Inquisition (1976)
*** (out of 4)
Paul Naschy made his directorial debut with this WITCHFINDER GENERAL type film that adds in a ton a nudity, gore and all out sleaze. In the film Naschy plays a man who puts many to death as he finds them to be witches but things take a turn when he falls in love with a young woman (Daniela Giordano) without realizing she has a pact with Satan (also played by Naschy). After watching this film you'll be wishing that Mr. Naschy had directed some of his earlier horror pictures and especially those that didn't quite reach the high entertainment level. I was really shocked to see how wonderful his direction was here because he really nailed the atmosphere and setting and in the end he delivered a sleazy but oh so entertaining picture. By 1976 there had already been several films dealing with this subject. Some were classics (WITCHFINDER GENERAL) and others were just trash (MARK OF THE DEVIL). This film here takes the serious elements of that first film and mixes in the sleaze of the second one but it's really Naschy's direction that makes it work so well. You really do believe the period setting and this here helps you buy into the story even more. Even better is that the "love story" isn't just there to pad out the running time and instead the director makes you get involved with both characters. It helps that Naschy and Giordano work so well together as they two of them can bounce the flirtatious moments off one another as well as the more dramatic ones. Even the supporting players are quite good, although there's no question that the main focus are the two leads. Another major plus the film has working for it are the Satanic cult scenes. These are shot incredibly well and the visual look of them are excellent. The thick fog adds to their quality but the sets are all rather amazing and again, there's Naschy bringing it all together. The gore and violence level isn't stomach-turning but it is pretty thick including one scene where a chained up woman gets her ripped torn off! The nudity level is incredibly high as all the torture victims are always naked plus there are other scenes that appeared to have just been thrown in for the chance of more naked bodies. This includes one scene where four beauties are splashing around naked in a lake for no other reason than they're extremely hot. INQUISITION is certainly one of the better films of its type and deserves to be better known.
*** (out of 4)
Paul Naschy made his directorial debut with this WITCHFINDER GENERAL type film that adds in a ton a nudity, gore and all out sleaze. In the film Naschy plays a man who puts many to death as he finds them to be witches but things take a turn when he falls in love with a young woman (Daniela Giordano) without realizing she has a pact with Satan (also played by Naschy). After watching this film you'll be wishing that Mr. Naschy had directed some of his earlier horror pictures and especially those that didn't quite reach the high entertainment level. I was really shocked to see how wonderful his direction was here because he really nailed the atmosphere and setting and in the end he delivered a sleazy but oh so entertaining picture. By 1976 there had already been several films dealing with this subject. Some were classics (WITCHFINDER GENERAL) and others were just trash (MARK OF THE DEVIL). This film here takes the serious elements of that first film and mixes in the sleaze of the second one but it's really Naschy's direction that makes it work so well. You really do believe the period setting and this here helps you buy into the story even more. Even better is that the "love story" isn't just there to pad out the running time and instead the director makes you get involved with both characters. It helps that Naschy and Giordano work so well together as they two of them can bounce the flirtatious moments off one another as well as the more dramatic ones. Even the supporting players are quite good, although there's no question that the main focus are the two leads. Another major plus the film has working for it are the Satanic cult scenes. These are shot incredibly well and the visual look of them are excellent. The thick fog adds to their quality but the sets are all rather amazing and again, there's Naschy bringing it all together. The gore and violence level isn't stomach-turning but it is pretty thick including one scene where a chained up woman gets her ripped torn off! The nudity level is incredibly high as all the torture victims are always naked plus there are other scenes that appeared to have just been thrown in for the chance of more naked bodies. This includes one scene where four beauties are splashing around naked in a lake for no other reason than they're extremely hot. INQUISITION is certainly one of the better films of its type and deserves to be better known.