Los ritos sexuales del diablo (1982) User Reviews

more sex film than horror film, its still more than a bit disturbing

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 2 September 2009]

Soft core horror film about a couple who go to visit in-laws after a death and end up getting involved in a very randy bunch of witches/ Satanists. There is lots of sex (including bestiality) and I was wondering if this wasn't a cut down adult film. I don't think more than three or four minutes will pass with out some form of coupling. It's so pervasive that you'll no doubt wonder if the film was intended to be scary. Allowing for the various group activities this film isn't bad. Its suffers in the fear department because of all the bedroom activity, but it still manages to create a nice sense of dread that only dubbed Euro-horror can. Worth a look if you like that sort of thing

Satanic Euro-sleaze.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 12 February 2015]

A soft-core sex film masquerading as a horror movie, Black Candles sees Spanish director José Ramón Larraz-the man responsible for cult erotic Euro-horror classic Vampyres-using the themes of Satanism and witchcraft as an excuse to depict as much sexual depravity as possible. While he doesn't quite stray into graphic Jess Franco territory, steering well clear of gynaecological close-ups, Larraz still manages to seriously steam up the screen with wall-to-wall lesbian and hetero sex. Plus a little something for animal lovers

The film starts as it means to go one, with a sex scene between a balding middle-aged man and a young woman half his age; as the guy happily bangs away, someone uses a voodoo doll to give him a fatal coronary. On hearing of her brother's sudden death, Carol (Vanessa Hidalgo) travels to England with her husband Robert (Mauro Rivera) to stay with her sister-in-law Fiona while the estate is settled. What Carol doesn't know is that Fiona is part of a devil-worshipping cult that wants her to become a bride to Satan.

Although obviously inspired by Rosemary's Baby, Black Candles has none of that film's suspense or atmosphere-it's simply one sleazy sex scene after another: Robert screws Carol, Carol screws her brother (in an incestuous dream sequence), Fiona screws Robert, the local reverend screws Fiona, a goat screws a farm-girl (not too explicit, but still rather shocking), Robert screws Carol up the wrong 'un, a farmer screws his wife who proceeds to screw the farm-hand while the farmer shouts encouragement, and in the orgiastic Satanic ritual finalé, the reverend screws Carol while everyone else screws around them! Phew!

After all this rampant humping, plus a memorably nasty scene in which the farmer gets a sword rammed up his jacksie, the film wraps up matters with a disappointing cop-out ending which reveals that everything we have seen has been a dream (making the incestuous dream a dream-within-a-dream), but one that may be a portent of things to come.

Black Candles

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 31 March 2009]

Along with her Latin professor beau Robert(Mauro Ribera), Carol(Vanessa Hidalgo) returns to London to visit her dead brother's wife, Fiona(Helga Liné)regarding his will. What she soon discovers is that her brother could very well have been a victim of witchcraft and that Fiona could belong to a Satanic cult. When John falls prey to Fiona's seduction, eventually joining the cult of his own free will, will Carol be able to escape?

Notorious for it's displays of a Satanic cult's sordid activities, José Ramón Larraz's BLACK CANDLES seems to be about an innocent's potential danger, as she pursues the real truth about her rather athletic and active brother's heart attack. You get plenty of soft-core sex, as the three leads often engage in spirited acts of love-making(Ribera has the privilege of having sex multiple times with both Liné & Hidalgo). As mentioned, a member of the cult(..the one having sex with Fiona's husband when the voodoo doll needle action took place)willingly copulates with a goat as Carmen Carrión(..as the lusty maid Georgiana)and her stable hand grounds keeper husband and lover watch. The film also features a sinister "reverend" who serves as the leader of this clan of Devil worshipers(..and gets to have sex with Helga and Vanessa as well). The film isn't really complex with any depth involving Satanism, just the exploitive nature of a clan of wealthy British aristocrats enjoying all the debauchery that their religion provides(..it's established that these people became rich due to selling their souls, enjoying the fruits by conducting ceremonies to Lucifer). ROSEMARY'S BABY is an obvious inspiration, shades of that premise(..except for the "baby" part), the practice of Satan worship by normal-looking people, hiding their religion from the outside world(..it's also mentioned that these covens are everywhere, establishing their "threat"). Besides the infamous goat sex is an unfortunate victim's anal stabbing by a sword(..Georgiana's husband who threatened to expose the coven)..we realize that this coven will resort to whatever measures are necessary to keep their secret worship just that. The film is essentially soft-sore pornography, with the devil worship an excuse to display deviant behavior. Hidalgo fulfills the Mia Farrow role here, spending a vast amount of time either naked or in her undergarments..very little time is Hidalgo wearing a wardrobe of any kind. The real star here is Helga Liné, embracing her role with relish, easily one of her best performances displaying a middle-age seductress who peeps on Carol and Robert having sex, moves in on her sister-in-law's man(..stealing him away with her impressive feminine wiles), and converts new members to Lucifer's flock because of this overwhelming power she has at her disposal.

SPOILER:The incredibly insipid conclusion, using the clichéd "it's all a nightmare" scenario with Carol awakening to find that all we have witnessed before was fictional, is an absolute cop-out that feels forced on us as if director Larraz had to include it due to outside influence.

Devilish work in the English countryside

[charlottesweb · 1 January 2001]

Known in the UK as Black Candles, the original Spanish title Los Ritos Sexuales del Diablo sums it up a lot better. The characters in this 1981 film from Jose Ramon Larraz spend most of the time naked and jumping on one another. Saucy German actress Helga Line, pushing 50 when the film was made, leads the way with an erotic, knicker-shedding performance as a middle-class woman at the centre of a Satanic cult. Drawing heavily on Rosemary's Baby and set in England, this is a daft piece of soft core in which the devil's work is done largely by the genitalia.

Take it sleazy

[movieman_kev · 3/10 · 26 October 2007]

Extremely thin 'plot' of satanic rituals or some such mumbo-jumbo provides the hokey excuse to thread copious amounts of sex scenes together. Straight vanilla sex, masturbation, lesbianism, S&M, bestiality, incest, and a few other sexual proliferation's all get their time in the spotlight here. The problem is the storyline is so dull that the rampant sexuality gets pretty tedious after awhile. Who knew that a film with an intimate goat/ girl encounter could be so damn boring? Well now I do.

Eye Candy: Venessa Hidalgo shows all; Helga Line provides T&A (both on display quite frequently); women viewers get the occasional penis.

My Grade: D+

Region 1 DVD Extras: Trailers for "Pick Up", "Legend of Eight Samurai", "Don't Answer the Phone", "Prime Evil", & "Sister Street Fighter" (also the same DVD holds a second feature movie "Evil Eye")

Beastiality is not sexy.

[Ky-D · 4/10 · 12 March 2005]

I'm not ruining anything when I inform you that you get to see a woman have sex with a goat in this movie. If that is your thing, then your movie has arrived.

A woman and her husband go to see her estranged sister in the family mansion in the woods. Her sister is a creepy lady to say the least, and she seems to have interests that go beyond family love. On the side a group of unsavory characters show up and begin enacting all kinds of pagan rituals.

The plotting is pretty weak and the characters are pretty dumb. The woman sticks around even after her husband starts turning into a jerk and hanging out with the pagans, even continues the have sex with him. On the exploitative side of things, there is much bared flesh and a couple of kinky couplings, but nothing that hasn't been better somewhere else. Oh, and the aforementioned goat-sex scene.

Most viewers won't make it to the end. Exploitation fans will ride it out, but will be left wanting more.

4/10

Meanwhile, Back In The Goat Barn ...

[Steve_Nyland · 2/10 · 30 September 2006]

I absolutely despise this movie. No wonder Jose Larraz "disowned" it at one point and refuses to discuss it. I admire Larraz's work, especially his more obscure slasher/sex maniac thrillers like SAVAGE LUST or SCREAM AND DIE. His work has a kind of inescapable artiness about it that he can't seem to switch off, owing in part to his secondary career as a painter & cartoonist. It's too bad he never made a Western, his vision would have been perfect.

BLACK CANDLES is easily his most notorious film and probably his best known after the masterpiece VAMPYRES. And it's notoriety revolves around one scene where a Satanic coven enacts a bizarre rite involving extracting the reproductive fluid of a goat -- symbolizing The Beast -- as some kind of nauseating balm to be used in preparing the waif like sister of a murdered man for her role as the bride of Satan. The scene in question is staged in a way that looks rather convincing even without the display of any plumbing apparatus the goat may have been endowed with, relying upon the histrionics of the actress recruited to play the supplicant in the ritual and lots of guttural chanting on the film's recycled musical score heard in a half-dozen films attributed to Jacinto Molina. The perverse nature of the scene is more implied than shown in graphic detail, heightened somewhat by the knowledge that said supplicant is actually the teen-aged daughter of the Satanic priest. My but they had fun concocting this movie.

The problem with it is that there isn't much to deconstruct or contemplate aside from the paper thin ROSEMARY'S BABY derived story of a woman being weaned into her role as Satan's bride by a sophisticated coven of Satanists living in the hedgrowed outlands of a very sinister Britain. Led by Eurohorror sensation Helga Line these Satanists are comprised of doctors, lawyers, land owning magnates and other upper crust dignitaries who actually owe their professional success to their worship of the devil. All you have to do is sell your soul and the world can be yours, only watch out whom you may sell out to pay back petty personal conflict or you may end up being felched with a sword.

The film attempts to combine this heady Satanic trip with oodles or borderline graphic sex, and should correctly be regarded as a kind of apex or culmination of the sex and horror Spanish thriller traditions popularized in part by Mr. Molina & Ms. Line, and which had amazingly flourished under the disapproving eye of one Generalissimo Franco, the dictator who controlled Spain up until 1976. While he lived his decree was that Spanish cinema was to be free of graphic depictions of on-screen sex. Spanish directors often made two versions of their films, one with the sex concealed for their own screens and one with the fornication on display for export. As difficult as it was for the filmmakers to express themselves the result was a sort of interesting tension that usually results when artists flirt with the forbidden: Spanish horror from the 1970s has a very special flavor to it that is somewhat of an acquired taste. It's not for everyone.

But in a bizarre turn of events, without Franco's influence on their culture Spanish horror sort of dried up in the late 1970s, when their Gothic castles and demonic orgies suddenly found themselves passé when compared to new sensations like JAWS and the STAR WARS phenomenon. And without Franco's constraints their were suddenly a flood of overtly graphic thrillers that came tumbling out of the pipes in the very late 70s/early 80s, of which BLACK CANDLES is perhaps the best known due to it's emphasis on sexual deviancy with a barnyard animal. Larraz' major horror films have always revolved around sexual taboos (the lesbianism of VAMPYRES, the incest of SCREAM AND DIE & DEVIATION) but here the effect of the depravity is to overshadow the rest of the production. Nobody cares about anything else but the traditionally censored trip to the Goat Barn, and watching a cut version without the scene in the barn is almost an exercise in pointlessness. The sex isn't graphic enough to rate as porn and the chills aren't chilling enough to rate as horror.

So, BLACK CANDLES is essentially a behavior study -- Here is how high society British Satanists might behave in their secluded mansions out in the West Midlands or whatever. Between sex scenes the actors/actresses sit around and have lots of discussions. The best thing the film has going for it is an undeniably oppressive atmosphere of claustrophobia, with most of it's action taking place in the tightly confined interiors of Ms. Line's character's mansion. Nearly every avenue of fornication is hinted at so fans of soft-core sex romps with a hinting of supernatural horror will be amused, and of course the vicarious sex criminals amongst us will enjoy choking their chickens to the goat barn scene. But the ultimate conclusion of the film is silly, pretentious, intelligence insulting, and probably perfect for such an otherwise forgettable exercise in applied sleaze.

2/10; Without the Goat Barn this movie just isn't the same, and with the scene it's probably a bit too much for most viewers. Larraz was correct to disown it.

Very sleazy horror film.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 20 November 2004]

Jose Ramon Larraz's "Black Candles" is a rare Spanish horror/sleaze film about a young woman named Carol who finds out that various family members are involved with a satanic cult.The film is loaded with sleazy sex and satanism,so I wasn't disappointed.Still it's not as memorable as Larraz's erotic masterpiece "Vampyres".The lighting is poor and the acting is amateurish.The sex scene between a black goat and a woman has to be seen to be believed.There is also an incredibly nasty moment which has a man killed by having a sword shoved into him between his legs.To sum up,if you are into European exploitation cinema give this one a look.However if you like your horror without sleaze avoid this one like the plague.7 out of 10.

Very misleading. There is nothing scary, horror or intriguing.

[Fella_shibby · 1/10 · 13 March 2022]

I saw this for the first time recently. Got enticed into seeing this cos of its cool poster n the often mentioning of satanic cult stuff in review section.

The French bearded guy/priest looked like Tom Savini.

Apart from the babe in the first sex scene, there is not a single hot or attractive babe. The softcore scenes are not at all erotic or titillating but boring.

And just for shock value, a sword is inserted in a fat man's ass and a goat sex scene is inserted.

lusty amateurs giving it their sleazy all

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 27 September 2007]

Not a pretty film, this rather vigorous satanic sex film is filmed on location in England with a cast of largely unknown Spanish and English 'actors'. Actually the fact that this is such a mixed cast and of such mixed age does add a little something to what is otherwise not a lot. The leading coven lady was coming up 50 when she made this and that doesn't stop her stripping for sex at regular intervals. Similarly the men, they don't care if they might be fat and hairy. So plot wise this is a non starter but as a representation of a small countryside satanic group ready and willing to excite their goat into some mixed action, this is probably more realistic than many. Basically this looks like lusty amateurs giving it their sleazy all.

Black magic fail from the man who brought us Vampyres

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 29 November 2015]

Those expecting another VAMPYRES from director Jose Ramon Larraz are in for a huge disappointment with BLACK CANDLES, as it's a big step-down from that atmospheric masterpiece. Instead, here we are treated to a poorly-lit, cheaply-made sex film masquerading as a full blooded horror. Much of the film's running time consists of ugly actors and actresses heaving over one another which doesn't make for very pleasant viewing. In fact it's downright disgusting. The Spanish actresses here look about ten years too old to be engaging in these kind of kinky activities and the men are all sleazy, hairy types; enough to give you nightmares! Once again the film is set in England, but this time little use is made of the picturesque British countryside. Most of the action takes place in what looks like the same room being refitted over and over again.

The other typical attributes of a Spanish horror film are here too and help to conspire against it. The dubbing is poor and the editing appears to have done without much consideration, or, indeed, attention. The lack of acting skill is appalling, with the whole cast never rising above the level of amateurs. There isn't really much of a plot either, and things drag incredibly in the film's middle. It's just one pointless sex scene after another. A rushed climax ends in yet more ritualised sex, and then a silly twist ending which is probably about the most horrifying part of the entire film!

The horror elements come from a silly 'devil worship' plot element thrown in with all the sex, and there's a lot of mumbo-jumbo to be waded through. One incredibly nasty scene involving a sword is sure to leave a nasty impression on the viewer. As this was the UK 18-rated version I saw, a lot of the more explicit perverse aspects have been (perhaps thankfully?) shorn out, including candle-sex and even some fornication involving a black goat. Aside from this controversial side to the film, there is absolutely nothing to redeem it. It's not scary, it's not sexy and it's definitely not worth bothering with - unless you happen to be a devil worshipper yourself...

A choice sleazy piece of highly arousing soft-core Eurotrash horror junk

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 5 July 2007]

Sweet Carol (comely brunette Vanessa Hidalgo) and her amorous husband Robert (a solid performance by Mauro Ribera) travel to England after Carol's brother Paul dies suddenly. They discover an evil Satanic cult that's lead by Carol's wicked and alluring sister-in-law Fiona (ravishing redhead Helga Line of "Horror Express" and "The Vampires' Night Orgy"). Robert gets drawn into the coven. Writer/director Jose Ramon Larraz, who previously gave us the intensely erotic classic "Vampyres," delivers a tremendously tasty'n'trashy cinematic brew of raunchy sexuality and twisted perversity: we've got voyeurism, masturbation, lesbianism, plenty of copulation, sodomy and even bestiality (one gorgeous lady cult member makes love to a black billy goat!). The spooky ooga-booga throbbing rock score by Cam and Juan Marine's rough, grainy cinematography further enhance the deliciously lurid hothouse atmosphere of depraved desires and unbridled carnal passions. Line, who was 50 when she acted in this picture, looks absolutely smashing in the buff and performs her sex scenes with sizzling abandon. In the movie's nastiest scene a pathetic fat guy has a sword shoved into his anus (ouch!). Raw and ribald, this racy number sizes up as a good deal of scuzzy Eurosleaze soft-core horror exploitation fun.

Sleaze galore.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 10 September 2019]

"Black Candles" is a rather amusing Spanish exploitation-horror film starring the incomparable Helga Line ("Horror Express", "The Loreley's Grasp", etc.). Co-star Vanessa Hidalgo plays Carol, who travels to England after the sudden death of her brother. She and her boyfriend Robert (Pablo in the Spanish language version), played by Jeffrey Healey, find that her sister-in-law Fiona (Ms. Line) is an unusual sort; Fiona, not surprisingly, is part of a cult that practices devil worship.

Carol isn't a particularly interesting character, so it's hard to care that much about what happens to her, but you do feel somewhat bad for her given how easily Robert / Pablo is corrupted. Still, there are some entertainingly twisted characters on hand, including a "reverend" (Manuel Gomez-Alvarez) and a "doctor". Line by herself is enticing enough to carry the film on her own, still looking good at age 50 or so.

Director Jose Ramon Larraz ("Vampyres", "Symptoms") does manage to tell something resembling a story, in which it remains to be seen if Carol will get out while the getting is good. Trash fanatics need not worry, however: there's still *plenty* of nudity (male as well as female) and soft core sex to keep them interested. What helps to sell "Black Candles" are two key scenes, one involving a goat, and one involving a sword. Viewers have to wait until almost the end of the movie for the sword scene, but "Black Candles" only runs approximately 83 minutes, so they don't have to stick it out for that long.

Overall, this is nowhere near as thickly atmospheric as "Vampyres", but horror fans who love their genre films to be on the sleazy side should be pretty satisfied.

Seven out of 10.

Cheesy 80's garbage

[Falconeer · 3/10 · 4 October 2015]

After seeing the enjoyable "Coming of Sin" and the horror classic "Vampyres," I decided to give this one a try, despite it's low rating. What a difference a decade can make. This ugly, artless "Rosemary's Baby" rip off, possesses none of the beauty and artistry as the stuff from the 70's. Instead we have synth music, big hair and tons of tacky sex scenes, possibly to make up for everything else this movie is lacking. A woman, played by an actress who can't seem to stop pushing her petrified hairstyle back with her hand, (a pointless gesture as nobody in this crap has hair that moves.) She arrives with her husband at the estate of her brother, who has died mysteriously. She finds that her sister-in-law is not what she pretends, and she begins to suspect that she is a devil worshiping witch. Cue the 'special herb tea' ala 'tannis root' and the naked old people at Satanic sex rituals, and the old shtick about the wife being the last to know etc..

I know the 80's was a time of filmmakers copying earlier, more successful films, and there have been some good ones. But "Black Candles" is really a waste of time. And I forced myself to sit through the entire thing, just so I could say I had seen it..only to find the worst, dumbest, and most incoherent ending I have ever seen. So unless you need to see a woman having sex with a goat, there really is absolutely no reason to waste your valuable time. Just revisit "Vampyres" from this same director, which is a horror classic.

It's all a bit of a dream

[moondog-14 · 24 October 1999]

Once more using very nice location photography (this time in England) we have another amateurish Euro porn horror movie. Horror in this case is just an excuse to show uninteresting ritualised sex. Along the way we have a touch of incest and the suggestion that it is all a premonition revealed to the heroine in a dream.

There are, very very dim, echoes of Rosemary's baby - except there is no actual baby.

All in all a dim film.

Its obscurity is deserved

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 2/10 · 10 July 2013]

Review based on 84-minutes long UK version, titled Black Candles, which, incidentally, has nothing to do with the film itself.

Chick and her husband go to London after her brother dies, and allegedly her hubby is pulled into a Satanic cult when they arrive there. I say "allegedly" because, in a dumbass plot twist at the very end, we learn that everything was all just a dream. That wafer thin plot is merely an excuse for Vanessa Hidalgo and Helga Liné to get nude as often as possible (Helga Liné, approximately 48 years old at the time, looks like she was only in her early 30s) Pick any one sex scene at random and watch that and then stop, because any one scene is probably enough of this flick.

Plenty of nudity and sex, but film is rarely erotic or titillating, mostly just tiresome and slowly paced. The goat-rape scene was revolting to watch, but not the way the filmmakers intended, serving only to drive the viewers away, rather than shock them.

There is a certain amount of atmospherics to some scenes, and again, the two leading girls are very attractive, but the film is very slow going, and for the most part the acting ranges from bland to awful; the music score sounds prerecorded; and the footage is often times highly washed-out, like it had been filmed through a diffuser, or two, and then underexposed also.

All the sleaze in the world can't save this movie

[bensonmum2 · 3/10 · 4 August 2007]

When Carol (Vanessa Hidalgo) starts looking into her brother's death, she begins to suspect something more sinister than "natural causes". The closer she gets to the truth, the more of a threat she becomes to her sister-in-law, Fiona (Helga Line), and the rest of the local Satanists. They'll do whatever is necessary to put a stop her nosy ways.

If you're into sleazy, Satanic-themed movies, Black Candles has a lot to offer. The movie is filled with plenty of nudity and ritualistic soft-core sex. One scene in particular involving a young woman and a goat must be seen to be believed. Unfortunately, all the sleaze in the world can't save Black Candles. Most of the movie is a total bore. Other than the one scene I've already mentioned, the numerous sex scenes aren't shocking and certainly aren't sexy. The acting is spotty at best. Even genre favorite Helga Line gives a disappointing performance. The plot really doesn't matter. Its main function seems to be to hold the string of dull sex scenes together. I'm only familiar with one other movie directed by Jose Ramon Larraz. Compared with his Daughters of Darkness that masterfully mixes eroticism and horror, Black Candles comes off as amateurish. 3/10 is about the best I can do.

Sex, Sleaze, and Satan

[barrynewblood · 5/10 · 16 February 2022]

What Black Candles lacks in plot and character development, it makes up for in sleaze and overt sexuality. I can't think of the last time I saw a semi-mainstream film this steamy and overloaded with sex scenes and nudity. Most of the time, it's riding a fine line between softcore and hardcore.

Since all the performances have been dubbed, it's hard to judge many of the performances or the dialogue. The story seems to be a take off on Rosemary's Baby with a paranoid woman thinking she's being roped into a Satantic cult for some nefarious reason. These reasons are never made clear and, besides one nasty scene where a man is stabbed by a sword through his rectum, it's light on horror.

Sex and devil worship...errr...again...

[The_Void · 6/10 · 4 April 2007]

I didn't go into this film expecting much as I've never heard a good word said about it. Black Candles is basically just a variation on the same sort of plot that worked a lot better in the earlier Spanish horror film 'Satan's Blood', as well as a whole load of other films. It starts out interestingly, as we are introduced to the central characters and we start to get an idea of where the plot is going. There seems to be a correlation between devil worshipping in Europe and having loads of sex, and that's something that director José Ramón Larraz (who made a whole load of trash films, including the sleazy 'Vampyres') seems keen to capitalise on, as the actors spend a good half of the film without any clothes on. The plot is, of course, very simple and starts off with a man dying suddenly while having sex after a woman sticks a pin in a voodoo doll. We then get introduced to his sister and her husband, and they travel down to stay with the dead man's husband; her sister-in-law, and it transpires that she's into devil worship (Shock! Horror!)

Everything about this film is completely amateurish! (Which is odd as Vampyres was quite professional for a sleazy slice of Eurohorror. Obviously Larraz didn't get better at film making as he went along!). The acting is terrible; sometimes even cringe-worthy, which is quite shocking since I'm certainly used to watching films with less than great acting. The scene setting is frankly lazy, and Larraz makes practically no attempt to build an oppressive atmosphere or lift the film out of the pits in any way. This would normally stamp out any chance of a decent rating for a film; but Black Candles still deserves a few points as it's actually quite funny, and luckily the director's laziness doesn't extend to the sex scenes; which are actually quite erotic, mostly owing to the fact that the women are nice to look at. There are a couple of nasty scenes too; a sex scene with a goat…which I didn't enjoy too much and a death scene that involves someone having a sword shoved up his backside! Overall, I can't recommend going out of your way to see this film; its obscurity isn't undeserved - but it's not terrible in spite of the fact that everything about it is trash, and that can't be said for every film like this one.

Nostalgic Sleaze Trip Back in Time

[Tweetienator · 5/10 · 12 February 2022]

I know and like Vampyres, another movie directed by José Ramón Larraz in 1974. That one mixes softporn scenes with some bloodthirsty female vampires. Los ritos sexuales del diablo aka Black Candles mixes some satanic witchcult with, well, softporn. So all in all I dare to say that both movies by Mr. Larraz are only of any interest to you if you like your movies sometimes sleazy and dirty, in that oldschool softporn way. The by other viewers mentioned "goat act" is so obviously fake, it's rather funny than shocking. Anyway, entertained I was. Recommended if names like Jess Franco or Russ Meyer don't let you run away screaming in terror and pain ;)

Carnel Couplings And Devilish Deviations Make The Occult World Go Round.

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 6/10 · 10 April 2022]

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Black Candles. Before we get into it, here are my ratings:

Story - 1.25 Direction - 1.25 Pace - 1.00 Acting - 1.00 Enjoyment - 1.00

TOTAL - 5.50

Okay, so when the film started, I groaned. Though, it wasn't through pleasure. No! I thought Black Candles was to be a weak-assed softcore porn film with a slight occult twist. If so, it would undoubtedly turn out to be a horrid affair. But luckily for me, I was wrong. But how was I to know as a couple of the alternative titles, Hot Fantasies and Naked Dreams, scream 1970s softcore? They don't even mention anything about the occult.

So I continued to watch. As time ticked by and the film rolled, I realised a story was unfolding on the screen. Moreover, it was a good story. A story about greed and power and the lengths people will go to so they can achieve both. I was impressed the writer didn't hold anything back, even the more bestial sex. At its basic, Black Magic and Satanism are about our more primal urges and needs. Sex and control. Therefore the sex scenes, of which there are plenty, are pivotal to driving the plot. The director does an excellent job of shooting the infernal carnel trists. In fact, he's a damn decent director all-around. The only letdown is the flow of the film. In view of all the sex scenes, the pace is a tad slow throughout, and you may find boredom waiting. Even though the women are stunningly beautiful, I still found my attention faltering at the umpteenth coupling. And though I found myself enjoying the story, the Dallas ending left me wanting. It would have been nice to have the story completed. I know the climax is a twist, a what-if? But it doesn't work.

Another thing that shocked me was how good the cast performed. Because of the sex scene at the movie's beginning, I wasn't expecting too much. So when the actresses and actors proved their talent, I was pleasantly surprised. Their performances and the director's skills made this an enjoyable experience.

If you like occult films, then Black Candles is for you. You may have to search for it as it goes by many names - and don't shelve it because of the ones mentioned above. I think they should have gone with the literal translation of the Spanish title - Sex Rites Of The Devil - it sums the film up perfectly. It is well written and skillfully shot, though you think there's too much sex, which dulls down the story.

Feel free to check out my Absolute Horror list to see where I have ranked Black Candles.

Take Care & Stay Well.

pure Euro sleazefest

[trashgang · 4/10 · 20 January 2021]

Made by Spanish director José Ramón Larraz. So many thought it was going to be another masterpiece like his Vampyres (1974) sadly for many this is a pure sleazefest.

Every reason in this flick to have sex, they have. When a guy dies by voodoo while having sex his sister goes to London to find out what went wrong. She suddenly finds herself in a satanic cult.

From the first shot you do know what you will get, sleaze and nudity. If you are going to search for this flick be sure to find the uncut version. Two reasons, the sword scene and the bestiality scene with a goat.

The Spanish title refers what you will get, the English title moves away from that part. Black Candles are to see throughout the whole flick but doesn't refer to anything except the satanism.

Strangely not only the director uses a pseudonym, almost all actors have a fake name on the credits.

A bit hard to find this one, mostly dubbed in English, only for the sleaze geeks.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 3/5 Effects 0/5 Story 1,5/5 Comedy 0/5

Atmospheric Gothic Erotica

[michigindie · 10/10 · 11 July 2023]

Disregard those negative MST3K-era trolls - though not for everyone (what film is?), "Black Candles" is a delectable treat for lovers of classic Euro horror. As with any film, the way to enjoy it is to know what you're getting into, so you can skip if it's not to your taste, or dig in, if it is.

The story revolves around a young couple who visit a beautiful English manor house after a mysterious death in the family, of decidedly UN-natural causes. Each are gradually seduced, sexually and psychologically, by their host and her circle of close friends, whom we soon discover are members of a Satanic cult.

As with other marvelous Euro-Gothic sex films like "Virgin Witch," "Satan's Blood" and "Beyond Terror," sex is a key aspect of the devilish ceremonies. Director Larraz makes this clear with a succession of mostly titillating softcore scenes which unfortunately veer into lesbianism far too often but otherwise keep things percolating. Overall, the film makes these sinister rituals and Coven life look like great fun; you may find yourself wishing you belonged to one!

Cinematography is rich and velvety, ably showcasing the eerie English countryside and richly furnished manor house. The altar scenes are a must, particularly the final one, which is one of the film's most erotic passages.

Highly recommended for adults over 21 who like their films creepy and sexy.

Sex for Satan

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 24 July 2022]

This movie is also called Los ritos sexuales del diablo (The Sexual Rites of the Devil) and in no way is it lying. This is José Ramón Larraz having 84 minutes to go absolutely berserk, fusing his softcore films of the last few years with his occult and mental disorder efforts of the early to mid 70s. Supposedly he was embarrassed by this movie, but even with that in mind, there are so many wild things in this that you can't help but stare at it.

This has other titles like Hot Fantasies and Naked Dreams and the film also does all it can to make those titles true. There's literally non-stop sex in display here, lots of weird early 80s licking kissing and even a young girl laying with a goat in the most diabolical of all Biblical ways (and simulated, so don't get too worried but still, the fact that I have to call out that the bestiality is fake should tell you exactly what kind of Satan majesties show up in here; that scene was also shot in a historical religious building to add even more sleaze to this).

I'm happy to see Larraz return to the foggy homes in London that are filled within and without with ethereal dread. I wish just as much attention was paid to the supernatural as the sex. But the story - Carol (Vanessa Hidalgo) and her husband Robert (Jeffrey Healy) should have never come to that ancient family manor filled with devils on the walls and Fiona (Helga Liné, Horror Rises From the Tomb) ready to sexually corrupt anyone and everyone. I mean, how could Robert resist? Does he want to get a sword up the backside like that other cultist who screwed this up?

It's got a great title - actually it has more than one - and an incredible poster and it's about sex, Satan, sin and sacrifices. I really loved reading other reviews that say, "It gets a little slow," as if to gloss over that this is a movie filled with drug use, incest, an evil priest and - one more time - that horny goat. Have our lives become so staid that we can't be shocked by things?

This is the kind of movie that churches salivate over burning.

You are one of us

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 9 May 2022]

This is a Rosemary's Baby sexplotation film. It includes voyeurism, demonic spells, and bestiality. What is more interesting than the film is the commentary on the history of Satanic films and interview with Helga Liné.

Guide: F-word, sex, nudity (Helga Liné, Vanessa Hidalgo + others)