Il plenilunio delle vergini, also known as The Devil’s Wedding Night, is a story filled with everything you could ever want in a horror movie like vampires, zombies, magic and creepy manservants and it winds up being a very stylish excursion into the realm of the fantastic. The story concerns a pair of twins, one named Franz and the other Karl, who are looking for a little adventure and so it is that Franz sets out to find the ring of the Nibelungen which just so happens to be on the hand of eternally young Rosalba Neri’s hand in a an old spooky castle. To make matters worse, it is the Night of the Virgin Moon and the Contessa as played by Neri, needs to sacrifice five virgin women every time it appears to appease her dark lord and thus retain her immortality. From this point, Franz is corrupted and Karl tries to come to his rescue with much blood and death taking place in the meantime.

The main reason most people will tune in to this film is for Neri, a stunning woman and though quite talented, also happens to find herself without any clothes on for a good chunk of the picture. As the Countess, she summons the five young ladies to her castle with the help of her ring and thus ensues more nudity courtesy of director Luigi Batzella as they each give their lives in service to Neri. Starring opposite Neri is Mark Damon who plays both Karl and Franz and though he does a decent job of it, there are moments where he seems a little lifeless while Neri is vibrant, if not buoyant in her performance. They make a strange combination, but it ultimately works and though you would probably want nothing more than to spend eternity at Neri’s side, you find yourself rooting for our hero as he takes on a castle full of enemies.

Visually, The Devil’s Wedding Night is a very beautiful picture, one that is reminiscent of Hammer and their exquisite production values. Whether man or woman, the castle setting or the costumes, everything is a feast for the eyes and it helps just a little to overlook any faults that the film might have such as the script which could have been a little better, or the story which had a couple of plot holes, but in the end, was so ridiculous it could not have been anything but enjoyable. The main problem is, that no matter how good everything looked, it relied more on shock value and the willingness of its stars to get undressed than anything else. That is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to horror films, it is almost a prerequisite, but a little more from the writers could have went a long way.

Featuring aspects of both the gothic and exploitation genre, The Devil’s Wedding Night turned out to be a pretty good film. It not only passes the time, but it holds your interest and whether that is due to some of its more obvious assets or the fact that it just works altogether well is debatable. With the zombie woman as played by Esmeralda Barros being creepy, the castle eerie, Damon being good though Neri was much better and enough blood to take a bath in – which actually happened, you would be hard-pressed not to enjoy this film.

3.5 out of 5