Devil's Nightmare 2004 Horror Movie Review

Seven travelers stranded in the Italian countryside accept the hospitality of a kindly castle lord, but what horror awaits them: the family has a curse on it that dooms the eldest daughter of each generation to become an agent of the devil, and guess who’s coming home. After a striking opening scene (involving a Nazi officer in 1944 overseeing the birth of his child, which turns out to be… an accursed daughter!), this horror tale drags along at a glacial pace until the visitors settle in enough to take a little time out for sex, which serves as an appetizer to sadistic murders. The guests, ostensibly representative of the Seven Deadly Sins, die in appropriately thematic twists at first, though after gluttony, greed, and lust the point gets stretched. This low-budget example of horrotica has its entertaining moments, an appropriately lurid style (courtesy of Belgian director Jean Brismee), and even an appearance by former French matinee idol Jean Servais (Beauty and the Beast). Included are trailers for this and three other Italian exploitation films and an extended introduction by British horror hostess Eileen Daly (which was actually recorded for a different film!), a black-leather Elvira with a whip and a penchant for kink that may not be to the tastes of all audiences. -Sean Axmaker