Vomitron_G For his early films, José Ramón Larraz moved to England and delivered the sort of psycho-sexually flavored genre efforts many British directors seemed incapable of conceiving (except for people like Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell at the start of their career, with 'Performance' being a fine example). A film like 'Vampyres' (1974), at the time, even earned Larraz a reputation of being a feminist filmmaker, which is a fairly odd side-effect when essentially creating an on-screen lesbian vampire bloodbath. His second feature, 'Deviation' dates back to 1971 and turned out a strange and unsettling little film, very much worthy mentioning as an early entry in thrilling '70s Euro-exploitation cinema. Larraz, directing under his pseudonym J. R. Larrath, manages to concoct a mildly surreal and fairly unnerving atmosphere without either reverting to more typical & meaningless dream-like imagery (like his fellow Euro-colleagues Jess Franco and Jean Rollin often tried their hand at; with what I've seen from him so far, I place Larraz on a higher pedestal as a filmmaker) or blood-soaked stagings (like exploitation movies in general were starting to dictate). 'Deviation' does contain a fair amount of weirdness, nudity and bloodshed, but in a somewhat more subtle manner. Not seldom so would Larraz's visual flair often lean more towards the Italian giallo films from the '70s than it would be in sync with the at the time prevailing British horror cinema. 'Deviation' can easily be placed between movies like Wes Craven's 'Last House On The Left' (1972) and Don Gronquist's 'Unhinged' (1982), coincidentally two American films, yet it still has that tangible European flavor to it (not in the least shaped by Stelvio Cipriani's splendid original soundtrack compositions).The plot (spoilers): One dark night, Olivia and Paul are driving home when a deviation sign leads them onto a road into the woods. When they have an accident, they are invited by Julian and his sister Rebecca to spend the night in their mansion. Paul is convinced he hit someone on the road, while Olivia doesn't believe him. Julian is a taxidermist in his spare time and he, uhm, doesn't exactly stick to animals. Paul will soon learn he did run someone over, but won't live long enough to tell anybody about it. Meanwhile Olivia is kept drugged & dazed and because of her state willingly participates in psychedelic, nightly orgies organized by Rebecca and Julian. When things go from bad to worse and Olivia finds out they murdered and skinned her lover Paul, she manages to fight back and kill the two siblings.

andrabem A black-clad woman with raven black hair running through a forest, a man frantically nailing planks across the door. The wind is howling, the woman is running among the trees, and the young man, hammer in his hands, nailing the door shut. These two scenes alternate several times. Why is she running that way? Why is he so keen on closing that room?Next we see them in London. The man is Julian (Karl Lanchbury), a taxidermist, and the woman is Rebecca (Lisbeth Lundquist), his sister.He enters a shop and is given a new task by the shop's owner: to stuff a recently deceased dog. He speaks briefly with the shop's owner about the work to be done. Rebecca is waiting outside in the car. On the surface everything looks normal - Julian's youthful looks and civil demeanor are belied by something weird lying behind his facade, and Rebecca, in spite of her groovy 70s looks, looks like a beautiful witch just come from a sabbath. Where ever does Larraz find these exotic women that appear in his films? The next scene show us a couple driving through a road at night - Paul (Malcolm Terris) and Olivia (Sibyla Grey). They drive slowly through the woods, the night is dark. Paul swerves to avoid a indistinct figure in a white poncho and hits something. No harm is done, but the car is stuck. Help is offered to them by - guess whom - Julian and Rebecca that live in a house nearby. This house is used by a hippie sect for their ceremonies. There they play their games, smoke their pipes of peace and indulge in their sexual orgies (but they are not concerned about Satan). Remember, this is early 70s England!Paul and Olivia, the new couple, accidentally(?) arrived in this house, will discover (for good of for bad) the goings-on. And love, repulsion, jealousy and madness will play their hands in what will happen."Deviation" is a sensory trip difficult to translate into words. Larraz' world is unique - landscape, people and sensuality blend harmoniously in his films. He's a good actor's director that can extract natural performances from his actors even when they are at their most bizarre."Deviation" could be labeled as an atmospheric psycho-horror film - from the very beginning we enter a realm of weirdness and fantasy. Those of you that have a weak spot for the early 70s and swinging England should check out this film. See the hippie happenings in "the Refuge". And Rebecca teaches us how to smoke the pipe of peace. All this underlined by the beautiful prog rock score by Stelvio Cipriani.

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) The first time I saw DEVIATION it messed with my head. The second time I saw DEVIATION it made more sense and gave me some inspiration for a story idea of my own I've been toying with. The third time I saw DEVIATION I realized that one of the things working against the genuine enjoyment of this film is how it'd been handled, or rather not handled as the case may be. Probably due to soundtrack rights more than anything, DEVIATION has only seen one home video release that I am aware of, which is a grubby, washed out, somewhat tattered full frame English language transfer who's color is about all turned sepia.And yet the film has some wonderful Larraz moments: brief periods of intense, life-altering (or ending, depending on what character) brutality that sort of leaves you twitching after the shovel has stopped being hacked about, dreamy orgy scenes where girls in blue sunglasses lie about giving various partners their turns, a lesbian seduction & abandonment, and a really nasty scene that may have influenced John Boorman's DELIVERANCE (1972) where a somewhat despicable pig-like loser is forced to lay a hippie chick at the end of a switchblade.Like Larraz' VAMPYRES and BLACK CANDLES the film often changes gears abruptly after long periods where not much seems to happen, which may be the result of the crummy looking transfer going around: With widescreen photography and proper colors this film could easily have been a "Video Nasty" flavored rival to Nicholas Roeg's PERFORMANCE, which is what I think served as Larraz' primary inspiration. It's advertised as a sex & drugs & rock and roll hedonistic horror romp -- which indeed it sort of is -- but is more of a psychological thriller about an inbred, incestuous English family living outside of the norms & influence of the modern world. A somewhat mismatched young couple happens upon them after an very peculiar road accident and is drawn into their web of indulgence, madness and murder.Jose Larraz was of course a Spaniard by birth but (as documented in Pete Tombs' "Immoral Tales") became enamored by the droll sleepiness of the British countryside, which he transforms into hedge-rowed, claustrophobic nightmare landscapes with his films. Being an early effort this one may seem a bit timid compared to later movies more plugged with his own brand of excess (EDGE OF THE AX, REST IN PIECES, THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED) and it's somewhat slow, deliberate pace can easily be mistaken as aimlessness. But what he is really doing is indulging himself in the mod trappings of British hipster society and weaving a little morality play around the inherent madness of British culture.I switched on the Spoiler Warning button due to the ending so if you don't want it ruined stop reading; The ending is all too familiar to fans of Larraz' work, where what was seen becomes a question rather than the conclusion to a film. Even VAMPYRES concludes on a note of ambiguity (and it's beginning is it's ending, compounding the matter) but here his little gag surprise twist actually works for a change. Compare how this film holds up against his controversial & undeniably sensational BLACK CANDLES (1980) and you'll see what I mean -- and in fact the two films tell more or less the same story, as does his 1978 film THE COMING OF SIN; Young British couple finds themselves trapped in a web of sin by otherwise respectable deviants living outside of the norm of society, one is absorbed into the morass and the other used as a sort of focal point for the morality play, with an ending that is supposed to suggest that it all may have been a dream or delusional vision by a repressed hedonist at heart.If I like this film better than BLACK CANDLES -- and I do -- it is only because this is an actual movie with actors and performances and camera angles and a payoff rather than just a carnival of flesh & brimstone. First-timers to Larraz Land should probably first go by way of VAMPYRES or SYMPTOMS, if you can find it, but like DEVIATION the latter has been shamefully ignored by a present-day media industry that may not be willing to take a chance on a small, grim, nihilistic little project like this with no real heroes or good guys and a head trip ending. Larraz deserves better, he didn't make that many films and they all deserve to be seen again. Good luck finding it.7/10

Oliver Lenhardt Jose Larraz is a very skilled filmmaker. His SYMPTOMS (1974) is among the most atmospheric and best of horror pictures. It boasts a miasma of nuanced menace that is not unlike Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW (1973). Immediately after "Symptoms" Larraz made the stylish but sleazy VAMPYRES, and thence charted a course of exploitation films.DEVIATION is one of his earliest films. In terms of quality it falls somewhere in between "Symptoms" and "Vampyres". The intense, unsettling, fabulously edited pre-credits sequence, replete with a pulse-pounding score by Stelvio Cipriani, had me prepared to proclaim Larraz one of the pre-eminent horror directors. The following 20 minutes or so are also very good, as the story follows a young couple that becomes stranded in the middle of nowhere and is offered overnight refuge in a large English manor. The male half of the duo senses something is wrong and investigates. He is quickly despatched, and the house's inhabitants, a sadistic brother and sister, turn their lascivious attentions to the female boarder, who is blissfully unaware of any peculiarities.Sadly, the middle section of the film, involving a tiresome succession of drug orgies and couplings, isn't nearly as strong. Larraz's command of the cinematics, however, remains consistently excellent. He has an innate ability to craft scares and suspense, but it is sometimes simply supplanted by his predilection for (fairly innocuous) sex scenes.Despite the unevenness, "Deviation" is well worth seeking out.