Nude for Satan

Last updated
Nude for Satan
Nuda-per-satana-italian-movie-poster-md.jpg
Directed by Luigi Batzella
Screenplay byLuigi Batzella
Story byLuigi Batzella
Produced byRemo Angioli [1] :126
Starring
CinematographyAntonio Maccoppi [1] :126
Edited byLuigi Batzella
Music byAlberto Baldan Bembo [1] :126
Production
company
C.R.C. Produzioni Cinematografiche e Televisive [1] :126
Distributed byP.A.B.
Release date
  • 23 October 1974 (1974-10-23)(Italy)
Running time
91 minutes [1] :126
CountryItaly [1] :126
Box office 56.364 million

Nude for Satan (Italian : Nuda per Satana) is a 1974 Italian horror film directed by Luigi Batzella.

Contents

Plot

Late at night, Dr. Benson drives through the countryside and stumbles upon a car crash where he finds a wounded young woman named Susan. Dr. Benson gets Susan in his car and seeks shelter for the two in a nearby castle. He is greeted at the door by Evelyn, who looks exactly like Susan, and is invited to stay the night. Dr. Benson soon meets his own doppelgänger named Peter. When in the castle, Dr. Benson discovers that time and space do not follow ordinary logic in Satan's world.

Style

Film historian Roberto Curti described Nude for Satan as walking a thin edge between erotic horror and pornography as other films of the period did. Curti described the film as "tempted to jump to the other side of the fence but still retaining some prudish reservation". [1] :126

Production

Rita Calderoni starred in the film as both Susan Smith and Evelyn. Rita Calderoni, circa 1972.jpg
Rita Calderoni starred in the film as both Susan Smith and Evelyn.

Rita Calderoni claimed that director Luigi Batzella had cast her in the film after seeing her in Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel Trecento . According to the Public Cinematographic Register, Nude for Satan began filming on March 25, 1974. [1] :126,129 It was shot at the Castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano in Frosinone, Lazio. [1] :126 Calderoni stated that the film shoot took five or six weeks. Calderoni recalled that the car accident scene in the film took Batzella an entire night to film. In the finished film, the accident is represented by a single tire rolling into frame. Calderoni recollected that she was injured during the spider attack sequence in the film. [1] :126

Release

Nude for Satan was initially rejected by the board of censors in Italy due to "continuous obscene sequences, some of them even portraying lesbian intercourses". On appeal, several cuts to the film were suggested to the producer. This included removing scenes involving sexual intercourse between the doctor and the woman who represents Susan's double, a reduction of Susan's nightmare scene to avoid a "description of lesbian intercourse", and to "avoid erotic acts of the main characters in a chair" from the final scene of the film. The producer obliged and the film was released in Italy with a V.M.18 rating. [1] :128Nude for Satan was released in Italy on 23 October 1974 where it was distributed by P.A.B. The film grossed a total of 56,364,000 Italian lire domestically. [1] :126

Nude for Satan was released on DVD and VHS by Image Entertainment in 1999. [2] [3]

Reception

In retrospective reviews, Curti described the film's direction as "clueless" noting that Batzella "cannot find a formal balance and keeps piling up whatever comes to his mind." [1] :127 In his book Perverse Titillation, Danny Shipka summarized the plot noting that "the Devil is bored and wants to have an orgy. Oh, and Calderoni gets molested by a giant spider. You'll be bored too." [4] In his book Italian Horror Film Directors, Louis Paul declared the film to be a "demented exercise into semi-pornographic skin flick horror" [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Eastman (actor)</span> Italian actor and screenwriter

George Eastman is an Italian actor and screenwriter well known for his frequent collaborations with notorious director Joe D'Amato. He is most famous for his role as the insane, cannibalistic serial killer Klaus Wortmann in the gory 1980 horror film Antropophagus. He also played a similar role in its 1981 follow-up, Absurd. Both films were directed by D'Amato and written by Eastman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riccardo Freda</span> Italian film director

Riccardo Freda was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, giallo and spy films.

<i>Castle of Blood</i> 1964 film

Castle of Blood is a 1964 horror film directed by Antonio Margheriti and Sergio Corbucci. The film stars Barbara Steele, Arturo Dominici and Georges Rivière. The film was initially commissioned to director Sergio Corbucci, who had Gianni Grimaldi and Bruno Corbucci set to write the film. A scheduling conflict led to Corbucci's friend Margheriti being hired to complete the film. To avoid going over time, Corbucci was brought in to film one scene.

<i>Female Vampire</i> 1975 film

Female Vampire is a horror film written, directed, and co-edited by Jesús Franco. It was produced in 1973, but was only theatrically distributed in 1975. The film is set in Madeira and stars actress Lina Romay as Irina von Karlstein, a vampire who has sex with both male and female victims. In an unusual variation of the vampire myth, Karlstein performs oral sex on her victims until they die, draining them of their sexual fluids.

<i>I Vampiri</i> 1957 Italian film

I Vampiri is a 1957 Italian horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and completed by the film's cinematographer, Mario Bava. It stars Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D'Angelo and Dario Michaelis. The film is about a series of murders on young women who are found with their blood drained. The newspapers report on a killer known as the Vampire, which prompts young journalist Pierre Lantin to research the crimes. Lantin investigates the mysterious Du Grand family who lives in a castle occupied by Gisele Du Grand who is in love with Lantin. She lives with her aunt, who hides her face in a veil, as well as the scientist Julian Du Grand, who is trying to find the secret to eternal youth.

<i>Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory</i> 1961 Italian film

Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory is a 1961 Italian mystery horror film directed by Paolo Heusch and written by Ernesto Gastaldi. The plot follows a girls' detention facility that is plagued by attacks from an unknown entity.

<i>La Bestia in calore</i> 1977 Italian exploitation film

La Bestia in calore is a 1977 Italian exploitation film starring Macha Magall, and directed, written, and edited by Luigi Batzella.

<i>Erotic Nights of the Living Dead</i> 1980 Italian film

Erotic Nights of the Living Dead is a 1980 Italian erotic horror film directed and written and directed by Joe D'Amato. It has received mixed to negative reviews. It was filmed in and around Santo Domingo.

<i>What Have They Done to Your Daughters?</i> 1974 Italian film

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is a 1974 Italian giallo and poliziottesco film directed by Massimo Dallamano.

<i>Porno Holocaust</i> 1981 Italian film

Porno Holocaust is a 1981 Italian sexploitation horror film directed and lensed by Joe D'Amato and written by Tito Carpi under the pseudonym "Tom Salina". The assistant director was Donatella Donati. Shot in and around Santo Domingo, it was one of the first cinematically released Italian films containing hardcore pornography. The title has been seen as a "riff" on Cannibal Holocaust.

<i>The Diabolical Dr. Z</i> 1966 film

The Diabolical Dr. Z is a 1966 horror film directed by Jesús Franco. The film stars Mabel Karr as Irma Zimmer, a surgeon who creates a machine that turns people into zombified slaves. Ms. Zimmer is the daughter of a Professor Zimmer, who was hounded to his death several years earlier by four of his scientific associates. Zimmer uses the machine to control an erotic dancer named Miss Muerte who uses her long poison-tipped fingernails to murder the people Ms. Zimmer holds responsible for her father's death.

<i>The Virgin of Nuremberg</i> 1963 Italian film

The Virgin of Nuremberg is a 1963 Italian horror film directed by Anthony Dawson.

<i>The Devils Wedding Night</i> 1973 Italian film

The Devil's Wedding Night is a 1973 Italian horror film directed by Luigi Batzella and Joe D'Amato and starring Mark Damon, Rosalba Neri, Esmeralda Barros, Francesca Romana Davila, and Ciro Papa

<i>Slaughter of the Vampires</i> 1962 Italian film

Slaughter of the Vampires is a 1962 Italian horror film written and directed by Roberto Mauri. The film is set in 19th Century Austria where a newlywed couple move in to a mysterious mansion. During a ball, the wife is bitten by the vampire baron of the mansion.

Fabrizio De Angelis is an Italian director, screenwriter and producer.

<i>Malabimba – The Malicious Whore</i> 1979 Italian sexploitation horror film

Malabimba – The Malicious Whore is a 1979 Italian sexploitation horror film directed by Andrea Bianchi.

Walter Bigari better known by his stage name Walter Brandi was an Italian actor. In his book on European exploitation films, Danny Shipka described Brandi as "one of the first de facto stars of Italian horror/exploitation", while noting he was never as popular as Christopher Lee, Barbara Steele or Peter Cushing. He predominantly acted in genre films in the 1960s. Brandi died in May 1997.

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Curti 2017.
  2. "Nude for Satan (1974)". AllMovie . Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  3. "Nude for Satan". Image Entertainment. Archived from the original on 4 June 2000. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  4. Shipka 2011, p. 153.
  5. Paul 2005, p. 316.

Sources