Nude for Satan/Review

Rita Calderoni naked, the worst paper spider ever created, a bunch of freaky naked happenings, a campy Satan, and Rita Calderoni naked - See it!

OK, so far, that's a comment, but it is a very honest short comment, for Nude for Satan is one of the best Sleaze Feasts to turn off the brain with. It is clearly one of the most interesting examples of EuroSleaze that does not have the name Jess Franco on it, and it is only just recently that the film is finally getting a following. It does have a very low budget charm that makes it a good double feature with Ed Wood's legendary Orgy of the Dead and there's a feeling that to some it would be a perfect double bill.

The story centers around one Dr. William Harry Benson (Candelli), who on a dark night meets up with Susan Smith, a very unfortunate lady who got herself in a car wreck, marked by a serious bad sound effect job worthy of Plan 9 From Outer Space or the aforementioned Orgy but with a rolling tire passing by the Doctor for that "Dramatic" effect. Visiting a nearby castle looking for some help, he's greeted by someone who looks like the injured woman calling him "Peter," which of course means that our leads are going to be in a double dose of double roles through the rest of the madness that's to follow. Of course, this means meeting up with a very campy Satan (Harris), the Doppelgangers of Dr. Benson and Susan (Her's is called Evelyn), a creepy servant (European character actor Lupi making his final appearance in film), Barbara Lay as a coven member, and a group of Satanists in a ceremony complete with the "Artistic" guys with body paint on them and the must-have flaming skulls.

The freaky, if sometimes slow moving, happenings had to be pretty much among the lowest budgeted in 70's film, with the most hilarious moment being Calderoni in a moment that recalls The Bloody Pit of Horror in a spider web with a paper spider that actually meets his end after Dr. Benson shoots it, and there are a couple of moments of some very funny clumsy camerawork that actually "accidentally" fits in well. The soundtrack is all cheesy creepy Synth playing and Piano chord hammering, fitting perfectly with the action on screen, at least filmed in a right place that offers up a Gothic feeling with ease. Reading in the DVD's liner notes of it's failure in Italy with an audience counting around 500 and the fact that it was in a film vault even through the VHS era when it seemed that almost everything was being released is enough to drop the jaws of every Grindhouse film fanatic, and it's clear that it would have been a Cult Hit in The states if it was given a chance, but as there was so much competition in 1974, in a way it's easy to see why it was destined to be that Bad Movie Classic that was going to be discovered long after it's release while Producer Angioli continued working into the 2Ks (A career that looks like a decent selection of Post-Grindhouse Exploitation like 1995's The Strange Case of Olga O) and Batzella went onto other Sleaze epics including SS Hell Camp.

If there's a thread for Top 10 Exploitation film titles, there's a chance that Nude for Satan has to be in many of the lists as it is clearly a great example of cheap sleazy Sin-ema that actually lives up to the title.

Review by Screen13