Madame Zenobia (1973) User Reviews

Madame Zenobia

[darklybrite · 5/10 · 23 July 2005]

I remember seeing this movie at a small neighborhood theater around the time it came out in the early 1970s. As a regular movie, I suppose it could be considered bad. The acting is laughable, as it almost always is in porno films. But as pornography, I seem to recall that at the time, it was regarded as a notch above the rest because it had some style. This movie was one of the last porno flicks made on film, just before the time the porno industry started committing everything to video. With lots of action but very little eroticism, the 'erotic' seems to have been almost completely taken out of porno film-making since then. Madame Zenobia harks back to a time when porno film directors actually went to great lengths to produce something that was truly erotic.

Bizarre rituals and mondo retro for the dollar rack

[Sean1898 · 2/10 · 28 August 1999]

Promising to be a poor man's Beyond The Valley of The Dolls, this film fails to inspire the imagination or please the eye. A groovie bunch of libertines attempt to help their friend, a woman mourning the recent death of her lover. Visited by his spirit, she has become obsessed with the only man who could ever please her physically. This fetish for the deceased John creates a frigidity that drives Marsha's new fiance Carl away in frustration. The gang's Trip to see Madame Zenobia for a cure plays out like any other X-rated movie of the period, in both plot and dialogue. Then, the bizarre yet predictable ending weaves Marsha and her fiance into a magical ritual which extracts a terrible price. As does any video store which keeps this movie anywhere but the bargain rack.