The Feast of Satan (1971)

I am an enthusiastic fan of European Horror in general and I LIVE for Italian and Spanish Gothic Horror productions in particular. That being said, one will always be in for one disappointment or another, regardless of genre, and this is definitely the case with "Las Amantes Del Diablo" aka. "Feast of Satan" (1971). My expectations for this flick weren't very high, since fellow Eurohorror buffs had already warned me that it wasn't very good; however, I tend to love trashy flicks that others find silly. While I expected this film to be silly, I did not expect it to be boring. Well, it is.The film's premise isn't all that bad and could have actually made a cool flick, had it been executed with a little more love. The film is about a young woman (Krista Nell) who, in search of her disappeared sister, comes to a small coastal village where she encounters the sinister Dr. Tills Nescu (Espartaco Santoni)... The title already gives away in which direction the film is going, and though it is only 90 minutes long, it seems to go on forever. There is zero action and zero suspense, and endless periods in which literally nothing happens. European Horror cinema is generally known to be as atmospheric as cinema gets. Sadly this isn't the case with this yawner, which features hardly any atmosphere-building settings (with the exception of one somewhat eerie-looking castle). The ridiculous and absolutely out-of-place elevator music doesn't help. Unlike most European Horror / Exploitation flicks from the 70s this one is almost gore- and sleaze-less. The highlight of the film is a scene in which the yummy leading actress Krista Nell (who sadly passed away far too young from leukemia) bares her breasts for about two seconds. The female cast members, particularly Nell and the equally ravishing Teresa Gimpera, are nice to look at, but then, there's about 10.000 other Eurohorror films of which one can say the same, and which are a hundred times more recommendable than this one. The film's most entertaining moments are those which are (unintentionally?) funny, such as the mustached dwarf who simply is there for no reason whatsoever. The film also features Julio Peña, who might be known to Eurohorror fans for being in several films starring the late Spanish Horror legend Paul Naschy (R.I.P.). The film catches up a little in the last 15 minutes, but this doesn't make up for first 75 minutes of boredom. There isn't much else to say about this film, other than that it is dull as ditchwater. Not Recommended.

This is actually more a Spanish horror movie than an Italian one (so it's really more "paella horror" than "spaghetti horror"). I'm sure there was probably Italian co-production money involved, and the cut I saw was obviously not a Spanish one (since it had some brief nudity). But most of the cast was Spanish except for the Austrian actress Krista Nell, who was usually relegated to supporting roles but acquits herself well here as the lead. She plays a woman whose sister has gone around the bend after accidentally becoming involved with a satanic cult, so for some reason she tries infiltrate the same cult with not much better results.As far as the plot goes, the movie is pretty weak. The directorial style doesn't begin to approach either the best Italian horror/gialli films or the British Hammer films, but it's not bad for early Spanish horror, and this is one of the few Spanish films that could actually be described as "psychedlic" in places (Spain's dictator at the time, Francisco Franco, had little use for the kind of decadence sweeping the rest of Europe that period, but, hey, if it's a bunch of satanists doing it. . .). The acting in general is unremarkable, but Nell and Teresa Gimpera, who plays the jealous girlfriend of the cult leader, are better than average. This is one of those movies I wouldn't look to hard for, but it's worth watching if you somehow run across it.

I did something while watching Feast for the Devil that I rarely, if ever, do – I caught myself nodding off a couple of times. Why? It's dull. It's uneventful. It's pointless. It's not very good. Instead of Feast for the Devil, a better title might be Feast for the Insomniac.Usually these Euro-Gothic films work for me. I'm a fan. But there's so little to get excited about in Feast for the Devil that it never clicked with me. The story involves a Dr. Tills Nescu who has a bad habit of kidnapping and sacrificing young women. While that may sound like a good set-up for a movie, in all actuality, Dr. Nescu and a variety of unknown people spend most of the movie at parties on his boat. Not very Satanic, huh? The movie builds to the final scenes of Dr. Nescu performing his rituals to honor Satan. But as it turns out, Dr. Nescu is hardly the big bad servant of the Devil we've been led to believe throughout the movie. Instead, he's more of a servant of his dead mother. What a letdown!

"Feast of Satan" is a Spanish Gothic horror produced,co-written and starring Espartaco Santoni. He plays a wealthy doctor Tils Nescu,who is also the leader of sect devoted to the worship of an evil Hindu deity.Hilda Torres(stunningly beautiful Krista Nell)investigates when her sister is discovered in a terrified state.Traveling to the Spanish tourist resort of Marbella,Hilda becomes Nescu's most recent lover and will herself become his next victim."Feast of Satan" is a pretty average example of Eurohorror.The film offers only a little bit of atmosphere and there's very little nudity.Still the main reasons to see this somewhat obscure horror flick are Krista Nell and Teresa Gimpera,both incredibly alluring beauties.So if you're a fan of early 70's Spanish horror give this one a look.7 out of 10.