Expected more

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

My friends and I went through a period of rather than attempting to rent the best video we could find we deliberately attempted to rent the worst. And if it had beautiful scantily clad women on the cover all the better. Phantoms/Meridian was top of the list not least because we were big Twin Peaks fans and posters of Sherilyn Fenn adorned our bedroom walls. Really it's a pretty schizophrenic piece. We have a PG rated supernatural romantic love story that takes up the vast majority of the running time. It's OK, nice scenery, some decent acting and dialogue but pretty much unremarkable. The end scene where they disappear into the floodlit skull like cave is quite arresting and I recognised the whip wielding dwarf as Krammer's friend from Senfield.But then it's like the producers said "We need to spice it up a bit" and filmed THAT scene, the infamous but undeniably strangely sexy sequence where the gorgeous Sherilyn and her equally beautiful co-star Charlene Spraldling are stripped and drug-raped only to succumb to their dark desires and end up willingly and enthusiastically participating in their own ravishment like true Gothic horror heroines. We always wondered what Sherilyn looked like naked and she certainly doesn't disappoint, just as gloriously nubile as we fondly imagined. Spraldling is also fantastically hot (and buxom!)and again, shame she never did much after this. Pretty astonishing that they could still get away with an amazingly un-PC storyline like that in the 1990s! All the more amazing that the actresses actually agreed to do it no matter how much soft focus, erotic music and slow motion is employed, especially since Sherilyn was enjoying massive mainstream success with Twin Peaks at the time. And THEN, then when you think it just can't get any weirder the twin having sex with Sherilyn's character transforms into a monster and she still keeps having sex with him! AND THEN she falls in love with her man/beast rapist! Smacks of GOT/Galaxy of Terror fic, a fetish for beautiful women raped and impregnated by monsters whom they then fall in love with (yes, I am serious, just Google the term or search Monster Sex on Amazon if you don't believe me)So, if you want to see a film with lovely scenery, a truly unconventional Gothic romance, a weird yet extremely erotic sex scene with 2 very beautiful female stars and a storyline that singlehandedly sets the cause of feminism back about 500 years then this one is for you

Two American students go to Italy after graduating from art school, one to work in restoration of paintings, the other because she's inherited her father's castle. When the restorer visits her friend at the castle, they invite the players of a travelling sideshow to dinner, and are slipped drugs, leading to an orgy of abandon. The woman who owns the castle keeps having visions of a young woman who has been stabbed. After talking to her nanny, she finds that the "vision" woman is her father's sister, who was murdered brutally as the consequence of a 15th Century curse put on her family, and that she is the next in line, and the troupe they have entertained is a part of the curse....So the film looks good, very good in one scene, but when it has something like that so early on in the film, where do you go from there?Well according to this film, nowhere, just keep shooting the scenery, put a ghost and a beast in the film, and chuck in the old beauty and the beast film.It doesn't work one bit, it's uncomfortable to sit through, and becomes a chore very quickly.Boring and drab.

...this is 80s horror cheese to the core. Delicious.That said, while the STUNNING beauty of the two actresses probably brought you here (and do make the whole thing worth it) the best reason to stay is to see 80s horror cheese try SO. DAMN. HARD. to be a 'work of erotic Gothic film.' There's a special charm to such efforts if you watch for it. There are enough spoilers in the other reviews, so I'll elaborate on how this isn't just another 'so bad it's good' kind of charm. Specifically, while the slow motion shots and synth music must have seemed cliché even at the time, there is never one tongue in cheek or 'we know we're bad so go easy on us' moment. This is a recipe for pretentiousness or misguided sincerity, take your pick. Take it the same way you'd chose to be frightened or swindled out of your aloof cynical money at a carnival spook house.

decent sexy and stylish fantasy/horror film is well acted and lots of nice eye candy the girls are gorgeous and this is pretty slow paced but it is kinda engaging with lots of good set pieces and some very good lighting sequences and beautiful visuals some cool dream sequences make this very slow paced watchable also the transformations are very well done and realistic the make up effects are astounding and amazing the beautiful set pieces and designs make this a stunning yet slow pace viewing it is sexy stylish and very well made now this isn't your typical horror flick it's very unique and i recommend it to all of you *** out of 5