After a violent bank robbery, a trio of criminals descend upon the beach house retreat of a nun and her students. The bad guys take the women hostage, and make themselves at home, tormenting, raping and abusing to their hearts’ content, pushing their victims ever further over the edge.
At the level of plot, not a lot goes on here. The villains are ensconced at the beach house within the first ten minutes, and then story does little more than go through variations of torment until the inevitable retaliation. Nonetheless, there is a fair bit of interest here. The assaults, though very unpleasant and extremely nasty in their content, are, however, filmed with a certain restraint, with the camera concentrating on the faces of attackers and victims rather than on their bodies. Ray Lovelock’s gang leader is a deceptively pleasant pretty boy, and his character arc consistently plays out against expectations. And then there’s the climax, which turns up again almost beat for beat at the end of Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof.
Audio
The case rather confusingly boasts Dolby Surround Mono, a contradiction in terms if ever I saw one. But never mind that. The mono boasts a surprisingly thunderous score, which plays a crucial role in the film’s not-inconsiderable impact. Said music is also free of distortion. The English language track (the only one available) is afflicted by some pretty horrendous dubbing (there’s a surprise), but the reproduction is clear enough that the soundstage-bound nature of the recording is quite obvious, even as the characters race around in the great outdoors. All of which is to say that the audio track reproduces the film’s original sound with almost disturbing fidelity.
Video
Nice to see a thirty-year-old exploitation film whose print hardly appears to have aged a day. The image is extremely sharp, with nary a trace of grain. Flesh tones, blacks, contrasts and colours are all as strong and fresh as the day principle photography wrapped. The only blemish occurs about midway through the film, when, for a few seconds, the colours strobe. Otherwise, this is a superb presentation.
Special Features
The Italian and German theatrical trailers are joined by a half-hour interview with Lovelock (and yes, that is his real name), wherein he recounts his career beginnings and goes into plenty of detail about the film itself.
Closing Thoughts
Certainly not a nice film, but a fascinating one. Another prime bit of Eurosleaze from Severin.
