Meridian: Kiss of the Beast

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Meridian: Kiss Of The Beast
Meridian Kiss of the Beast.jpg
Directed by Charles Band
Screenplay by Dennis Paoli
Story byCharles Band
Produced byCharles Band
Debra Dion
Starring Sherilyn Fenn
Malcolm Jamieson
Charlie Spradling
Hilary Mason
Cinematography Mac Ahlberg
Edited by Ted Nicolaou
Music by Pino Donaggio
Distributed by Full Moon Features
Release date
  • April 13, 1990 (1990-04-13)
Running time
85 mins
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Italian

Meridian, also known as Meridian: Kiss of the Beast, The Ravaging and Phantoms, is a 1990 American romantic horror film produced and directed by Charles Band and starring Sherilyn Fenn, Malcolm Jamieson, Hilary Mason and Charlie Spradling.

Contents

Plot summary

Catherine Bomarzini and her best friend Gina have traveled to Catherine's family castle in Italy after her father's death. Once there, the two visit a local carnival, where Gina invites the head magician Lawrence and his crew to the castle for dinner. At the dinner, Lawrence drugs both women and rapes Gina in front of his crew. He then carries Catherine off to another room where he strips and begins to seduce her, but pulls away so his twin brother Oliver can instead have sex with her. As the film progresses Catherine finds that both brothers are under a curse - they can only die at the hands of a loved one.

Cast

Release

Meridian was released to video in the United States on April 13, 1990. It has received several DVD releases and in 2016 Full Moon released a re-mastered version of the film, which they re-titled The Ravaging.

The film's soundtrack was released in 1992 through Moonstone Records. Allmusic gave the soundtrack two stars, as they felt that it was not among Pino Donaggio's best work. [1]

Reception

Matt Serafini heavily criticized the film in a 2010 review for Dread Central, commenting that while he had previously listed the movie as one of his favorites, Meridian did not hold up under further viewings, as it was "as poorly written and sloppily made as anything in their recent output". [2] Allmovie panned the movie and gave it 1 1/2 stars. [3]

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References

  1. McDonald, Steven. "Meridian: Kiss of the Beast [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (review)". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  2. Serafini, Matt (25 August 2012). "Saturday Nightmares: Meridian (1990)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  3. Erickson, Hal. "Meridian (1990)". AllMovie. Retrieved 2016-04-03.