4/10
"I'm not your best side but I'm certainly your most likable." Mind boggling nonsense that doesn't make a blind bit of sense.
1 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Nuda per Satana, or Nude for Satan as it's more commonly known amongst English speaking audiences, starts late one night deep in the Italian countryside with Dr. William Benson (Stelio Candelli) on an emergency call when he is involved in a car accident, the owner of the other car is a woman named Susan Smith (Rita Calderoni) whom seems unconscious. Benson heads for a nearby Gothic castle where the strangeness begins. He sees a sinister butler (Renato Lupi) with a knife through his neck laughing for no apparent reason. Dr. Benson also finds a book about Satan & suddenly he sees Susan but she is dressed differently, uninjured & seems to answer to the name Evelyn. Meanwhile the next morning Susan regains consciousness & also heads for the Gothic looking castle. There she meets a guy in a cape & ask's if he knows who helped her, she also meets someone who looks like Dr. Benson but goes by the name of Peter. As times passes & the night draws on it seems that it was all a demonic plan to lure Dr. Benson & Susan to the castle & take part in a Satanic ritual, oh & their evil doubles are running around, or something like that.

This Italian production was edited, written & directed by Luigi Batzella & is as strange, bizarre & downright confusing as a film can be. The script has a decent central idea, I kept thinking that there is a good film in here somewhere trying to get out & unfortunately it never does. Nuda per Satana really is as confused & nonsensical as everyone who has seen it suggests which doesn't make for good entertainment. There is no coherent narrative, the dialogue is sparse & doesn't help anything, it's hard to tell who's who on occasion & the lame climax that just confuses things even more, features silly dancing by people painted different colours & will leave you puzzled & scratching you head, what's the point of watching this film? Not good Luigi, not good. I don't mind a surrealistic or a dream like quality to a film (especially fantasy/horror) but the constant weirdness & confusing plot that makes no sense really hurts the film, if Nuda per Satana could even be described as a film. The character's are stupid, I mean would you stick around a house where you witness someone stabbed to death & not even mention it? I've heard of politeness to your host but this is ridiculous! The final nail in Nuda per Satana's coffin is that it is also very boring & just doesn't engage the viewer.

Director Batzella gives the film a wonderful dream like surreal visual quality, it's just a shame the story is so lame. From the fantastic Gothic castle with it's richly furnished interior, bright reds & golds throughout. The lighting, the soft focus, the style & the editing tricks are all impressive & deserve to be in a better film. The gore is none existent, but there is a fair amount of nudity, sex & lesbianism.

Technically Nuda per Satana is nice, the impressive cinematography I've mentioned & try to watch it in full 2:35:1 widescreen the way it should be, the locations are suitably atmospheric but there is one scene in which Susan is attacked by a paper mache spider with pipe cleaner legs that has to be one of the worst looking special effects ever, it's truly embarrassing to watch! I mean it looks like a primary school art project that went horribly wrong! The acting is OK but nobody gets to do much.

Nuda per Satana in my opinion isn't a film, it's a collection of strange imagery that makes no sense when put together. I really have no reason to recommend this film except for it's lush visual style. Disappointing & not worth tracking down. I'll give it four stars for the visual splendour alone.
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