«Love me two times, baby» What can you say, the dashing 60s in all its glory? "The Satanist" opens an erotic scene. The couple is given to love pleasures in an open-top car, their bodies smoothly writhe as if they are under the water surface and the leisurely chords of psychedelic instrumental are intoxicated, entering, together with what is happening on the screen, into a trance. Then the man loses consciousness and the naked nymph still slowly “floats away” behind a mysterious figure materialized from the darkness.
Then the “plot,” if one can call it that, takes us to the protagonist, who, sitting on a wheelchair, begins his story about the mysterious and frightening circumstances that led him to the place and state in which he is now forced to reside. The protagonist lights up a pipe, unconvincingly staring at the camera lens, and not as, apparently, conceived, in the eyes of the viewer. A chilling story begins...
In fact, these first five minutes of the film quite accurately demonstrate what we will see before the final credits. Further, the naked owners of impressive forms, not burdened with character, are attached to the Cupids with each other and other actors. Then, using dark sorcery power, they are reincarnated as other nude possessors of impressive forms, unencumbered with character, and everything is repeated again. Rare "respite" continue to acquaint us with a single-celled plot, poorly played by actors who apparently feel insecure in their clothes. The sound from psychedelic goes to the blues “love” theme, which will play until the very end of the picture unchanged.
Of the positive aspects of the film, I would like to note the black and white, but juicy, contrasting picture with a pleasant grain of frame and, of course, the naked owners of impressive shapes. The plot here plays no role and only frames the aesthetic delights that the picture has prepared for us.
In genre terms, “Satanist” is a vintage eroticism and there is nothing to do with the horrors of the film, of course. But I’m sure the film found its audience at the time of release. It will be found among our contemporaries, albeit a few.
4 out of 10
For visual impressions only.