The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

What's this, you might ask. A Spanish horror film from the '70s which doesn't star Paul Naschy? You might find this difficult to believe, but it's true. Naschy sadly doesn't benefit us with his presence in this tepid slice of exploitation, which uses a confusing, barely coherent plot as an excuse for plenty of sensational nudity. So it's pretty much what you might expect. Thankfully, things never get too boring because of a simple fact: the film has been dubbed atrociously, just like most low-budget oddities floating around in this country at the moment. Cue lots of chances for ripe, hilarious dialogue which doesn't necessarily make sense.While posing as a horror film, this is really more like a sex film, as basically just about every female character is forced to strip off at least once. The horror scenes, when they come, are surprisingly devoid of gore, with the monster strangling his victims to death instead of splattering them with a sharp object, as is the typical way people die in these types of films. None of the actors or actresses particularly distinguish themselves, although Silvia Solar (THE WEREWOLF AND THE YETI) is suitably spooky in the lead role as a spiritualist, while veteran Oliver Mathot lends solid support as the seedy, suspect doctor who spends his days making horse vaccines in the basement (yeah, right). The only other recognisable face is that of a minor actor from THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE, although the name escapes me at the moment.Unfortunately the film is so simplistic, you just know what's going to happen next. Monster revives, murders somebody. Next scene: doctor complains about his heart. Next scene: maid undresses. Next scene: hilariously incompetent police investigate, find nothing, and leave. Next scene: monster revives, murders somebody. And so on. There are quite a few funny scenes to watch, such as the moment where a man tries to seduce his girlfriend, not realising that she's been turned into a zombie, or the hilariously tacky ending.DEVIL KISS (I don't know where that particular title came from either) may not be high art, it may not even be good entertainment. However, there are a few neat Gothic touches, and also some spooky moments in the brick arched basement of the mansion. The make-up for the main zombie isn't too bad either, even quite creepy in some respects. These factors save this film from being unwatchable and instead elevate it to the status of being a decidedly average slice of strangeness.

In France, the former Countess Moncorn comes to the Haussemont Castle posing of the medium Claire Grandier (Silvia Solar) for a séance with her telepathic friend and scientist Professor Gruber (Oliver Matthau). They are welcomed by the Duke de Haussemont (José Nieto), who recognizes her. There is an interruption in the séance and the Duke invites Claire and Gruber to stay in his castle and offers his basement for the professor to proceed in his experiments.However Claire has an agenda, since she holds a grudge against the Haussemont family that she blames that was responsible for the suicide of her beloved husband Phillippe to acquire his properties. Claire uses the Book of Astarov associated to the ability and knowledge of Professor Gruber to reanimate a corpse controlled by Gruber seeking revenge against the responsible for the death of Phillippe. But her scheme gets out of control."La perversa caricia de Satán", a.k.a. "Devil's Kiss", is a Spanish B- movie that gathers all the elements of this type of film: a rip-off Frankenstein with a bald creature; Satanism; naked women; a medium; a mad scientist, all associated to cheap locations, poor edition and bad acting. Further, the DVD released in Brazil has a cover that is a great work of art and audio in French, English and Portuguese, but does not have the original one in Spanish. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "O Beijo do Diabo" ("The Devil's Kiss")

Devil Kiss belongs to that substandard group of Euro Gothic Horrors that include films like "Vampires Night Orgy", "Hannah Queen Of The Vampires" or something from Jess Franco. Its got all the prerequisites that someone going into a film like this would want - a castle, a crypt, an evil bitchy Vampiress type woman, resurrected dead, crudely shot, badly edited sex scenes - heck, there's even a weird very 70's fashion show. But it somehow fails to generate suspense, hold interest, or entertain, even in a "bad movie" kind of way. It certainly is no Hammer production, that's for sure. If you have a soft spot for these types of crusty European horror flicks, you might want to hunt this one down and watch it in the background while you have something else to do. All others are advised to check out one of the hundreds of better titles in this genre (Castle Of Blood, Slaughter Of The Vampires are two good examples) before accepting an inadequate "kiss" from this haphazard "devil".

Who can resist a movie that boasts a Gothic castle, a mad scientist, Satanism, a bald monster, lots of naked women and a sexually frustrated dwarf? The film concerns Medium Claire Grandler who harbours a long standing grudge against the De Hassenmont family, for driving her husband Philip to suicide (shown in impressive blue tinted flashbacks). With the help of a textbook mad scientist, she befriends the Baron De Hassenmont by holding a seance with alarming results. Paranoid that he'll be `spied upon by unseen creatures' the Baron invites the pair to stay on at the castle, where they construct a Frankenstein style monster, a dwarf who Claire rescued from a lynch mob also helps out. It's a film full of memorable images such as the zombie monster lumbering around the Baron's castle, and the Baron's busty maid being strangled and brought back from the dead. Don't even question why anyone doesn't notice anything peculiar about the pasty face zombie maid with a tourniquet around her neck croaking `I'm not feeling well'. The undead maid also supplies the most outrageous moment in the film, when her handyman lover, not aware of her situation tries to come on to the ghoul with really nasty consequences. The film also boasts a cast to die for- at least to any knowledgeable fan of sleazy Euro movies. Look out for Eurocine thespians Silvia Solor and Oliver Mathot (both later reunited for the trashy Cannibal Terror) as the mad medium and mad scientist respectively. Rounding off the cast are Jose Ruiz Lifante (Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue's creepy photographer) and Paul Naschy regular Maria Silvia. The real surprise here has to be Silvia Solor who obviously had a ball playing eyeball rolling psychotic Grandler. Looking like a cross between Vampira and Yootha Joyce its clearly her show and her contribution is a real revelation for an actress who rarely gets a chance to shine in secondary roles like in the aforementioned cannibal atrocity and Juan Fortuny's Crimson. HOWEVER WHO IS DIRECTOR/ SUPPORTING ACTOR GEORGES GIGO? This young man of Spanish horror cinema even affords himself a bizarre cameo in the film as a fashion designer. His `avante garde' fashion show scene is worth the price of admission alone, including an all in one dress that makes a poor model look like a giant banana. Unfortunately Gigo's cinematic talents seem to have gone unrecognized. Given very little exposure at the time, it should have had audiences going wild in the aisles but when it wasn't just ignored the reviews were far from positive. As a result Gigo's only other work seems to have been a number of listless `S' rated pornographic films produced in Spain after General Franco's death. The film has resurfaced quite a few times recently, a widescreen version was screened on a French adult channel which strangely removed all the sex scenes and some 20 minutes of footage. An American public domain tape (called the Wicked Caresses of Satan) in uncut but terribly cropped and dark looking, robbing the film of its `a hundred lava lamps' approach to lighting. It was shown on UK TV as The Devil's Kiss, in widescreen and uncut, although without a title credit. Outrageous, audacious, unique and well worth tracking down, the film is one of the best and formerly long lost examples of the endearing and unfortunately short lived Spanish horror boom, and a genre effort unlike any other.