Nude for Satan
Directed byLuigi Batzella
Screenplay byLuigi Batzella
Story byLuigi Batzella
Produced byRemo Angioli[1]: 126 
Starring
CinematographyAntonio Maccoppi[1]: 126 
Edited byLuigi Batzella
Music byAlberto Baldan Bembo[1]: 126 
Production
company
C.R.C. Produzioni Cinematografiche e Televisive[1]: 126 
Distributed byP.A.B.
Release date
  • 23 October 1974 (1974-10-23) (Italy)
Running time
91 minutes[1]: 126 
CountryItaly[1]: 126 
Box office₤56.364 million

Nude for Satan (Italian: Nuda per Satana) is a 1974 Italian horror film directed by Luigi Batzella.

Plot

Late at night, Dr. Benson drives through the countryside and stumbles upon a car crash where he finds a wounded young woman named Susan. Dr. Benson gets Susan in his car and seeks shelter for the two in a nearby castle. He is greeted at the door by Evelyn, who looks exactly like Susan, and is invited to stay the night. Dr. Benson soon meets his own doppelgänger named Peter. When in the castle, Dr. Benson discovers that time and space do not follow ordinary logic in Satan's world.

Style

Film historian Roberto Curti described Nude for Satan as walking a thin edge between erotic horror and pornography as other films of the period did. Curti described the film as "tempted to jump to the other side of the fence but still retaining some prudish reservation".[1]: 126 

Production

Rita Calderoni starred in the film as both Susan Smith and Evelyn.[1]: 126 

Rita Calderoni claimed that director Luigi Batzella had cast her in the film after seeing her in Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel Trecento. According to the Public Cinematographic Register, Nude for Satan began filming on March 25, 1974.[1]: 126, 129  It was shot at the Castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano in Frosinone, Lazio.[1]: 126  Calderoni stated that the film shoot took five or six weeks. Calderoni recalled that the car accident scene in the film took Batzella an entire night to film. In the finished film, the accident is represented by a single tire rolling into frame. Calderoni recollected that she was injured during the spider attack sequence in the film.[1]: 126 

Release

Nude for Satan was initially rejected by the board of censors in Italy due to "continuous obscene sequences, some of them even portraying lesbian intercourses". On appeal, several cuts to the film were suggested to the producer. This included removing scenes involving sexual intercourse between the doctor and the woman who represents Susan's double, a reduction of Susan's nightmare scene to avoid a "description of lesbian intercourse", and to "avoid erotic acts of the main characters in a chair" from the final scene of the film. The producer obliged and the film was released in Italy with a V.M.18 rating.[1]: 128  Nude for Satan was released in Italy on 23 October 1974 where it was distributed by P.A.B. The film grossed a total of 56,364,000 Italian lire domestically.[1]: 126 

Nude for Satan was released on DVD and VHS by Image Entertainment in 1999.[2][3]

Reception

In retrospective reviews, Curti described the film's direction as "clueless" noting that Batzella "cannot find a formal balance and keeps piling up whatever comes to his mind."[1]: 127  In his book Perverse Titillation, Danny Shipka summarized the plot noting that "the Devil is bored and wants to have an orgy. Oh, and Calderoni gets molested by a giant spider. You'll be bored too."[4] In his book Italian Horror Film Directors, Louis Paul declared the film to be a "demented exercise into semi-pornographic skin flick horror"[5]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Curti 2017.
  2. ↑ "Nude for Satan (1974)". AllMovie. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "Nude for Satan". Image Entertainment. Archived from the original on 4 June 2000. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  4. ↑ Shipka 2011, p. 153.
  5. ↑ Paul 2005, p. 316.

Sources

  • Curti, Roberto (2017). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1970-1979. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476629605.
  • Paul, Louis (2005). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8749-3.
  • Shipka, Danny (2011). Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960–1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4888-3.
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