Deviation (1971)

Director:

José Ramón Larraz

Writer:

José Ramón Larraz (writer)

Release Date:

18 December 1971 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Karl Lanchbury	...	Julian
Lisbet Lundquist	...	Rebecca
Sibyla Grey	...	Olivia
Malcolm Terris	...	Paul
Shelagh Wilcocks	...	Auntie
Geoffrey Wincott	...	Old Man Chemist
Frederick Schrecker	...	Old Man Taxidermist
Andrew Grant
Debbi Garland	...	Vivian
Hugh Fraser
Terence Lenis
Hillary Gotter	...	White Orgy Female
Lucienne Camille	...	Black Orgy Female

Runtime:

USA:89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Trivia:

Released on VHS in Canada by Marquis Video, but for some reason, the company opted not to put their name on the cassette box or the presentation itself. The tape opens with a video generated title for Prima Film, Marquis' parent company, but has no other distributor identification. Also, the front of the box features a photo of Jo-Ann Robinson, as the possessed character "D.J." from Scalps (1983). Marquis also released Ray's film on tape around the same time.

Chilling moments

Jose Larraz is a very skilled filmmaker. His SYMPTOMS (1974) is among the most atmospheric and best of horror pictures. It boasts a miasma of nuanced menace that is not unlike Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW (1973). Immediately after "Symptoms" Larraz made the stylish but sleazy VAMPYRES, and thence charted a course of exploitation films.

DEVIATION is one of his earliest films. In terms of quality it falls somewhere in between "Symptoms" and "Vampyres". The intense, unsettling, fabulously edited pre-credits sequence, replete with a pulse-pounding score by Stelvio Cipriani, had me prepared to proclaim Larraz one of the pre-eminent horror directors. The following 20 minutes or so are also very good, as the story follows a young couple that becomes stranded in the middle of nowhere and is offered overnight refuge in a large English manor. The male half of the duo senses something is wrong and investigates. He is quickly despatched, and the house's inhabitants, a sadistic brother and sister, turn their lascivious attentions to the female boarder, who is blissfully unaware of any peculiarities.

Sadly, the middle section of the film, involving a tiresome succession of drug orgies and couplings, isn't nearly as strong. Larraz's command of the cinematics, however, remains consistently excellent. He has an innate ability to craft scares and suspense, but it is sometimes simply supplanted by his predilection for (fairly innocuous) sex scenes.

Despite the unevenness, "Deviation" is well worth seeking out.