Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Witchfinder General 666 Regarding that "Mais ne nous delivréz pas du mal" aka. "Don't Deliver Us From Evil" (1971) is a highly controversial exploitation film and cult-favorite, one might expect something somewhat different before seeing this dark gem. My hopes, however, were surpassed, and I seriously don't know why I didn't watch this gem until recently. While its controversial reputation might suggest that Joël Séria's film is a sleazy, gory and explicit slice of Exploitation, this disturbing gem of European shock cinema has a lot more to offer than mere sleaze and violence. "Don't Deliver Us From Evil" is actually a lot lower on explicit violence and sexuality than I had expected - but a masterwork of macabre atmosphere and ingenious, highly disturbing and genuinely shocking plotting.Teenage girls Anne (Jeanne Goupil) and Lore (Catherine Wagener) are neighbours, best friends, and roommates in a strict Catholic boarding school for girls. The two have also committed themselves to sin and taken a vow to serve Satan. After beginning with playful rituals and black masses the two soon turn to more grave sins and unspeakable cruelty… The manner how these two girls carry out calculated acts of extreme cruelty is very disturbing. However, none of the other characters in the film are likable. Séria denounces the hypocrisy of the bourgeois society and the Catholic church, the men in the film are either hypocrites or potential rapists who are unable to control themselves once a young girl gets slightly flirtatious with them. Leading actresses Jeanne Goupil and Catherine Wagener are near-brilliant in their roles. Both actresses were adults when the film was made, but they look extremely young. Especially Wagener looks like fourteen, which makes the film as a whole, and the sexual scenes in particular, a lot more disturbing. Satanism always is a welcome Horror topic, and it has seldom been presented in a manner as disturbing as it is the case here. This may due to the fact that this film does not rely on typical clichés and that cruel deeds are presented with shocking sobriety, or because it's young girls who commit devilish acts here. The atmosphere is somewhat eerie and yet seems disturbingly real, the beautiful French settings and the film's haunting score increase this impression. Overall, this film is not as graphic as one might expect from what once apparently was the only film ever banned in France. This film delivers a lot more than cheap shock or graphic sleaze, it is genuinely shocking and a great viewing experience as such. Not for the faint-hearted, but a definite must for lovers of European Exploitation/Underground cinema, "Don't Deliver Us From Evil" is a viewing-experience one will certainly not forget. 8.5/10

Camera Obscura DON'T DELIVER US FROM EVIL (Joël Séria - France 1971).Anne and Lore, two young convent girls become friends and decide to spend the summer together somewhere in the French countryside. However, their relationship soon takes on a much more sinister side. Influenced by their reading of forbidden books, they decide to explore the world of perversion and cruelty. They seduce a farmer but he tries to rape one of the girls after which they barely escape. They also torture a pet bird, which I found an especially cruel. The image of the owner mourning besides his dead bird is quite shattering. Writer-director Joël Séria largely based the film on a real-life murder case, the famous Parker-Hulme murder that took place in New Zealand in 1954. Two teenage school girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who had become obsessed with each other and with a magical "Fourth Kingdom" they had created in their minds, decided to murder Pauline's mother so that they could run away together. The case has inspired a number of books and, most famously, Peter Jackson's 1994 film HEAVENLY CREATURES. The film was banned for blasphemy in France as it tries to flout catholicism in every way imaginable. In one particular scene, a man imposing himself as Jesus is mocked by the girls while carrying the cross and there's much more. In 1971, it was already very rare for a film to be banned on counts of blasphemy. More recently, I don't know of many films to be banned on these grounds either, but regarding the increasing Christian (and Muslim) sensibilities, a return to this kind of censorship seems almost inevitable. Most of the anti-catholic imagery will probably have little effect on most audiences now, but devout catholics will probably be gravely offended. With its rather tasteful cinematography, relaxed pacing and well-drawn characterizations, it's more of a surreal art film than anything really exploitational. We're talking about a French film here, after all. However, many scenes, especially the rape- or near-rape scenes, will make for distinctly uncomfortable viewing and the disturbing final scene is quite shocking and came as quite a surprise to me. Although it generally comes of as the typical product of a guilt-ridden catholic (much of the film was influenced by director Joël Séria's own memories of his catholic upbringing) and the pacing was a bit slow at times, it's worth watching.Camera Obscura --- 7/10

The_Void It's quite unbelievable that this film doesn't have a better reputation, as Joël Séria's Don't Deliver Us From Evil is an intricately worked little shocker that is sure to appeal to fans of European cinema. It's clear that the film was made in France, as the plotting, style and atmosphere of the movie is very French indeed, and this benefits the movie as it wallows in the imperfections of its lead characters; two sexy, yet underage convent school girls that decide to forsake God and take sides with The Devil. Both characters clearly have the urge to do evil already in them, but the way that director Joël Séria coaxes them into committing sinful acts is good because the characters are easy to care for; but their acts make them easy to detest; and as we all know - God hates the sin, not the sinner. The themes of straying from the moral acts that we've all been taught since birth shine through well, as the pair at the centre of the story are completely angelic, and on the face of it; look like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. It can be said that the actual plotting isn't all that shocking; but everything in the film is made more so by the fact that it's stars are so young.The 'evil' that the young girls do involves reading forbidden material at first, and eventually moves on to teasing men, arson and murdering people's pets. Joël Séria doesn't shy away from featuring nudity in the film; and the pair of scenes that handle attempted rape don't leave much to the imagination. Don't Deliver Us From Evil benefits from a pair of great performances from young French actresses Jeanne Goupil and Catherine Wagener. Both give the film their all and give mature portrayals of their characters. The film is said to be a horror film; but it isn't really the case, as the focus is more on the drama and the corruption of youth than the satanic themes. The director doesn't allow the film to descend into comic book styling's, like some other films handling Satan do; and this benefits the film as it always seems serious and mature. Don't Deliver Us From Evil (great title, by the way!) is not as shocking now as it would have been upon it's release in 1970 - but still the film holds some weight in the shock stakes as many of the ideas that it portrays are still taboo to this day. Overall, this is a fascinating watch and one that should be seen by anyone who has a chance to see it!

MARIO GAUCI I recently made a binge of DVD purchases, and among these were 6 Mondo Macabro releases I had been eyeing for some time. This is the first one I checked out, and it's a stunner - for several reasons! I had never heard of the film before its DVD announcement - but now I feel that it's been seriously neglected and, hopefully, Mondo Macabro's wonderful "Special Edition" can give this title a new lease of life.Inspired by the same events which were eventually treated directly in Peter Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES (1994), the film is a perverse little item with rampant anti-Catholicism at its fore and which, unsurprisingly, was banned when it emerged; with this in mind, I love the way Mondo Macabro ended their description of it on the back cover: "It's a film that should be viewed only by those with very open minds"! Concerning two teenage girls' rebellion against their repressed upbringing by making a Satanic pact, in which they dedicate their lives to committing evil, it reminded me of other notorious "Chick Flicks" from the same era such as ALUCARDA (1975) and TO BE TWENTY (1978). The film doesn't have much of a plot and is deliberately paced, but it's held firmly together by the deliciously malevolent performances of the two leads (and particularly the untrained Jeanne Goupil, from whose viewpoint the events are related, and who subsequently hitched up with first-time director and former actor Seria!).It seems to me that the reason the film is so obscure is that, when new, it was ahead of its time but, even now, it would be almost impossible to make (despite the ostensibly graphic nature of French cinema today) - featuring any number of shocking and potentially offensive images, which I won't spoil here for the uninitiated! Still, I have to mention the disturbing double rape inflicted - or, rather, invited - upon Catherine Wagener (though playing under-aged, the actress was actually 19 at the time) and the incredible finale, set inside a crowded school auditorium, which is sparked {sic} by the two girls' recital on stage of a strange poem by Baudelaire. The simple yet haunting music - performed on the organ or as a cantata - is highly effective, and the DVD extras (featuring, among others, separate interviews with Seria and Goupil) complement the film very nicely indeed.