Obscene Desire / L'osceno desiderio (1978)

I recently had the pleasure of discovering the hidden gem Obscene Desire for myself, and it could not have been timelier. Just as I was gearing up to review it, after taking several blurry looking screen grabs, I happened to find out that Vinegar Syndrome was releasing it on Blu-ray as part of their Bloodstained Italy three-movie set, which also included The Bloodstained Lawn (1973) and Death Falls Lightly (1972), so I decided to hold off until my pre-order came in. 

For me, the wait for a restoration of Obscene Desire was really short (only a few months after first watching it), in comparison to the whole decade I waited to finally see a restored The Witches Mountain (1973). It is, of course, a much appreciated big improvement over what was available before, and it’s an even greater delight to watch Marisa Mell as the lead, Amanda, in this pretty eclectic Spanish-Italian horror film. Here, she is not playing her typical swindling seductive murderess type (as seen in movies like Marta (1971) and Diary of an Erotic Murderess (1975)) but rather a vulnerable and pregnant newlywed, full of anxiety, who also gets to act the hell out of certain parts. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of her swindlers, but I always thought Marisa Mell was underused in horror and fantasy. She played a seductive ghost in Parapsycho – Spektrum der Angst (1975) and had an attractive side role in Ring of Darkness (1979), but I’m still grateful for this consolidation of a murder mystery, psychological thriller, and Exorcist horror film with Marisa Mell at the helm. I also have to point out that during the climax, she does an awesome Gene Simmons impression that makes my night every time I see it.

The Witches Mountain / El monte de las brujas (1973)

Cover art by Justin Coffee

 “A woman will sometimes forgive the man who tries to seduce her, but never the man who misses an opportunity when offered.” – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

I’m hoping that in the coming months and years, more and more people discover, and hopefully enjoy, the unfairly banned and relatively forgotten Spanish horror Raúl Artigot’s The Witches Mountain thanks to Mondo Macabro’s recent release of the film. Lured by its title and because Patty Shepard was in it, I first saw the film as a VHS rip on YouTube back around 2013 and was really floored by how atmospheric and beautifully haunting it was despite the low picture quality. I’m usually easy to please in this area, but every DVD-R and download of this film I came across was quite soft looking and really showed the film’s age. Anytime I thought to review it, I was discouraged, and mildly depressed, by how much the poor-quality screengrabs undersold the film, so I kept holding out for a decent release someday. Years went by, and I personally started to give up hope, so it was miraculous news for me when the HD upgrade of The Witches Mountain was finally announced. There was a significant delay after the Halloween presale, but I thought it was worth the wait.