The Devil’s Nightmare
Director– Jean Brismee
Starring – Erika Blanc, Jean Servais
Country of Origin – Belgium/Italy
Distributor - Mondo Macabro
Number of discs – 1
Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald
Date- 05/15/2019
The Devil's Nightmare opens in the final days of World War II, a woman is giving birth to a child as her Nazi officer husband awaits its arrival. The woman dies in childbirth, but the child survived. The officer Baron Von Rhoneberg takes the child, and plunges a knife into it. No explanation is given for the act, and the film then cuts to the present era for the film (early 1970's). A group of tourist on a bus find themselves stuck in my German countryside. The only refuge they have is the castle of Von Rhoneberg, who takes them and offers them rooms. While they are being sorted away the butler Hans, tells each of them tales of death that occurred in each room.
At dinner that night it is revealed that by Baran Von Rhoneberg that the eldest female child of each generation of his family will become a Succubus, which is the obvious reasoning for the babies death in the first sequence of the film. However, an 8th guest arrives in the guise of Kill Baby Kill's Erika Blanc, who goes from guest to guest showing them their greatest desire (from food to sex, and beyond), before killing them one by one.
The Devil's Nightmare is a film I have waited decades to see. Not because of lack of desire, but mainly because the DVD by Redemption was a first generation DVD with all the issues that came with those. Finally seeing Devil's Nightmare on Mondo Macabro's recent (And excellent) new Blu-ray, I was blown away. The film is of the 60's and 70's Eurogothic vein, mixed with the sleaze elements that would define Eurogothic and Eurosleaze films in the early to mid 1970's.
The performances in the film, are quite solid, especially Erika Blanc as the scantily clad Succubus. She seems to dive into all the aspects of this role, and plays them all quite well. Director Jean Brismee, creates a lovely gothic atmosphere, and gorgeous visuals that really bring the castle and the horror of the piece to life. The film also has an abundance of sex, nudity, and violence that are handled quite well, and fit the tone of Devil's Nightmare quite well.
Mondo Macabro do a fantastic job bringing the Devil's NIghtmare to Blu-ray. The film is presented 1:66:1 in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film. The presentation is simply gorgeous, there is some minor damage from the source, but everything here looks well-detailed, and truly stunning. There are close-ups of Erika Blanc in the film, that I feel are better realized on this Blu-ray then probably any other release before, and the clarity of these moments add an additional layer of chills due to the subtle creepy nature of Blanc's performance. Audio is handled by an English dub or in French with subtitles. This also sounds quite excellent, with no obvious issues. Extras include a commentary by Troy Howarth, and 3 on camera interviews, one of these with director Jean Brismee. There is also an original trailer. The Devil’s Nightmare is a brilliant dreamlike European gothic horror film, that is a top-tier example of the genre. The Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro is gorgeous, and the whole package comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
