modmax Following the success of Diabolik, comes Satanik. Taken from a comic by Max Bunker and Magnus, it's an Italian-Spanish low budget production that tries to re-propose the atmosphere of Bava's film. Unfortunately Piero Vivarelli is not Mario Bava: camera work is bad, acting is bad and the characters are not developed well. The story is enough suspenseful, but this is due more to the comic origin than to Eduardo Brochero's screenplay. It is considered a precursor of the sexy-horror genre of the seventies. It's a sort of female version of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde: Dr. Marnie Bannister, a disfigured old woman, drinks a substance that has the power to regenerate the cells and becomes a beautiful young woman, but gets more evil too. Besides killing people to keep her secret, she gets involved with some international mobs. It's a fact that the movie itself is not very good, but if you're into 6T's movies or 6T's stuff in general, you have more than one reason to watch this. There is a good period atmosphere with amazing 6Ts clothes and wonderful interiors of houses. Then the music by Roberto Pregadio is fantastic, especially the strip track performed by the Italian band "Gepy & Gepy". But if someone is not interested in the period can't definitely like this film

bensonmum2 Dr. Marnie Bannister (Magda Konopka) is a horribly disfigured woman. When one of her colleagues discovers a rejuvenation formula, Marnie sees it as her opportunity to become beautiful. When she's denied the drug because of possible side effects, she kills her colleague to get what she wants. The drug works and she becomes beautiful. But the formula brings out the worst in her and it's not long before she's left a string of bodies behind her.Have you ever heard the expression "as exciting as watching paint dry"? That pretty much sums up Satanik. During the film, one of the characters utters the line, "Something so horrible, it's inconceivable." I wasn't sure if he was talking about something in movie or the movie itself. I'm really disappointed because I had high hopes for this one. Satanik had possibilities, but they're never realized. At every opportunity, the plot has Marnie do the dullest things imaginable. The writing is horrible. And part of the problem is Magda Konopka. She's not that appealing and cannot carry the film on her own.Another big problem with Satanik is the direction and editing. It's a mess. We see things and places that have no bearing on anything in the movie. The camera lingers on shots too long after the scene is over. I can't think of a single shot that would call anything but unoriginal. This group of filmmakers exhibits little in the way of imagination or talent.I may not be familiar with the Italian comic on which Satanik is supposedly based, but I'm sure it's got to be better than this.

movieman_kev Old bat transforms to younger OK looking girl after drinking a potion. This movie was dreadful. The acting atrocious. The camera work made me head spin. And it features the longest, most excruciatingly boring strip-tease ever put to film. Piero Vivarelli should be ashamed for directing this. Eduardo Manzanos Brochero should'voe been blacklisted just for writing something so awful.Don't rent this movie, the only exception I can this of is maybe If you're dying and only have less then 90 minutes to live, watch this film cause it will feel like an eternity and you'll be begging the Grip Reaper come a little early.My Grade: F

rundbauchdodo This Spanish-Italian co-production tells an interesting and weird story about Dr. Bannister, a woman that not only has the best years behind her, but also has a scarred face that makes her look like a freak. But in Madrid, a professor she knows has conducted some experiments on animals with a substance which regenerates cells. The experiments were successful, but the animals became aggressive. Because the professor won't allow Dr. Bannister to be the first human guinea pig, she kills him and consumes the substance. She becomes a beautiful young woman, but also a vicious killer when it comes to keep her secret a secret.The plot of the film is great fun, but Piero Vivarelli had not enough skills and money to make a cool movie out of it. Also, the film becomes boring after a good start and doesn't manage to regain a fast pace even though the film's running time doesn't exceed 83 minutes. And as the setting changes to Swiss city Geneva for the last third of the film, it sometimes even looks like a vacation movie as we see how beautiful Geneva is (which it is indeed - but it doesn't help to push the plot forward...). So, with a more talented director, better actors and a bigger budget, "Satanik" could have become an obscure Italian classic. But, as it is, it's just a lacklustre and boring crime film that isn't really worth looking for. Rating: 3 out of 10.