Les week-ends maléfiques du Comte Zaroff (1976)

User Rating:

4.3/10   

Director:

Michel Lemoine

Writer:

Michel Lemoine (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Michael plays a descendant of the original count Zaroff who leaves his Paris flat every weekend to hunt humans on his isolated estate.

Plot Keywords:

Butler | Most Dangerous Game | Female Nudity | Daydream | Flashback Sequence

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Michel Lemoine	...	Count Boris Zaroff
Nathalie Zeiger	...	Muriel
Howard Vernon	...	Karl, Zaroff's servant
Joëlle Coeur	...	Anne
Martine Azencot	...	Joëlle
Stéphane Lorry
Robert de Laroche	...	Francis (as Robert Icart)
Sophie Grynholc	...	Secretary
Patricia Mionnet	...	Jeanne
Manu Pluton	...	Animated Statue (as Emmanuel Pluton)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maria Mancini	...	Stephanie

Also Known As:

Seven Women for Satan (Australia) (video box title) (USA)
Sept femmes pour un sadique (France)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

The most sexy and naked game

If you are a fan of the story "The Most Dangerous Game", you might not care for this ridiculous, sexed-up, Euro-idiot version of it, but if like me you just can't resist a movie where the protagonist at one point says to a potential female victim, "Shall we have some champagne, or shall I pour it over your naked body and drink it off you as if you were crystal?", this might just appeal to you. The character in this movie is a decadent nobleman who spends his weekends hunting an unusual kind of animal--not the most dangerous game perhaps, but the most sexy and naked female game he can find. Obviously, this movie is pretty politically incorrect. In its defense though, it's also pretty damn ridiculous, which renders it considerably less offensive than the OTHER decadent-nobleman-hunting-naked-women/"Most Dangerous Game" rip-off I've seen, "Beyond Erotica" (a better made, but definitely more offensive film).

The protagonist is played by Michael Lemoine, one of those strange European film Svengali who despite a lack of good looks or talent managed to seduce a number of incredibly beautiful actresses both on-screen and off. He was married to Janine Reynaud at one point, for instance (and reputedly pimped her out to wealthy producers to finance the movies the two of them made with Jess Franco). Lemoine's leading lady/champagne glass in this movie is Joelle Coeur, a brunette French beauty who kind of resembled the British Koo Stark or the German Olivia Pascal, and had the same kind of regrettably short career.

Obviously, this is not a great movie, or even close to to the best adaptation of this classic story, but it was obviously never meant to be either. It does succeed in being what it is-- a big fat slice of cheesiest kind of Eurotica.