Night of the Devils (1972)
I'd seen this a couple of times previous and never really got on with it. Basically because it's not Bava's Black Sabbath (1963) segment The Wurdulak which is one of my all time favourites of Gothic horror.
As you may have guessed Night of the Devils is also based on Tolstoy's story The Wurdulak but is set in the present day or at least the present day in 1972.
I guess it must be a case of third time lucky as i really enjoyed it last night. Although not Gothic it's certainly Gothic tinged set as it is in a remote woodland home, populated by a creepy family, including Agostina Belli's lovely daughter, who right from the off when they are burying a bloodied corpse in the trees obviously have something to hide when Gianni Garko turns up at dusk, his car having broken down. I won't say what the secret is but those who have seen Bava's film will know anyway.
Director Giorgio Ferroni allows the story to develop in a slow burn style. For the first hour there's not an awful lot of horror going on other than a bit of strange mystery and Garko attempting to get his car started whilst falling in love with Belli (Busy fella), but it is infused with hallucinogenic flashbacks of strong gore and T&A melded together by an eerie composition from Deep Red's Giorgio Gaslini which give the film a surreal edge until the final third when Garko aside, one and all seemingly become....
Maddeningly i enjoyed Night of the Devils so much i'd now quite like the recently released Blu-ray from Raro / Radiance Films even though the US Raro dvd i viewed had excellent image quality anyway.
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