Review of The Devil's Nightmare (1971) by Willem V — 29 Oct 2010

While most of the characters in this vintage Hammeresque "shocker" are cartoonish and one-dimensional, there is a bright spot here in the performance given by Erika Blanc as Lisa/the succubus. Sure, the acting is pretty stiff otherwise, but Blanc is wonderful, alternating between flawless beauty and bug-eyed creepiness. Nearly every time she transformed, it was accompanied by some of the scariest facial expressions and body language I've seen since Lon Chaney.

The rest of the flick isn't terribly creative. Seven tourists, each of whom embodies one of the "seven deadly sins," arrive at a cursed castle and get done in, mostly in ways that don't have much to do with their "sins." The best death scene, though, is when the Greed character sinks into a mound of golden quicksand. The rest... eh. Daniel Emilfork plays Satan in caricature, too, the character here bearing a striking resemblance to Max Schreck's Count Orlok in "Nosferatu.".

Not a great flick, but watchable and worth a wisecrack here and there. Catch it for Blanc's performance, but don't expect too much else to applaud from this rather thin morality play.