A Candle For The Devil [DVD]

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You could be forgiven for thinking that A Candle for the Devil is some occult folk horror movie that’s all naked flesh and deranged villagers looking to appease an ancient deity with sacrifices. Why would you think that? Because of the signs are there, from the dark divinity of the title to the religious undertones that the film employs and the horror element suggested by the plot. Whilst I’m not going to say it’s the best film ever it is stylishly made and being a Spanish film has a different feel that along with the excellent Judy Geeson made this worth a look. The portrayal of the two sisters is also a key strength to the film, with both actresses keeping things tightly reigned in despite the underlying madness that is obviously at work within their characters. Had this film been made a decade later it would no doubt have taken a different route and gone for a Norma Bates-style show of dominance but as it is there is a remarkable amount of restraint that has gone into it, and that includes restraint within the more exploitative elements of the plot. There are brief flashes of nudity and blood but no more than you would see in an average Hammer movie from the time and director Eugenio Martin ( Horror Express) doesn’t linger on any of it in the same way as Fulci or Argento would. What it did have, as it took the moral high ground, was a sleazy atmosphere apparently at odds with the anti-hypocrisy message since we were invited to indulge ourselves in the sex and violence as a visual distraction, all the while nodding and tut-tutting about how the sisters’ actions were pretty reprehensible (alternatively, if you thought their reactionary mindset was fair enough, this may not be the right film for you). Although many of these horrors would invite the audience to feast their eyes on young female flesh, that was not necessarily the case here as it was the distinctly middle-aged actresses served up as something desirable, only in a curious fashion that had you being dared to find them attractive when you sense you shouldn’t, as much because of their age as because of the murders they conducted in their hotel.

The acting is good enough although the sisters are clearly dubbed for the English market. Judy Geeson plays Laura Barkley who arrives at the inn intending to meet up with her sister only to be told she has already left without leaving any message. The new Scorpion Releasing DVD, a Blu-ray is also being released, is the best home video release yet of this film which I have seen. It’s had a rough history on home video, including a severely truncated release on bargain DVD compilations as IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN. In this small town in Spain, there live two sisters who run an inn which nowadays sees a number of tourists stay there, including at the moment a young English woman. But these incomers are becoming disruptive to the sisters’ conservative ways, and the older one, Marta ( Aurora Bautista) especially bears a grudge against them for what she regards as loose morals. Therefore when the sisters are in the kitchen cleaning up and hear a commotion on the roof, they rush up the stairs to discover a group of young men whooping and catcalling the woman as she sunbathes topless. Marta is horrified and insists she leaves immediately, there is a scuffle and the holidaymaker falls down the stairs and into a window, cutting her throat…Films merely state that this version is a “HD Transfer in 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio”. I have a feeling it may well be the same version as the Odeon one I previously looked at. This is a ironic moral fable in the clothing of a horror film, and it works more as the former, with a strong character driven narrative, superb performances by Ms. Batista, Eperenza Roy and Judy Geeson. Generalissimo Francisco Franco still had Spain in his non democratic, albeit slipping grip in 1973 and cultural fashions were rapidly changing and invading the extant Catholic culture, which held fast in the sun-baked villages such as this one. This is one of the so-call “tourist horrors” of the early 70s, which include such Spanish terror films as Jose Elorrieta’s FEAST OF SATAN (1971). Spanish exile Luis Bunuel had returned to Spain to make the controversial VIRIDIANA (1961) and the bitter, ironic TRISTANA (1970), which further disturbed the censors, who mostly took it out on Spanish horror films by Paul Naschy and Jess Franco.

This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.Two sisters Marta and Verónica run the local inn in a small town in Spain. It’s a place in which many tourists decide to stay, however the sisters have a very strict set of values that doesn’t really mix with the young female women that decide to stay. I love watching horror films from the seventies, the one I’m taking a look at here is a Spanish horror starring Judy Geeson whom you may recognise from the Hammer film Fear in the Night (1972). So without further ado here’s my A Candle For The Devil blu-ray review.

To be fair I doubt the film used would of being the best as I suspect the budget was rather small. So I can forgive it a little as it’s not a well known title and in many ways I’m simply glad that it’s been released on to blu-ray. Films are set to release the Spanish horror film A Candle For The Devil on blu-ray this October in the UK. The film is directed by Eugenio Martín with the cinematography side of things that’s taken care of by José F. Aguayo. Set in a small Spanish village it has a different feel from your typical horror film which is a nice change. The story flows well and the tension builds to the inevitable climax. The presentation can be watched with or without the NIGHTMARE THEATER MODE, which is basically a giggly, fact strewn introduction by the chattering, bimbo-like Katerina Lee Waters! Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.What makes A Candle for the Devil so intriguing are the characters of Marta and Veronica. Both sisters are repressed but in different ways; Marta is scarred by a previous relationship where her husband-to-be left her for a younger woman whereas Veronica is repressed by Marta and her irrational behaviour and twisted religious views, a fact borne out by her secret affair with a man 20 years her junior. This outlet of sexual frustration isn’t entirely straightforward for Veronica and her lover as she won’t undress in front of him because she believes it is sinful and she steals money to give to him, despite him not wanting it, as a way of easing her guilt. It Happened At Nightmare Inn" is not very good. The more sexually charged "A Candle For The Devil" is far more interesting. In 1973, "Candle" probably could not be shown in the U.S. The theme of sexual repression caused by religious fervor is very different from a couple of crazy ladies who like to kill young women. A Candle for the Devil ( lit. Spanish: Una vela para el diablo), also released as It Happened at Nightmare Inn, [2] is a 1973 Spanish horror film directed by Eugenio Martín and starring Aurora Bautista and Judy Geeson. Its plot follows two sisters in Spain, both suffering from extreme repression and religious paranoia, who murder a British guest at their inn just before her sister arrives to meet with her.