Los ritos sexuales del diablo

I didn't go into this film expecting much as I've never heard a good word said about it. Black Candles is basically just a variation on the same sort of plot that worked a lot better in the earlier Spanish horror film 'Satan's Blood', as well as a whole load of other films. It starts out interestingly, as we are introduced to the central characters and we start to get an idea of where the plot is going. There seems to be a correlation between devil worshipping in Europe and having loads of sex, and that's something that director José Ramón Larraz (who made a whole load of trash films, including the sleazy 'Vampyres') seems keen to capitalise on, as the actors spend a good half of the film without any clothes on. The plot is, of course, very simple and starts off with a man dying suddenly while having sex after a woman sticks a pin in a voodoo doll. We then get introduced to his sister and her husband, and they travel down to stay with the dead man's husband; her sister-in-law, and it transpires that she's into devil worship (Shock! Horror!)

Everything about this film is completely amateurish! (Which is odd as Vampyres was quite professional for a sleazy slice of Eurohorror. Obviously Larraz didn't get better at film making as he went along!). The acting is terrible; sometimes even cringe-worthy, which is quite shocking since I'm certainly used to watching films with less than great acting. The scene setting is frankly lazy, and Larraz makes practically no attempt to build an oppressive atmosphere or lift the film out of the pits in any way. This would normally stamp out any chance of a decent rating for a film; but Black Candles still deserves a few points as it's actually quite funny, and luckily the director's laziness doesn't extend to the sex scenes; which are actually quite erotic, mostly owing to the fact that the women are nice to look at. There are a couple of nasty scenes too; a sex scene with a goat…which I didn't enjoy too much and a death scene that involves someone having a sword shoved up his backside! Overall, I can't recommend going out of your way to see this film; its obscurity isn't undeserved - but it's not terrible in spite of the fact that everything about it is trash, and that can't be said for every film like this one.