What do I make of this film? Well first, Sergio Bergonzelli did some of the more weird genre films during the seventies, and some of them are good too. How he managed to cast John Phillip Law for this one is beyond me, because this is probably one of the weirdest films I have ever seen. Quite entertaining and unusually gory and sleazy for being a film from 1988 (when the italians really had begun to make less extreme films since some four years back). The dubbing is awful, and the soundtrack sounds like something from a mexican Falcon Crest-ripoff. The end result is just bizarre and some of the scenes has acting and dialogue so bad you will be surprised. A mixed bag worth seeing for fans of italian 80's horror. If you like Fulci's lesser films, then chances are you are going to love this one.
10 Reviews
weird delirium
trashgang20 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
First of all, this flick is extremely hard to find, so I had to search real hard around the globe to track it down until I did in a full uncut version with irremovable Greek subtitles. And it was a VHS copy, luckily not to much damaged and English spoken. After five minutes it was already clear that this was an Italian production. But surely not one of those giallo productions. The style of filming was typical, the shots, the sound, the dubbing. You are immediately involved in the movie, a bit Gothic in the beginning with the ghost appearing in the castle. Also the unnecessary nudity in the beginning, not that we mind, had nothing to do with the flick but is/was typical Italian style. The movie itself is about a painter losing his wife and becoming mad when he sees another girl that looks really the same like his dead wife. But he goes nuts and his , let's call him the butler , is insane too. After the painter his wife died and laying in her coffin the butler starts making love to her, necrophilia. So this flick becomes weirder and weirder, they capture some girls, hang them upside down, slice their throat and use the red stuff to paint. And the butler cuts the bodies in pieces after you guess, misused their bodies. It still gets weirder so one to watch, if, as said in the beginning you are able to catch a copy.
Woah...
BandSAboutMovies31 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Man, has John Phillip Law been around the world or what? Here he plays a painter - who thinks he's the reincarnation of Van Gogh - whose wife's death sends him even deeper down the path of no return who decides to dig up her bones for inspiration. Then he finds another woman who looks just like his wife - alert Joe D'Amato, someone is ripping you off for once - and she discovers that his necrophiliac butler (Gordon Mitchell!) is killing women and bottling their blood for the artist's paint.
Director Sergio Bergonzelli was an early Italian Western director, making The Last Gun and Colt in the Hand of the Devil before making just one very odd giallo - In the Folds of the Flesh - before a career in sex movies. He came back to make the more mainstream erotic thriller Tentazione, then this movie and finally one more sexy film with Malizia oggi.
Why Severin hasn't released this - and Spider Labyrinth - is beyond me.
Director Sergio Bergonzelli was an early Italian Western director, making The Last Gun and Colt in the Hand of the Devil before making just one very odd giallo - In the Folds of the Flesh - before a career in sex movies. He came back to make the more mainstream erotic thriller Tentazione, then this movie and finally one more sexy film with Malizia oggi.
Why Severin hasn't released this - and Spider Labyrinth - is beyond me.
Van Gogh still lives!
rundbauchdodo22 January 2001
This extremely rare Italian film (the only ever video release I know is the Greek one - it probably was never released even in its country of origin) is a thoroughly interesting movie, even though the production values are very low and it is, without a doubt, an oddball of a movie.
John Phillip Law is a troubled painter on the edge of madness; his slightly psychotic state of mind becomes worse as his wife, who always gave him inspiration and faith, dies. Soon after her death he discovers his butler (played nicely sickening by Gordon Mitchell) trying to rape her corpse, which fills him with fury, but he needs the butler as an assistant because he would be helpless without him. After his wife is buried, the painter doesn't feel any inspiration anymore and is unable to get a painting done. So he decides to get his wife back and steals her corpse from the cemetery (with a help of the butler, of course). At the opening of his latest exhibition, he meets Sybille, a woman that resembles his wife almost like a twin sister. He invites her to his lonely castle, and at first, she likes it there. But the painter's state of mind gets worse, even though she gives him new confidence. Problem is that his inspiration stays missing, until his butler kills a girl and he realizes how beautiful blood is. He starts to use blood as "the color of life", while the butler has to dispose from the bodies. When the woman discovers this, she has to be kept hostage in the lonely castle...
The story sounds a little bit like a retelling of Herschell Gordon Lewis's "Color Me Blood Red" from 1965, but this isn't the case. This one is rather a horror drama that somehow falls between the two genres: For a drama, it is too much exploitation, and for a horror film, it is too dramatic and not exploitation enough for not to write not gory enough.
Law and Mitchell are strikingly convincing in their roles of rather perverse characters, and the sound track adds to the atmosphere, although it doesn't seem to be always appropriate to the melancholy mood of the picture. The film also contains supernatural elements that are hardly convincing but somehow still fit into this weird work.
Director Bergonzelli is probably best known for his psychedelic giallo "Nelle Pieghe Della Carne" (aka In the Folds of the Flesh) from 1970. in one scene, he even repeats an element of his earlier film: The butler disposes of the bodies by putting them into sulfuric acid - the same way the protagonists do it in "Nelle Pieghe". And the atmosphere in "Delirio di Sangue" contains also some rather psychedelic attitudes, if not that obvious.
It seems clear that Bergonzelli, who also wrote the screenplay, was inspired by the life and madness of Vincent van Gogh, a portrait of whom hangs on the wall of the painter's working room. Needless to say that the notion of van Gogh makes a scene with an ear that gets cut off necessary - and the viewer won't get disappointed.
All in all, "Delirio di Sangue" is a wonderfully strange piece of celluloid. I assume that most viewers would consider it as a piece of crap, because it's made on a very low budget, neither delivers any action packed moments nor even scenes of excessive gore or sympathetic dramatic protagonists you could identify with. It's a quite nihilistic film, with an oddly repulsive plot, which makes it unique in a certain way.
A very interesting film that is far too little known, but which won't be appreciated by a broad audience, I guess. My rating: 7 out of 10.
John Phillip Law is a troubled painter on the edge of madness; his slightly psychotic state of mind becomes worse as his wife, who always gave him inspiration and faith, dies. Soon after her death he discovers his butler (played nicely sickening by Gordon Mitchell) trying to rape her corpse, which fills him with fury, but he needs the butler as an assistant because he would be helpless without him. After his wife is buried, the painter doesn't feel any inspiration anymore and is unable to get a painting done. So he decides to get his wife back and steals her corpse from the cemetery (with a help of the butler, of course). At the opening of his latest exhibition, he meets Sybille, a woman that resembles his wife almost like a twin sister. He invites her to his lonely castle, and at first, she likes it there. But the painter's state of mind gets worse, even though she gives him new confidence. Problem is that his inspiration stays missing, until his butler kills a girl and he realizes how beautiful blood is. He starts to use blood as "the color of life", while the butler has to dispose from the bodies. When the woman discovers this, she has to be kept hostage in the lonely castle...
The story sounds a little bit like a retelling of Herschell Gordon Lewis's "Color Me Blood Red" from 1965, but this isn't the case. This one is rather a horror drama that somehow falls between the two genres: For a drama, it is too much exploitation, and for a horror film, it is too dramatic and not exploitation enough for not to write not gory enough.
Law and Mitchell are strikingly convincing in their roles of rather perverse characters, and the sound track adds to the atmosphere, although it doesn't seem to be always appropriate to the melancholy mood of the picture. The film also contains supernatural elements that are hardly convincing but somehow still fit into this weird work.
Director Bergonzelli is probably best known for his psychedelic giallo "Nelle Pieghe Della Carne" (aka In the Folds of the Flesh) from 1970. in one scene, he even repeats an element of his earlier film: The butler disposes of the bodies by putting them into sulfuric acid - the same way the protagonists do it in "Nelle Pieghe". And the atmosphere in "Delirio di Sangue" contains also some rather psychedelic attitudes, if not that obvious.
It seems clear that Bergonzelli, who also wrote the screenplay, was inspired by the life and madness of Vincent van Gogh, a portrait of whom hangs on the wall of the painter's working room. Needless to say that the notion of van Gogh makes a scene with an ear that gets cut off necessary - and the viewer won't get disappointed.
All in all, "Delirio di Sangue" is a wonderfully strange piece of celluloid. I assume that most viewers would consider it as a piece of crap, because it's made on a very low budget, neither delivers any action packed moments nor even scenes of excessive gore or sympathetic dramatic protagonists you could identify with. It's a quite nihilistic film, with an oddly repulsive plot, which makes it unique in a certain way.
A very interesting film that is far too little known, but which won't be appreciated by a broad audience, I guess. My rating: 7 out of 10.
Disturbing and unusual Italian horror
dworldeater23 May 2023
Blood Delirium is a very creepy and atmospheric Gothic horror shot on the cheap in Italy. A deranged painter and his butler dig up his wife's grave a year later to use her blood as secret ingredient in his highly acclaimed paintings. The butler is also nuttier than squirrel turd and a huge pervert, necrophile and rapist. The tone of the film is very dark and sleazy. The quality of the production is above average for a film this cheap. The acting is convincing and oozing with creepiness and depravity. The film has lots of gore, nudity and awkward creepiness and mental illness. It also has a dark ambiance. Recommended to those that want something bizarre and twisted.
Truly odd and curious Italian horror gem.
Coventry25 March 2007
Possibly the rarest Italian horror film out there and most definitely also one of the absolute weirdest productions ever to be released, "Blood Delirium" is NOT a giallo-mystery, NOT a zombie-flick and surely NOT a brainless slasher rip-off! This is something new and entirely different from Italy; a brutal horror story that successfully blends together harrowing drama elements with artsy themes and repulsively perverted footage. John Philip Law, the former action stud from "Barbarella" and "Danger: Diabolik", stars as a slightly deranged painter who lives in an isolated ramshackle castle and he firmly believes he's the reincarnation of Vincent Van Gogh. When his beloved wife Christine dies, he suddenly loses all his artistic inspiration but remains in the castle with the necrophiliac butler Herman. The painter eventually falls back in love with Sybille, who's the mirror image of his departed wife, but his inspiration doesn't really return until he discovers the blood of young murdered girls as the ideal shade of red paint. "Blood Delirium" is quite a disturbing film, especially since the sequences involving necrophilia & misogyny are illustrated like it's the most common thing in the world. For example, when the painter is still mourning for his deceased wife, the crazy butler (perfect role for exploitation-veteran Gordon Mitchell) crawls on top of her corpse and starts caressing it. Later in the film, the two men also dig up severely decomposed corpses, assault defenseless girls and carelessly dismember their limbs to make painting. Their actions are a lot more unsettling to behold, because they don't look or behave like your average homicidal maniac or demented serial rapists. "Blood Delirium" literally oozes with dark and bitter atmospheres, as it deals with complex characters and their even sicker world perspectives. It's not just another silly and gory 80's flick, but a devastating depiction of man's darkest mind-corners. The are loads of resemblances between Sergio Bergonzelli's script and Vincent Van Gogh's actual tragic life, which is a truly brilliant and original concept for a horror film. Bergonzelli clearly didn't have a large budget to work with, but the film nevertheless looks stylish and competent. The photography is rather monotonous, but this suits the overall tone of the film and especially the melancholic music tunes are terrific. "Blood Delirium" is an extremely difficult film to find, and I don't understand why. I'm sure this would be an authentic Italian cult treasure, if only it could reach a slightly wider audience on DVD. Catch it if you can!
All but forgotten, this is a trashy Italian gem
Leofwine_draca5 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
A gory Italian horror made on a shoestring budget at the fag-end of the genre's popularity, BLOOD DELIRIUM is an often disturbing look at psychological terror and madness that recalls Joe D'Amato's BLUE HOLOCAUST amongst other films. Although much of the graphic violence is implied rather than explicitly shown, this is still an exceptionally sleazy film that mixes in themes of dementia, sexual perversion, necrophilia and sadism into one unwholesome brew. Drawing on the acting talents of two acting stalwarts better known for their contributions to the Euro-action genre, director Sergio Bergonzelli rises above his material by creating a complex and intelligent story only occasionally let down by unwanted cheesy supernatural effects which dispel the realism that the film strives to create elsewhere. The version of this film I watched was a poor dupe of the Greek original and somehow the bad quality of the film added to the effect, giving it a dirty feel all round.
The best thing about this film is the sleazy atmosphere of perversion and death which favourably recalls such Gothic classics from the golden age of Italian horror as Freda's THE TERRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK. Bergonzelli does well with his story, keeping it afresh with a steady pace (despite not much in the way of action happening) and inventive camera-work. The film mixes together such diverse elements as doppelgangers, ghosts, and supernatural intervention; physical horror, with maggoty skulls and bodies being hacked up and disposed of in an acid bath; mock heroics toward the end of the production, and a sub-plot involving the use of blood as paint which seems to recall 1965's COLOR ME BLOOD RED. The ending is way over the top and comes straight out of left field, but is oddly appropriate for such a weird, disjointed production.
John Phillip Law (NO TIME TO DIE) takes the lead as the troubled artist with a Van Gogh obsession who finds his imagination sorely diminished after the death of his wife, and must contend with madness and psychopathy from both outside and in. However, he is upstaged here by the great Gordon Mitchell (THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS) in his last major film appearance as the sleazy and sexually perverted butler, Herman. Mitchell gives it his all as the insane but faithful butler without going over the top, giving a scarily convincing portrayal of an unhinged mind and stealing his scenes every time - a really good performance and, I'm inclined to say, one of his best ever. Along with the sleazy gore scenes, the film packed in tons of female nudity (the opening sequence has a woman wandering around topless for about fifteen minutes) to "up" the exploitation content and the end result is an unfairly neglected slice of Italian madness that ranks up there with some of the best of the country's horror output - a puzzle then, as to why this has been forgotten when much trashier fare is still lauded to this day.
The best thing about this film is the sleazy atmosphere of perversion and death which favourably recalls such Gothic classics from the golden age of Italian horror as Freda's THE TERRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK. Bergonzelli does well with his story, keeping it afresh with a steady pace (despite not much in the way of action happening) and inventive camera-work. The film mixes together such diverse elements as doppelgangers, ghosts, and supernatural intervention; physical horror, with maggoty skulls and bodies being hacked up and disposed of in an acid bath; mock heroics toward the end of the production, and a sub-plot involving the use of blood as paint which seems to recall 1965's COLOR ME BLOOD RED. The ending is way over the top and comes straight out of left field, but is oddly appropriate for such a weird, disjointed production.
John Phillip Law (NO TIME TO DIE) takes the lead as the troubled artist with a Van Gogh obsession who finds his imagination sorely diminished after the death of his wife, and must contend with madness and psychopathy from both outside and in. However, he is upstaged here by the great Gordon Mitchell (THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS) in his last major film appearance as the sleazy and sexually perverted butler, Herman. Mitchell gives it his all as the insane but faithful butler without going over the top, giving a scarily convincing portrayal of an unhinged mind and stealing his scenes every time - a really good performance and, I'm inclined to say, one of his best ever. Along with the sleazy gore scenes, the film packed in tons of female nudity (the opening sequence has a woman wandering around topless for about fifteen minutes) to "up" the exploitation content and the end result is an unfairly neglected slice of Italian madness that ranks up there with some of the best of the country's horror output - a puzzle then, as to why this has been forgotten when much trashier fare is still lauded to this day.
Sleazy and depraved Sergio Bergonzelli's masterpiece.
HumanoidOfFlesh24 December 2002
I can't believe that Sergio Bergonzelli's "Blood Delirium" has such low rating.I guess that some people can't even recognize a good movie."Blood Delirium"/"Delirio di Sangue" deals with dark love and obsession.It's creepy,sleazy and gruesome-it has scenes of necrophilia,dismemberment and several rather repulsive images.The film is well-acted and stylish.In the broad form "Blood Delirium" is another Italian shocker that sometimes seems to aspire to be a drama-what sets it apart is the overbearing perversion.The film is extremely hard to find,so if you get the chance grab the copy and treasure it.8 out of 10!
Bizarre Italian horror
The_Void14 March 2009
Blood Delirium is an almost completely unknown Italian horror film and, apparently, is partially lost as certain scenes from the 'uncut' version of the movie have never been seen as the uncut version remains unreleased anywhere in the world. The film is directed by Sergio Bergonzelli; the oddball director best known for his bizarre and often-disliked Giallo 'In the Folds of Flesh', and anyone who saw that film is likely to have an idea of what to expect as this director apparently doesn't do ordinary! The storyline is something of a crossover between the Giallo and horror genres and focuses on a painter. Charles Saint Simone has lived with his butler in his castle ever since the death of his wife. He's lost all inspiration for his painting; but that changes suddenly one day when he meets a young woman who is the spitting image of his deceased lover. His inspiration returns...but it isn't until he discovers the colour of blood that his love for painting goes into overdrive.
The film stars John Philip Law; the star better known for his leading role in Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik. He puts in a solid performance in the lead role, although he is eclipsed somewhat by Gordon Mitchell who co-stars as the butler. The two have a good chemistry together and their perverse characters work well. The 'clever' part of the film comes from the fact that the story is intertwined with Vincent Van Gogh's life. While this is a good and interesting little horror film; I do have to admit that I am just a little bit bemused by the overall positive reaction it gets from the people that have seen it. It's clear that Bergonzelli did not have the biggest budget to work with, but the film is not as great as it could have been given the ideas and the storyline. There are a few memorably shocking scenes; although I do wonder just what was cut out. Overall, I am glad I saw this film and it is well worth tracking down if you can find a copy; but I'm not as wild about it as the others that have seen it.
The film stars John Philip Law; the star better known for his leading role in Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik. He puts in a solid performance in the lead role, although he is eclipsed somewhat by Gordon Mitchell who co-stars as the butler. The two have a good chemistry together and their perverse characters work well. The 'clever' part of the film comes from the fact that the story is intertwined with Vincent Van Gogh's life. While this is a good and interesting little horror film; I do have to admit that I am just a little bit bemused by the overall positive reaction it gets from the people that have seen it. It's clear that Bergonzelli did not have the biggest budget to work with, but the film is not as great as it could have been given the ideas and the storyline. There are a few memorably shocking scenes; although I do wonder just what was cut out. Overall, I am glad I saw this film and it is well worth tracking down if you can find a copy; but I'm not as wild about it as the others that have seen it.
There's only one word to sum up this Italian cult oddity: delirious!
BA_Harrison16 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Blood Delirium starts off as it means to go on with a weird and wonderful scene in which concert pianist Sybille (Brigitte Christensen) arrives home, strips down to her French knickers and suspenders, and prepares the dinner table for the arrival of her boyfriend Gérard (Marco Di Stefano). Still topless, Sybille is surprised to receive a message through her answering machine from a woman who claims to be from the future; meanwhile, chairs move around the room and the piano starts playing by itself. Sybille holds a conversation with the disembodied voice, which tells her to take two candles and hold the flames together. As she is doing this, Gérard turns up in a natty embroidered Nehru jacket that is about as tasteful as his pony-tail. From this moment on, things only get stranger and stranger...
Next up, we see artist Saint Simon (John Philip Law) in emotional turmoil as his wife and muse, Christine (also played by Christensen), shuffles off this mortal coil. While Christine's body is laid out, and Saint Simon ('maestro' to his friends) is busy mourning her loss, the painter's manservant Herman (aging peplum star Gordon Mitchell) takes the opportunity to declare his love for the dead woman, fondle her tits and then hump her corpse. Naturally, Saint Simon isn't happy about this, but he eventually forgives Herman: after all, good help is hard to find.
A year later, and Sybille and her boyfriend are relaxing at home when an invitation to an art exhibition by Saint Simon blows in through an open window. Sybille believes this is fate, and wants to attend, but probably wouldn't be so keen if she knew what the painter was up to at that moment: exhuming the maggoty, decomposed corpse of Christine in order to rekindle his artistic inspiration. With a rubber mask and a wig, she's almost as good as new!
While out driving, Sybille and Gérard chance upon the art gallery where Saint Simon - who believes that he was Vincent Van Gogh in a previous life - is showing his latest work. Sybille goes in; Gérard goes back to work. In the gallery, Saint Simon sees Sybille and thinks that she is Christine, or that she is the same soul in another body, or something like that. Anyway, he invites the woman to his castle to show her his etchings and she accepts, Gérard presumably okay about his wife-to-be going to stay with another man for a few days. When Saint Simon leaves the gallery, he sees three glowing orbs floating through the air. I'm not really sure what they're supposed to be, but they make another appearance at the end of the film, so they must be important.
The next day, Sybille arrives at the artist's castle. Saint Simon shows the woman his studio, where she spots a painting of a demon squirting water from its anus. 'Oh, that's interesting - what is it?', she asks. 'It's Satan fathering the universe', replies the artist. Sybille isn't the slightest bit concerned by his answer. Neither is she bothered when Saint Simon presents her with a gold lamé dress befitting of a hooker, that once belonged to his dead wife. Nothing strange about that, so it seems. Hell, Sybille doesn't even bat an eyelid when, the next day, she sees Herman trying to sexually abuse local girl Yvonne, who he informs her is 'the best piece of ass in the province'.
Later that night, as Sybille is getting ready for bed, she hears a woman screaming, but does nothing; I guess she's too tired to see what is wrong. As it happens, it's Yvonne who is calling out for help, for Herman is trying to rape her again. A struggle between the girl and the manservant ends in violence, Yvonne stabbed in the chest with her own knife. Herman tells his master what has happened and receives a punching for his trouble. However, when Saint Simon sees the blood spilt on the floor, he realises what a great substitute for paint it will make and hauls the body up to his studio.
After all the blood has been drained from Yvonne, Herman takes her body to his workshop where he cuts her into pieces. Sybille is awakened by the noise and investigates, and is shocked to see Herman at work, hanging Yvonne's head on a hook, feeding parts of her to his dog, and dropping grisly odds and ends in a vat of acid. Finally, Sybille gets the message: something is dreadfully wrong with the artist and his hired help! She tries to escape, but doesn't get far.
After being being drugged and raped by Herman, Sybille sneaks out of her room and tries to phone her friend Corinne (Olinka Hardiman), but is grabbed by the manservant mid-call. Saint Simon sends Herman to bring Corinne to the castle, pretending that Sybille is ill and needs her help. Corinne ends up as art supplies. When Gérard arrives home, he finds a phone message from Corinne and goes looking for his girlfriend, posing as a gallery delivery man to get inside Saint Simon's castle. The crazy finalé sees Gérard attempting a rescue, fighting with both Saint Simon and Herman, but eventually being captured himself. The maniacal painter strips both Sybille and her boyfriend, and starts to drain them of plasma (his next painting will be entitled 'Blood Wedding', he declares), but is stopped by a sudden storm and those three glowing orbs, which cut off his ear, leaving him just like Van Gogh.
A naked Sybille and Gérard make their escape, Saint Simon's paintings bleed and catch fire, and the castle collapses, the falling masonry crushing the mad artist and his manservant.
Although there are many things about this film that I am totally confused about, it's simply too warped and bizarre for me to dislike. Law and Mitchell seem to be having an absolute blast playing complete deviants, the plot is utterly demented (necrophilia, rape, murder, and reincarnation), there's some fun gore, and plenty of gratuitous nudity with all three women getting completely nekkid. If your tastes lean towards the unconventional, there's a good chance you'll have a lot of fun with this one-of-a-kind oddball horror - if you can find a copy (it's apparently very hard to come by).
7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.
Next up, we see artist Saint Simon (John Philip Law) in emotional turmoil as his wife and muse, Christine (also played by Christensen), shuffles off this mortal coil. While Christine's body is laid out, and Saint Simon ('maestro' to his friends) is busy mourning her loss, the painter's manservant Herman (aging peplum star Gordon Mitchell) takes the opportunity to declare his love for the dead woman, fondle her tits and then hump her corpse. Naturally, Saint Simon isn't happy about this, but he eventually forgives Herman: after all, good help is hard to find.
A year later, and Sybille and her boyfriend are relaxing at home when an invitation to an art exhibition by Saint Simon blows in through an open window. Sybille believes this is fate, and wants to attend, but probably wouldn't be so keen if she knew what the painter was up to at that moment: exhuming the maggoty, decomposed corpse of Christine in order to rekindle his artistic inspiration. With a rubber mask and a wig, she's almost as good as new!
While out driving, Sybille and Gérard chance upon the art gallery where Saint Simon - who believes that he was Vincent Van Gogh in a previous life - is showing his latest work. Sybille goes in; Gérard goes back to work. In the gallery, Saint Simon sees Sybille and thinks that she is Christine, or that she is the same soul in another body, or something like that. Anyway, he invites the woman to his castle to show her his etchings and she accepts, Gérard presumably okay about his wife-to-be going to stay with another man for a few days. When Saint Simon leaves the gallery, he sees three glowing orbs floating through the air. I'm not really sure what they're supposed to be, but they make another appearance at the end of the film, so they must be important.
The next day, Sybille arrives at the artist's castle. Saint Simon shows the woman his studio, where she spots a painting of a demon squirting water from its anus. 'Oh, that's interesting - what is it?', she asks. 'It's Satan fathering the universe', replies the artist. Sybille isn't the slightest bit concerned by his answer. Neither is she bothered when Saint Simon presents her with a gold lamé dress befitting of a hooker, that once belonged to his dead wife. Nothing strange about that, so it seems. Hell, Sybille doesn't even bat an eyelid when, the next day, she sees Herman trying to sexually abuse local girl Yvonne, who he informs her is 'the best piece of ass in the province'.
Later that night, as Sybille is getting ready for bed, she hears a woman screaming, but does nothing; I guess she's too tired to see what is wrong. As it happens, it's Yvonne who is calling out for help, for Herman is trying to rape her again. A struggle between the girl and the manservant ends in violence, Yvonne stabbed in the chest with her own knife. Herman tells his master what has happened and receives a punching for his trouble. However, when Saint Simon sees the blood spilt on the floor, he realises what a great substitute for paint it will make and hauls the body up to his studio.
After all the blood has been drained from Yvonne, Herman takes her body to his workshop where he cuts her into pieces. Sybille is awakened by the noise and investigates, and is shocked to see Herman at work, hanging Yvonne's head on a hook, feeding parts of her to his dog, and dropping grisly odds and ends in a vat of acid. Finally, Sybille gets the message: something is dreadfully wrong with the artist and his hired help! She tries to escape, but doesn't get far.
After being being drugged and raped by Herman, Sybille sneaks out of her room and tries to phone her friend Corinne (Olinka Hardiman), but is grabbed by the manservant mid-call. Saint Simon sends Herman to bring Corinne to the castle, pretending that Sybille is ill and needs her help. Corinne ends up as art supplies. When Gérard arrives home, he finds a phone message from Corinne and goes looking for his girlfriend, posing as a gallery delivery man to get inside Saint Simon's castle. The crazy finalé sees Gérard attempting a rescue, fighting with both Saint Simon and Herman, but eventually being captured himself. The maniacal painter strips both Sybille and her boyfriend, and starts to drain them of plasma (his next painting will be entitled 'Blood Wedding', he declares), but is stopped by a sudden storm and those three glowing orbs, which cut off his ear, leaving him just like Van Gogh.
A naked Sybille and Gérard make their escape, Saint Simon's paintings bleed and catch fire, and the castle collapses, the falling masonry crushing the mad artist and his manservant.
Although there are many things about this film that I am totally confused about, it's simply too warped and bizarre for me to dislike. Law and Mitchell seem to be having an absolute blast playing complete deviants, the plot is utterly demented (necrophilia, rape, murder, and reincarnation), there's some fun gore, and plenty of gratuitous nudity with all three women getting completely nekkid. If your tastes lean towards the unconventional, there's a good chance you'll have a lot of fun with this one-of-a-kind oddball horror - if you can find a copy (it's apparently very hard to come by).
7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.
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