Dr. Ivanna Rakowsky (Erna Schurer) is an assertive woman who, in Scream of the Demon Lover (1970), regularly exercises her agency. Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of her ability to make rational decisions. Not only does she completely misinterpret what’s happening around her and misdiagnose her employer, Baron Janos Dalmar (Carlos Quiney), but she also ignores the danger surrounding her in the name of love.
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When the villagers start finding the bloody bodies of beautiful young women, Janos is the number one suspect. Like most gothic serial killers, he lives in a creepy castle. Plus, his brother, Igor, died under mysterious circumstances in a laboratory fire where he was performing strange experiments. That’s all the evidence you need to throw the book at him. Ivanna seems to accept this… and, like I said, ignore it.
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When she starts being abducted at night, is strapped naked to the rack, and is fondled by scarred hands, she doesn’t even consider an alternative suspect. Instead, she reads books about lycanthropy (during the full moon) and tells Janos he’s guilty because he has a split personality. Worse than anything, even when she thinks Janos is abusing his prized hounds, she’s willing to overlook animal cruelty to be with him.
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Her contradictions represent the type of contradictions in the film. For example, it’s got an authentic setting, but some shots are horribly composed with odd angles that are neither artistic nor interesting. Also, the colors are vibrant, but many scenes are out of focus. There’s a disclaimer about quality at the beginning of the film on the new Blu-ray from Severin Films, but it seems part of the original print… something that can’t be corrected.
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Enrico Colombo and Jose Luis Merino also wrote The Hanging Woman (1973), featuring Paul Naschy, which Merino also directed. Both have similarly complicated plot points, but I enjoy that one slightly more than Scream of the Demon Lover. Merino also directed more Robin Hood, Zorro, and Tarzan movies than horror films, indicating he might favor action at the expense of story, which in turn might explain this noble attempt, but ultimate disappointment.
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