IN: Review: I was not nearly as smitten with this as many other reviewers. Sure, it has a pair of lovely girls playing erotic, lesbian vampires. Marianne Morris and Anulka D. play these two lovely sirens with razor teeth that run up to cars on a road out of the way, hitch to their home(at dusk), and invite their prey...sex-starved men to their boudoir. What happens there...well, after they disrobe and kiss each other mostly, they kill their visitors. Director Jose Ramon Larraz does have some flashes of brilliance with his camera. Some scenes are quite eerie and effectively shot, but sex alone does not hold a film up(no pun intended...at least consciously). There really isn't much of a story here. We have the two girls. We are shown some inexplicable and unexplained beginning where we see them shot with pistol. Why? What does it mean" Why do we have the guy that stays for several days greet a guy at the hotel that insists he knows him from years ago? Does that have a purpose? Of course I have even more general questions like what is a couple of nice-looking girls doing as vampires in the English countryside and having a wine cellar filled with wine from the Carpathians? Anyway, the script is riddled with such flaws. It is also very sparse on the action outside of catch victims, wine and dine them(quite literally), and then go to bed in the crypt. The end gets going with some juicier scenes, but it is anti-climatic. There are, as I said, some effective scenes by the director...I particularly liked the way the girls dressed and were filmed in the woods looking for their prey. The house is also a most impressive set. And both girls are as I said very lovely. Marianne Morris in particular stands out - in more ways than one. For you older film fans, silent screen veteran Bessie Love has a brief cameo at film's end.
What is this review like?
OUT: negative

IN: Review: Also known in a different form as "House of Exorcism," this messy

little film takes itself so seriously as to kill any entertainment value

whatsoever.

The spare plot involves European tourist Elke Sommer who has a

chance run in with Telly Savalas, who looks just like the devil she

saw on a fresco in the square. Sommer is given a ride to a

mysterious house in the country, where Savalas happens to be

butler. There, she is mistaken for a long dead woman, and the real

soap opera theatrics begin. The house's blind matriarch's

husband had an affair with the dead woman, who was the

matriarch's son's fiancee. The couple who gave Sommer the ride?

Well, the woman is giving the chauffeur, uh, "back seat driving

lessons," and the husband knows and does not care. Eventually,

most of the cast is killed, Sommer is drugged and raped,

escapes, and the viewer is taken to a climax on board an empty

airplane...which must have resembled the empty theaters this

thing played in.

The alternate version of this, "House of Exorcism," has scenes

added involving a priest.

The VHS copy of this, from Elite Entertainment, is crystal clear and

letterboxed. There are "extras" after the end credits; deleted sex

and gore scenes.

Mario Bava's direction is fast and furious, but his screenplay is

awful. There are half baked ideas, abandoned plotlines, and

stunning conveniences that do nothing more than propel this thing

in some sort of forward direction. You have life like dummies for

practice funerals, the blind matriarch does not act all that blind,

and Savalas is given the same lollipops he had in "Kojak," (who

haunts ya, baby?).

The project seems like they had two name stars, then wrote the

script quickly, something that happens in Hollywood on a daily

occurrence now. Savalas looks completely lost, delivering his

lines haltingly, and wishing his character had not died in "The Dirty

Dozen." Sommer runs around and screams and gasps a lot, but

her character is a blank, I use the term "character" loosely. The

only thing we know about her is her name.

This is a real weird film, and your reaction to it might depend on

how heavily you are into Eurohorror, and Kojak. I for one cannot

recomment "Lisa and the Devil."

This is unrated, and including all the extras at the end of the VHS

copy, contains strong physical violence, sexual violence, strong

gore, strong female nudity, male nudity, sexual content, and adult

situations
What is this review like?
OUT: negative

IN: Review: I suppose I always felt that Hotel du Nord was studio-bound, the movement of people cars and camera were just too effortlessly smooth and stagey to have been filmed on location. But no problem - it's still a much underrated lovely composition from Marcel Carne. The plot seems a bit choppy at times, as if they were making it up as they went along, but because it is unpredictable holds the attention to the bitter end. The money shots when the 2 lovers are alone in their room are saddled with some rather stilted dialogue, but it's all so lovely to fall into any inanity can be accepted. Are these 2 young people symbols of a cancerous hopelessness in pre-War France or simply idiots? Suicide pacts are fairly common; if the suicidees are young and healthy with their lives before them untrammelled would you think anything other than that they were just misguided fools?

Arletty played the part of prostitute well - she kept that zipper on her dress busy throughout anyway! I've only seen a few films with Jouvet - he is the most impressive invention as pimp in HDN - my trouble is shallow: every time I see his face I think of Sonnie Hale in Evergreen!

A remarkably atmospheric, well acted and photographed film with so much happening it needs a few viewings to get it all in place. Annabella and Aumont made an exceptionally beautiful couple; Francois (Heurtebise) Perier in his 2nd film had a small amusing part as a gay man. All in all: wonderful.
What is this review like?
OUT: positive

IN: Review:

I saw The Glacier Fox in the theatre when I was nine years old - I bugged my parents to take me back three times. I began looking for it on video about five years ago, finally uncovering a copy on an online auction site, but I would love to see it either picked up by a new distributor and rereleased (I understand the original video run was small), or have the rights purchased by The Family Channel, Disney, etc. and shown regularly. It is a fascinating film that draws you into the story of the life struggle of a family of foxes in northern Japan, narrated by a wise old tree. The excellent soundtrack compliments the film well. It would be a good seller today, better than many of the weak offerings to children's movies today.
What is this review like?
OUT:
positive