Witchfinder General 666
The original 1932 masterpiece THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest P. Schoedsack, and starring the great Leslie Banks as one of the most memorable villains ever in cinema) is an all-time favorite of mine. Being a huge fan of (especially European) Exploitation and Trash-flicks from the 70s, my admiration for the original film will certainly not lessen my enjoyment of the numerous sleazy rip-offs. And this ultra-sleazy French take on the story, LES WEEK-ENDS MALÉFIQUES DU COMTE ZAROFF (aka. SEVEN WOMEN FOR Satan) of 1976, for which Michel Lemoine served as director, writer and star is a sleazy one indeed. As a matter of fact, this highly sadistic little slice of sleaze has an incredibly confused and nonsensical plot, and mostly doesn't make the slightest sense. However, the film should nonetheless be entertaining enough for my fellow Eurosmut-fans to enjoy, as it is a good example for the sleaziness and sheer insanity of many European B-Movie-makers in the era.Michel Lemoine plays a descendant of the original Count Zaroff; unlike his diabolical, but ingenious ancestor, this Zaroff is a totally bonkers nut-job who brings gorgeous young women to his medieval French castle, where he gives them champagne and fondles their naked bodies before suddenly flipping out and murdering them in bizarre manners. Zaroff's butler is played by the great Howard Vernon, the super-prolific Euro-Exploitation regular best known for starring in many of Jess Franco's films.Michel Lemoine, to whom this film owes its existence, looks extremely demented. Judging by his mere looks, he would be perfect to play an insane killer; the man's acting skills, however, are not exactly breathtaking, which makes the thing unintentionally comical at times. Howard Vernon is always somewhat creepy, and always good to see for Exploitation-buffs like yours truly. Lemoine and Vernon had worked together on some movies before, including Jess Franco's NECRONOMICON (1968) and the hilariously inept German Sleaze-Horror flick DAS SCHLOSS DER BLUTIGEN BEGIERDE (CASTLE OF THE BLOODY LUST, 1968). The women in the film are entirely gorgeous, and they all get naked at any given occasion before most of them meet violent deaths. This is Eurosleaze at its sleaziest and most politically incorrect, the film is more or less a continuum of sex and violence (the victims being predominantly hot women). As most French Horror films, LES WEEKENDS MALÉFIQUES DU COMTE ZAROFF is very well-photographed on atmospheric original locations. The psychedelic score is also very good, even though it is very obvious that parts of it were inspired by Morricone's brilliant score to THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. The incredibly cheesy dialogue serves mainly as an explanation for the sleaze that follows. I saw the English dubbed version, and lines like "Would you like some champagne to help you dream pleasantly; or would you rather that I pour it on your body and sip it slowly as if your substance were of crystal" are hilariously inept. Overall, this film is one to see for the sleaze and violence and for the involuntary fun-factor. However, it certainly has its lengths, and tends to get tedious in-between in spite of a running time of only 85 minutes; don't expect anything eerie, let alone suspenseful, and be entertained.
MartinHafer
I thought I was just going to watch a low-budget French horror film, though the opening scene sure changed my opinion! You see a naked woman being tracked across a vast estate by some nut-job riding on horseback! She is ultimately killed and then the story begins. This is surely NOT a 1970s version of Universal horror film! In the next scene, you see one of the sexiest scenes I have ever seen and it involved light bondage and lots of champagne. No one was being hurt and the film looked like a porno film--not exactly the sort of movie I'd watch, but harmless. However, moments later in another scene, this same man now is brutalizing this woman--both sexually and physically. Then, ultimately, he kills her. At this point, I thought I'd have enough, as any film that combines hot sex with violence against women disturbs me. After all, the idea of guys getting off watching women hurt and killed sexually is like watching the actions of a sex offender in order to get some sort of voyeuristic thrill. I tried watching just a bit more, but ultimately gave up--and worry about those who like films like this. While I never like the idea of banning films or controlling their content (I am a huge believer in the First Amendment), I certainly didn't want to see more. Thank goodness I rented this one and didn't buy it!
JHC3
A warning to potential viewers: if you are looking for an adaptation of the classic story "The Most Dangerous Game," look elsewhere. "Seven Women for Satan"only superficially addresses the original work by using the name of Zaroff and having said character murder people.Some of what follows might be considered by some to be spoilers. Or not.Boris Zaroff is played by writer/director Michel Lemoine. Whereas his ancestor hunted men because they were the only prey that were truly challenging, Boris' victims are usually in a position where they cannot defend themselves. The film rambles from scene to scene with a near-total lack of clarity. The director seems to have totally disregarded pacing and left the viewer with a suffocatingly dull film. A few individual scenes are mildly interesting (such as a torture rack sequence), but as a unit, the film fails to entertain. Viewers who are moreinterested in an assortment of attractive and semi-attractive actresses in various stages of undress might find the film watchable. Most will probably find their time is better spent watching Mentos commercials.In a side note, the DVD extras included a fair amount of information on the film's history. Apparently, it was banned for several years in its native France which pretty much ruined any chance it had for widespread distribution.
ilovejeanrollin
Directed and also starred by Michel Lemoine, this movie is not The Most Dangerous Game. The plot is still the same : an insane man enjoy the sadistic pleasure of hunting human beings. But in this one, there is a lot of bad acting by the ensemble cast, silly dialogues, not very comprehensible situations,lots of nudity and enjoyable murders. And this movie get a prize at the Fantasy Film Festival of Stiges in Spain in 1977. If you get the "chance" to see it, I don't want to recommended to anybody but still an experience to watch naked girls touching herself and dancing for absolutely no reason through the whole film.