful women and a good amount of nudity.The action is pretty slow and there is not much suspense,but if you are into Italian horror give this one a chance.7 out of 10.

After receiving a strange letter, a couple decides to visit a friend of theirs at their Gothic castle, where they learn that he's been stricken by a family curse that has affected others like him, but they soon realize it's a ploy by a malicious witch to steal their vitality and must stop her.

This was a fairly fun if somewhat problematic Gothic horror outing. Among the better elements here come from the immensely fun setup that allows the film to mix the Gothic sensibilities of the past with a modern presentation. The central starting point here, focusing on the couple arriving at the mansion home of a friend of theirs to speak with him after a mysterious letter, and finding that his belief in a family curse that's affecting other members of his family and bringing them into the mix, allows this one to get together with a solid old-school Gothic starting point. The idea of the past coming back to haunt the living is a great starting point, much like the actual reveal about the whole affair being done by a vengeful witch to carry out justice from several centuries earlier, which ties into everything even better. That this is in the modern day and allows it to dalliance into police investigations or other forms of conveniences not normally associated with the older films to give this a generally great touch. With this established, the film's journey into sleazy exploitation realms makes for a fun time here. The couple being at their friends house means there's an excuse for a never-ending series of temptations and seduction sequences that take place either among fog-enshrouded outdoor crypts or inside Satanic altar rooms filled with ornate paraphernalia that allow for the perfect follow-up to the Gothic setup earlier only now it's providing the setting for a series of explicit, sexually-charged couplings between pretty much everyone involved. The difference between the locations is rendered moot when they're both utilized for taking on seductions for the couple that contains a series of stylish sequences involving the psychedelic camera-work and colors to work out their erotic content as the witch seduces her targets in these scenarios. It's all done in such close-up that there's a much more in-depth look at the sexual shenanigans than expected, with everyone taken to bed and focused on these bizarre features, which adds a lot of depth to the storyline presented here involving the purpose behind the seduction. Outside of these factors, there are some big problems here with the film's sluggish and outright bland pacing. The majority of this tends to focus on the exploits of the witch going around seducing the other female members of the family at the castle, while no one is aware of what's going on, something that renders the film a mindless repetition of scenes that meander along at the same general format the entire time. So little of the setup beyond that makes for a dull experience, as it all tends to meander around this bizarre series of setpieces, trying to make sense of everything, but it doesn't do much to keep the excitement level going, so long as the seduction scenes are taking place instead of genre content, which might hold this down for some. As a whole, this is the main factor against the film, as there's not much else holding this back.

Rated Unrated/NC-17: Constant Full Nudity, Hardcore Sex Scenes, Violence, and Language.