By the early 70s, legendary American sexploitation specialist Joseph W. Sarno had been in the game for the better part of a decade, carving himself a niche in a market that few were prepared to take seriously. His angst-ridden scenarios, filmed in stark monochrome, grew steadily more explicit, edging slowly into the burgeoning softcore market of the late 60s but always retaining the distinctive look and feel that had made his name stand out among the sexploitation pack.

By the early 70s, following the success of Deep Throat (1972), hardcore was increasingly making the sort of softcore that Sarno traded in look obsolete and he would eventually - if reluctantly - switch to more explicit material with 1973's Sleepy Head. The following year, he was at the helm of Deep Throat Part 2 (1974), a sequel to the X-rated film which Sarno shot in an R-rated version only.

But before hardcore beckoned, Sarno hooked up with German producer Chris D. Nebe for a trilogy of harder-than-usual softcore titles. Nebe had wanted to work with Sarno since seeing Sarno's Inga (1968). Nebe had set up a distribution company on his return from school in the States in 1965 and now wanted to handle Sarno's work, overseeing the releases of titles like Naked Fog (1965) The Swap and How to Make It (1966) and the improbably titled Scarf of Mist Thigh of Satan (1967).

During this time, Sarno had decamped to Scandinavia to escape the demand back home for hardcore and it wasn't long before Nebe called on Sarno and offered him the chance to shoot a film with him in Germany. The story for what became Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern (1973) (aka The Devil's Plaything, Plaything of the Devil, Vampire Ecstasy and many others besides) started as Veil of Blood and came in part from Nebe whose uncle, the Baron Malsen, owned a 12th century castle which he felt would be the perfect location for an erotic horror film.

Until it was released on DVD by E.I. Independent in early 2006, Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern wasn't particularly widely seen and to be honest, it's not hard to see why. The simplistic plot is stretched out to an unbearable 115 minutes, most of which are spent in the company of German or Swedish actors whose were mainly cast simply because they could speak English, albeit in the most heavily accented and often incomprehensible fashion. Wild bongos pulsate from the soundtrack while nubile young things pulsate on the screen, a plot of sort emerges (something to do with cultists trying to revive their long dead vampiress leader) and Sarno throws in some unexpected and welcome oddball camera angles.

Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern is an unusual film in Sarno's oeuvre - although some of his earlier work featured bored housewives dabbling with the occult, the supernatural wasn't something that seemed to come naturally to him. But he's surprisingly willing to give it his all and there's a rancid atmosphere of decay and sleaze permeating the whole venture that again sets it apart from Sarno's contemporaries, in this case the likes of Jesus Franco and Jean Rollin. The film's main draw though is it's star, Swedish sexpot Marie Forså whose winning combination of youthful innocence and out of control ego is particularly endearing.

There's not much one can really expect from a sex film - it needs to be at least arousing and made with some sort of competence and Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern has moments that are indeed peculiarly erotic. But its ridiculous length, tedious pacing and mostly poor performances make it too much like hard work to be truly enjoyable. It's no lost horror classic that's for sure.

But it did well and Nebe, Sarno and Forså worked well enough together for Nebe to suggest a second film, the more conventional Bibi - Lustreport einer Frühreifen (aka Girl Meets Girl), eventually released in 1974 after Sarno had returned to the States and switched to hardcore. A third film, Butterflies, followed a year later. / KEVIN LYONS - kevscupboard.blogspot.com/

Description / Информация о фильме:
Original Title / Оригинальное название: Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern
Released in / Год выхода: 1973
Genre / Жанр: Horror, Exploitation, Sexploitation, Erotic Fantasy, Grindhouse, Independent Film
Director / Режиссер: Joseph W. Sarno / Джозеф Сарно
Writers / Сценарий: Joseph W. Sarno (writer)
Cinematography by / Оператор: Steve Silverman
Original Music by: Rolf-Hans Müller

Quando lamore e oscenita / Когда любовь - непристойность / Oscenita / Непристойность (1980) VHSRip