Search - SEVEN WOMEN FOR SATAN on DVD

Stylish, erotic horror film of the 1970s

Neil H. | Middletown, CT United States | 05/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Some fans of the European horror genre love this movie. Those used to the faster-paced American horror movies probably won't, since it does move rather languidly especially in the first third or so. The film is not as well known as some others largely because of being banned in its own country, France, which pretty much killed any chance it had for success there.

The original title was Les Week-ends Malefiques du Comte Zaroff (The Malefic Weekends of Count Zaroff), but this re-release with dubbed English was retitled Seven Women for Satan, a title which makes no sense whatever. There are indeed seven lovely young women, but they have virtually nothing to do with each other and nothing in the film has anything to do with Satan.

While some reviewers have called this a remake of the 1932 film The Most Dangerous Game, it actually is a sequel to that rather than a remake. The protagonist is the son (played by Michel Lemoine, who also directed) of the Count Zaroff of the earlier film. The newer Count Zaroff on horseback chasing a naked girl through the fields and woods in the first few minutes of the film is really the only thing that follows the theme of the earlier movie. That looks a bit corny to us now because more or less the same thing has been done so many times, perhaps most memorably in The Naked Prey. But after that the movie goes its own original way.

It is an exploitation film, yes, in that there's a good deal of full nudity and sexual content. But it's really more than just an exploitation film and shouldn't be dismissed as just that. I would strongly recommend that anyone who gets the DVD watches the movie first, then looks into the extras on the disc which include an interview with Lemoine and a lot of other material that helps one understand the film better. Then perhaps watch the film a second time. I did, and found it more coherent and not so slow-moving the second time.

There is no insert of any kind included with the disc, but the extras on it more than make up for that. The transfer looked very good to me, except for some brief speckling in one scene about a third of the way through. If there were any other visual problems I just didn't notice them. It's enhanced for wide screen and has closed captioning in English if you need it, which does not always match the dubbed English but is close enough."

Interesting at least

Chris | Australia | 03/12/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Kevin Jones is spot-on in his review of this film, it is somewhat slow paced and the film transfer quality is slightly disappointing. Like many similar European films, the plot is abstract enough to be original, yet thin enough to be seen as no more than an excuse to link some exotic exploitation scenes together. The movie trades on the vision of its key scenes, most memorable including the woman chased through the field, the erotic use of champagne, the two way mirror and the couple who meet their fate in the torture chamber. The movie is well edited and acted and Howard Vernon pops up again as the mysterious butler. Overall the movie has a very voyeuristic feel about it, interesting to look at, but too slow paced to really draw anyone in to it."