Satan's Blood

In opening with the attention-grabbing gambit of monks sacrificing a young woman to their Satanic master this 1977 Spanish horror, directed by Carlos Puerto and produced by Juan Piquer Simon, starts as it means to go on.

The sequence proves to be utterly unconnected to the remainder of the film, highlighting the filmmakers' and Euro-horror's general propensity to favour atmosphere and affect over narrative and character logic.

We are then introduced to our protagonists, Andres and Ana (Angel Aranda and Sandra Alberti), a young middle class couple who are expecting a baby. Heading back from a leisurely day out, they encounter an older couple, Bruno and Berta (Jose Guillen and Marian Karr). Bruno identifies himself as an old schoolmate of Andres – apparently the two used to share classes with the same priest – and invites them back to their house for a drink.

Though Andres and Ana have second thoughts as they follow Bruno and Berta's car out of town and along a winding track, with Andres not quite able to place Bruno and certain that the priest he mentioned was the dean of the college rather than a tutor, they nevertheless continue to the older couple's expansive villa, presenting a welcome contrast from their anonymous little apartment.

Leaving Andres and Ana's dog Blackie – who seems to sense that something is up – to run around the grounds, the hosts and their guests settle down.

Everywhere there are signs that something isn't quite right, whether Ana catches Berta wiping blood from her mouth after going to help her hostess in the kitchen; Berta – whose own wrists bear telltale scars – mocking her husband for his failed suicide attempt; or the fierce storm that blows up outside.

Conversation soon comes round one of the hosts favourite topics, the occult. They unveil a ouija board and suggest a seance, during which Bruno learns that he is soon to die while Ana is compelled to confess to still harbouring feelings for Andres's brother.

And just what has happened to Blackie in the meantime…

Though perhaps not going as far in the sex, sleaze and satanism stakes as Jose Larraz's later Los Ritos sexuales del diablo, Satan's Blood / Escalofrío is nevertheless a worthy entry into the subgenre with plenty going for it in terms of exposed skin and erotic and disturbing imagery; there's the definite sense that the filmmakers were striving to push the S certificate as far as they could for a 1977 film, remembering that this was only two years after General Franco's death.

If the film has a weakness – beyond the usual limitations of low-budgets; performers cast more for their looks and willingness to disrobe than their acting abilities, and 70s ambience – it is that it is almost too weird for its own good at times.

After an initial set up that seems to suggest a Rosemary's Baby style paranoid conspiracy is about to develop – note Andres and Ana's neighbours across the hall, besides Ana's pregnancy – the procession of increasingly bizarre and disconnected events, with only a splendidly creepy Deep Red-esque doll being explicitly identified as dream, makes it increasingly hard for us to identify or engage with Andres and Ana's situation.

But perhaps distancing us is also the part of the intent, insofar as the film also comes at times as something akin to a Eurotrash take on Alain Resnais and Alain Robbe-Grillet's art house classic Last Year at Marienbad, with both films raising similar questions of memory and truth and their cinematic representation, in addition to playing out very much as games: while Marienbad has characters known only as A, X and M, here we have pairs A&A and B&B and, in a coda, what we might presume to be C&C.

Proof, once more, that though European sex and horror filmmakers of the 60s and 70s might have made what are often labelled as stupid films, they were definitely not stupid men…

Mondo Macabro's Region Free NTSC DVD presents Satan's Blood in 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a choice of English or Spanish language and optional English subtitles. Though there is the odd scratch or scene that's on the grainy side, the transfer is a good one overall, with plenty of detail and strong, solid colours and by all accounts presents a marked improvement on previous releases. The choice of language options is likewise welcome – English for added Eurotrash ambience, Spanish for greater authenticity.

The main extra on the disc is a 22 minute documentary featurette on contemporary Satanism, The Devil's Disciples, which intercuts illustrative stills and film clips with to-camera commentary from Gavin Baddeley, ordained minister in the Church of Satan and author of a number of books relating to the subject.

Erudite, witty and self-deprecating, Baddely makes for a good devil's advocate, dispelling some of the more popular myths about his belief system; 666 is, apparently, the wrong number of the beast.

While the applicability of his insights to Satan's Blood is perhaps limited on account of the filmmakers' more freewheeling and sensationalistic approach, he nevertheless provides the uninitiated (groan) with a useful Satanic primer, picking out key figures and films including Aleister Crowley, Montague Summers, Anton La Vey, Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, which comes in for some refreshing criticisms.

Next we get an additional opening sequence, which can be played either on its own or followed by the film. Devised to help get Satan's Blood past the Spanish censors, it uses the time-honoured device of having a scholarly type introduce the film as a document of satanic practices (yeah, right) and as a (perhaps none too effective) warning against them.

Well-written liner notes and biographies, an extensive stills gallery and the newest incarnation of the Mondo Macabro promo reel, including Satan's Blood and Virgins from Hell, round off another quality release.

Mondo Macabro website: http://www.mondomacabrodvd.com