The Great Unwatched: Don't Deliver Us From Evil (1971)

Director: Joël Séria

Runtime: 103 minutes

First of all, I love Mondo Macabro. They release some of the most bats**t, oddball foreign horror out there and they do it with a full complement of special features and damn fine transfers. Plus I just love their clip reels. Pure concentrated WTF.

Moving on. I was surprised to discover that this movie was inspired by the same murder case that informed Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. Don't Deliver Us... is definitely a looser adaptation, though. There's the same obsessive relationship between the girls, but they're more drawn to acts of mischief and "evil" than anything. Also, interestingly, the narrative focus is on the more forceful of the personalities (in Heavenly Creatures, the opposite was true), which does leave the other half of the friendship rather underdeveloped. Otherwise, though, this is an excellent film made by a strong, deliberate director who utilizes the beauty of the French countryside and the general ugliness of his male actors (most of whom play would-be rapists) to great advantage.

I was watching this to review it for Classic-Horror.com's 666th review, but I don't feel it really fits. I'll probably skip down the list for something a bit more demonic.

Worth the Purchase: Yes.

Stats: 19/401 movies watched in seventeen days.
Currently Projected Completion Date: February 17, 2010
Completion Date Goal: February 25, 2010