Le Regine 1970 (Queens of Evil) : A Psychedelic Descent into Darkness in 1970’s Euro-Horror
SPOILER ALERT:
Seduction and Surrealism: Unraveling Queens of Evil:
Queens of Evil (1970), directed by Tonino Cervi (Today We Live, Tomorrow We Die 1968, Nest of Vipers 1978), is an atmospheric Italian horror film that blends elements of psychedelia, eroticism, and supernatural horror. The film, also known by its Italian title Le Regine, or Il Delitto del diavolo presents a thought-provoking allegory on the clash between counterculture ideals and traditional societal norms that is an infusion of high fashion – psych-folk horror- pastoral fantasy and dreamlike isolation, much like Tam Lin 1970, The Wicker Man 1973 and Psychomania 1973.
The film is part of a niche cinematic sub-genre that blends pastoral fantasy with elements of folk horror, set in the late 1960s to early 1970s. These films juxtapose high fashion with mature fairytale narratives, featuring unconventional behavior and a darkness of spirit, creating a unique atmosphere that merges glamour with nature’s mystique.
The narrative follows a young motorcyclist named David (Ray Lovelock) who encounters three mysterious and seductive women living in a secluded house in the woods. As David becomes entangled in their world, the film explores themes of temptation, freedom, and the darker aspects of human nature.
As part of obscure cult cinema – Cervi’s Queens of Evil (1970) is a beguiling cinematic oddity that makes it hard to define. This dark adult allegory, often categorized as Italian horror, is closer to a gothic fable of dark enchantment. A hypnotic sojourn into a world of counterculture critique, psychedelic imagery, and gothic fairy tale elements; at its core, it presents as a cautionary tale wrapped in the guise of a surreal nightmare, much like Bava’s 1973 fantasy horror – Lisa and the Devil in its broad chimerical brush strokes and its use of vivid hallucinatory illusion rather than a conventional narrative.
Tonino Cervi, a versatile Italian filmmaker who straddled the worlds of directing and producing, left his mark on cinema from the 1960s through the early 2000s. While his directorial efforts like the middling spaghetti western TODAY WE KILL…TOMORROW WE DIE! and the provocative nunsploitation film THE NUN AND THE DEVIL were notable; his true legacy lies in his exceptional work as a producer. He collaborated with some of Italy’s most celebrated directors, including Bernardo Bertolucci on THE GRIM REAPER and Michelangelo Antonioni on RED DESERT, released in 1964, premiering at the Venice Film Festival. He also worked on the landmark anthology BOCCACCIO ’70.
An Italian counterculture gem that will resonate with fans of the surreal and absurd, Queens of Evil is a vibrant and flamboyant film. It offers an enjoyable experience in its own eccentric way as Cervi’s direction blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, guiding viewers through a labyrinth of seductive illusions and hidden dangers.
The film’s hypnotic atmosphere, punctuated by moments of startling beauty and unsettling horror, serves as the connective tissue that binds its disparate elements into a cohesive whole. The surreal, phantasmagorical quality, coupled with its exploration of masculine desires and fears, elevates Queens of Evil beyond mere Euro-exploitation/horror, transforming it into a mesmeric journey through the subconscious. The languid pacing and oblique storytelling may alienate viewers seeking more conventional thrills. However, for those willing to surrender to its peculiar rhythms, its calm before the storm, the film offers a rich synthesis of ideas and images that linger long after the credits roll.
Queens of Evil is a cult classic for a reason. It invites us to rewatch with fresh eyes and sparks conversation, which is what cult films often do best. It manages to deviate from the trend of gothic horror by focusing on a more contemporary setting and themes, finding its place within counterculture cinema. Though the film does blend some aspects of gothic horror, its ruthless psychological gamesmanship elevates Queens of Evil beyond mere psychedelic pastiche and counterculture themes, which sets it apart from the more traditional Italian horror film.
In the context of Italian horror cinema, Queens of Evil emerged during a transitional period in the 1970s as it saw a decline in the pure gothic Italian horror genre, with the industry shifting towards Giallo films and occult-themed movies inspired by international successes like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.
Italian horror cinema significantly evolved during this period, moving from traditional gothic horror narratives to more contemporary, psychologically complex, and socially relevant themes. This shift reflected the rapid changes in the late 1960s and early 1970s cultural landscape.
The Vietnam War, social unrest, the rise of the counterculture, a lot was happening. People started to question those old systems of power and authority—complex ideas about society, power, and the human condition.
Queens of Evil reflected this transition, blending traditional gothic elements like the eerie villa and isolated setting but retaining a very contemporary look and feel. The film explores the era’s anxieties surrounding the prevalent counterculture and societal upheaval, mirroring the turbulent zeitgeist of its time.
The film draws parallels to fairy tales, with David comparing the house to “Snow White’s house,” setting up a dark fairy tale account. This comparison enhances the symbolic nature of the women as enchantresses or witches.
Along with the essence of an intensely bleak tale, it definitely possesses a duality. Queens of Evil manages to be both beautiful and repulsive. Echoing everything from ancient Greek myths to classic literature and the Bible. The dark hypnotic twist makes this film unique and trippy, as David is supposed to be the symbol of freedom, but then he falls under the Queens’ spell so easily. Maybe those hippie ideals were a little naive.
David represents the young idealists who rebel against the status quo yet remain vulnerable to corruption when his deepest longings are awakened. Ray Lovelock stars in this enigmatic tale as the lone hippie, David. Lovelock is a charismatic bad boy with a sculpted physique. As David, he is lavished with adoration by the sisters within an idyllic setting until he is ultimately led as a lamb to the slaughter.
The French actress Haydée Politoff during the filming of the movie El gran amor del Conte Dracula’, directed by Javier Aguirre, 1972, Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Gianni Ferrari/Cover/Getty Images).
Among his co-stars are Haydée Politoff, of the Eric Rohmer films THE COLLECTOR (1967) CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON (1972), and also Count Dracula’s Great Love (1973). His other co-stars are Silvia Monti of A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN (1971) and THE FIFTH CORD (1971); and Ida Galli, whose credits include LA DOLCE VITA (1960), HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961), THE LEOPARD (1963), THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963), THE PSYCHIC (1977) and many others.
At the heart of the film, Lovelock’s David is a mix of naivety, angelic beauty, and charm. David embodies the ideals of the hippie movement – freedom, non-conformity, and a rejection of materialistic values. His motorcycle journey through the Italian countryside serves as a metaphor for the counterculture’s quest for enlightenment and escape from societal norms. However, David’s idealism is quickly put to the test when he encounters the titular “Queens.”
Imagine David, the story’s doomed protagonist; he’s a free-spirited cruising through the Italian countryside on his motorcycle. It sounds idyllic, but we know there’s a twist coming. Like David in Queens of Evil, riding his steel horse down open roads, it draws a clear parallel to Peter Fonda’s iconic role as Wyatt in Easy Rider (1969). The open road becomes a metaphor for the search for personal freedom and meaning. Both films feature protagonists who embody the late 1960s and early 1970s counterculture ethos, using motorcycles as symbols of their desire for freedom and rebellion against conventional society.
In Easy Rider, Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) embark on a cross-country motorcycle journey, encountering various aspects of American culture and facing hostility from those who oppose their lifestyle. Similarly, David in Queens of Evil encounters mysterious and potentially dangerous characters during his travels who also oppose what he stands for.
A striking parallel exists between the archetypal narratives of wayward, virile ‘princes’ or studs ensnared within a pastoral paradise and the insatiable, evil Queens (i.e., Ava Gardner in Tam Lin) and seductive sirens who seek to possess them. This clash of archetypes, the untamed masculine spirit versus the ruthless feminine intellect, reflects the deep-seated cultural anxieties and preoccupations surrounding the nature of power, desire, and the fear of women’s primacy in particular, as with Tam Lin, older women’s primacy.
Tam Lin and Queens of Evil feel akin to the psychedelic folkloristic cinema, which captures that brief moment when fashionable trends were turning towards folklore motifs. Films thrive on a strong narrative, and legends are fed by things that are false and things that are true.
From the mythic sirens to folkloric temptresses, male protagonists throughout literary and cultural narratives have repeatedly found themselves ensnared by seductive forces that promise liberation but ultimately threaten destruction.
For example, the Sirens from Greek mythology in Homer’s Odyssey are creatures who lure male sailors to their doom with their enchanting songs. Odysseus had to be tied to his ship’s mast to resist their temptation. The story of Pinocchio features a place called Pleasure Island, where boys are lured with promises of fun and freedom, only to be transformed into donkeys. Some versions of Sleeping Beauty depict the prince being lured into danger by the sleeping princess’s beauty. In certain folklore, creatures like Succubi or some interpretations of vampires specifically target and lure men.
These stories often serve as cautionary tales, warning against the dangers of temptation, curiosity, or naivety. They reflect the consequences of unchecked desires.
We follow David, the handsome drop-out’s wanderlust, as he cruises on his motorcycle down the open highways, wearing the ideals of the late 1960s and early 1970s. His quest for meaning takes an unexpected turn when riding through a pitch-black foggy night in the middle of nowhere. He encounters a well-dressed gentleman stranded on a remote mountain road whose Rolls Royce has a flat tire.
After being lectured about responsibility, David’s act of kindness is met with a covert act of sabotage when the wealthy older man punctures the tire of his motorcycle before driving off. David soon finds himself in hot pursuit of the ungrateful stranger, but the chase ends in tragedy when his car crashes and the man is killed.
David flees into the depths of the dark forest to evade the law. Seeking refuge in an abandoned wood shed, his world is turned upside down by the arrival of three beguiling women who live in a strange cottage next to the shed.
The house in the woods stands alone as a false utopia, a trap disguised as paradise, with the alluring sisters each representing a different kind of temptation.
As he stumbles onto these three mysterious and alluring women, their lair becomes the stage for a series of perplexing events, obscuring the boundaries between hospitality and manipulation. As David becomes entangled in their web of mystique, he finds himself the centerpiece of an elaborate and unsettling game. The beautiful sisters seem to be playing with David, engaging him in a complex and sinister misdirection filled with puzzling rituals and evening ceremonies.
With the creeping sense of dread, the film suggests that true freedom transcends mere rejection of societal norms. As we watch David’s willpower fade away and he gets pulled into the sister’s world, it cautions against blindly embracing any ideology, even those appearing liberating. David’s gradual loss of autonomy to the sisters’ influence implies that escaping one system of control may lead to entrapment in another.
The story reaches its crescendo at a lavish castle soirée, where David takes center stage as the apparent guest of honor. Yet, as the night unfolds, questions arise about the true nature of this celebration and the fate that awaits our unsuspecting protagonist.
The film’s climax, a frenzied and violent betrayal, shatters the dreamy atmosphere and forces a reevaluation of all that came before. This shocking denouement, while jarring, serves as a powerful punctuation to the film’s themes, suggesting that the price of abandoning one’s principles is ultimately steep and bloody. Cervi’s work draws inspiration from earlier films like Rosemary’s Baby while also prefiguring later cult classics such as The Wicker Man. Its unique blend of horror, eroticism, and social commentary places it firmly within the context of European arthouse cinema of the early 1970s, yet its audacious style remains distinctly its own creation.
On The Set Of Queens Of Evil. Italian director Tonino Cervi and Italian director of photography Sergio D’Offizi giving some directions to Italian actor and singer Ray Lovelock (Raymond Lovelock) on the set of the film Queens of Evil. Rome, 1970. (Photo by Rino Petrosino/Mondadori via Getty Images).
Italian filmmaker Tonino Cervi’s career in Italian cinema was twofold: First, as a producer, he collaborated with renowned filmmakers, backing notable works like Bertolucci’s gritty, suspenseful, and revealing – The Grim Reaper 1962, Lattuada’s Mafioso, Antonioni’s visually striking psychological drama, Red Desert 1964, marking the director’s first foray into color film. Set in a bleak industrial landscape of Northern Italy, it follows Giuliana (Monica Vitti), a troubled woman struggling to adapt to her environment after a car accident. We’ll see more of Monica Vitti in part 2 when I explore Antonioni’s L’Avventura.
Second, as a screenwriter and director, Cervi shifted his focus to creating frivolous erotic comedies such as Chi dice donna dice donna and intense melodramas like Nest of Vipers 1978.
Cervi played a significant role in the 1965 production of The Moment of Truth (Il momento della verità) as one of the film’s producers; it’s an Italian drama film directed by Francesco Rosi, considered one of the greatest bullfighting movies ever made. Cervi directed several films, including his 1968 directorial debut, Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die!, a Spaghetti Western inspired by The Magnificent Seven, which is highly regarded by genre enthusiasts.
Other of his films include; The Girls Who’ll Do Anything (1975), Il malato immaginario (1979) Il turno (1981) and The Naked Sun (1984). He is not well known in the U.S., but he made significant contributions to Italian cinema from the fifties through the late seventies.
However, his subsequent film, Queens of Evil (1970), stands out as a unique entry in his filmography and deserves wider recognition. While its satanic elements may echo Rosemary’s Baby, Queens of Evil also anticipates later works like The Wicker Man (1973) and The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974) in its exploration of occult rituals and hidden societies.
Christoper Lee in The Wicker Man 1973.
Cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi had a prolific career in Italian cinema, working on several notable films: Cannibal Holocaust (1980), controversial for its extreme graphic violence and gore and real animal killings on-screen, making it a notorious horror film. He also shot Il marchese del Grillo (The Marquis of Grillo) (1981), a historical comedy, Light Blast (1985), a science fiction action film, and Don’t Torture a Duckling, a Giallo directed by Lucio Fulci.
Queens of Evil is based on a story by Benedetto Benedetti and was scripted by Raoul Katz and Antonio Troiso, along with director Cervi, who, while seemingly giving the film the appearance of being somewhat an ally of counterculture ideology, makes David a rather foolish and unsympathetic representation of hippie culture.
Ray Lovelock was an Italian actor and musician born on June 19, 1950, in Rome to an Italian mother and English father. He began his acting career as an extra in movies and TV commercials when he was in college. Lovelock was discovered by a talent agent while performing in a rock band with actor Tomas Milian at a Roman nightclub. Lovelock passed away on November 10, 2017, at the age of 67.
The Violent Four (1968) launched Lovelock’s acting career; he had previously headlined the infamous DJANGO KILL… IF YOU LIVE SHOOT! (1967) starring in several Italian police films (poliziotteschi) during the 1970s.
DJANGO KILL… IF YOU LIVE SHOOT! (1967).
In addition, he appeared in several Giallo, including Oasis of Fear, aka An Ideal Place to Kill (1971): (Also known as Dirty Pictures), where he portrayed Dick Butler, co-starring alongside Irene Papas. It follows two free-spirited hippies, Dick and Ingrid (Ornella Muti), who finance their travels by selling pornography, only to find themselves entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse after seeking refuge in the home of a mysterious woman. He also appeared in AUTOPSY (1975).
Cristina Galbó and Lovelock in The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue 1974.
Horror fans might recognize Lovelock from another cult Euro horror, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974), which co-starred Cristina Galbó (The House That Screamed 1969, The Bell From Hell 1973). He played George a reluctant hero facing a zombie outbreak. For me, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie stands out as one of the most unsettling entries in the zombie subgenre that masterfully blends atmospheric tension with visceral horror.
Lovelock made a name for himself in the Italian police or poliziotteschi genre, which was a series of gritty and violent thrillers. His performances in these films contributed significantly to his status as a key figure in the poliziotteschi genre, highlighting Lovelock’s versatility in portraying morally ambiguous cops, undercover agents, and characters navigating the dark, corrupt world of Italian crime, ensuring his legacy in cult cinema.
Films that included – Emergency Squad (1974) and playing Biondi in Violent Rome (1975). Next came one of his defining roles in Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man 1976 in Italian Uomini si nasce poliziotti si muore ). The film gave Lovelock another hip chance to embody a magnetic heartthrob straddling a fast set of two wheels. By now, you can tell… I’m a breathless fan of his.
Ray Lovelock and Marc Porel in Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man 1976.
Lovelock played Antonio- one half of a duo of reckless cops who use extreme methods to fight crime in Rome. Antonio, a violent and morally ambiguous police officer, became one of his most memorable roles. His chemistry with co-star Marc Porel, the film’s buddy cop dynamic, and the brutal portrayal of law enforcement made it a standout in the genre. He also starred in Meet Him and Die (1976), where he portrayed Massimo, an undercover cop infiltrating a criminal organization.
Play Motel 1979 was definitely a departure from Lovelock’s filmography. It is an erotic thriller that features graphic sexual content and perverse scenarios, including characters in religious dress engaged in sex. Lovelock is part of a couple investigating crimes at the motel alongside Anna-Maria Rizzoli (primarily known for sex comedies), diverging from his usual lone-wolf roles. Despite being considered one of his worst films, it offers a coherent plot centered on blackmail and murder at the titular motel, providing rare international exposure for Lovelock and showcasing a unique blend of eroticism and Giallo elements in his filmography.
Ray Lovelock actually sings on the soundtrack of Queens of Evil, so David’s own voice is used to create this unsettling atmosphere, and his own idealism is used against him. Angelo Francesco Lavagnino’s soundtrack utilizes soundscapes and a score that is hypnotic, incorporating primal percussion, archaic invocations, deep heartbeats, and melodic European flourishes popular in that time period.
Haydée Politoff – Queens of Evil.
French actress Haydée Politoff, who portrays Liv, initially appears more innocent than her sisters but is ultimately revealed to be quite duplicitous. Politoff’s brief yet interesting career includes an appearance in Chloe in the Afternoon (1972). She was also cast as one of the beguiling sirens in Giuliano Biagetti’s erotic thriller Interrabang (1969) and as the virginal object of desire for Paul Naschy in Dracula’s Great Love (1973).
Haydée Politoff is a retired Russian-French actress born on May 25, 1946, in Paris, France. She began her acting career in the 1960s, gaining recognition for her starring role in Eric Rohmer’s La Collectionneuse 1967. Politoff starred in various European films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including Bora Bora (1968) and Queens of Evil (1970). She moved to the United States in the late 1970s, retired from acting, and settled in California. Her last known film appearance was in Rendezvous in Chicago (2018).
Silvia Monti.
Silvia Monti, born Silvia Cornacchia on January 23, 1946, in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto, Italy, is an Italian actress. She began her acting career in 1969 and gained recognition for her role in the 1969 film The Brain. Monti appeared in several notable Italian and international films throughout the early 1970s, including Queens of Evil 1970), A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971), and Lady Caroline Lamb (1972). Monti’s acting career was relatively brief, spanning from 1969 to 1974. Throughout her short career, Monti appeared in various genres, including crime thrillers, historical dramas, and exploitation films. Some of her most notable works include The Fifth Cord (1971), Blackie the Pirate (1971), and While There’s War There’s Hope (1974).
Ida Galli.
Ida Galli, also known by her stage name Evelyn Stewart, is the most seasoned of all three sisters; she is an Italian actress born on October 8, 1939, in Sestola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Her career in cinema began unexpectedly when a friend of her sister, French actor Gérard Landry, took photos of her and showed them to his agent. Galli’s film debut came in 1959 under the pseudonym Arianna in Nel blu dipinto di blu, directed by Piero Tellini. Throughout her career, she appeared in various genres, including westerns, Giallo, and historical dramas. She adopted the stage name Evelyn Stewart for Westerns, starting with Blood for a Silver Dollar. Galli also worked with notable directors like Mario Bava and appeared in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960). She deliberately sought diverse roles to avoid typecasting, appearing in Westerns, spy movies, and art films. Some of her more notable films include The Psychic (1977), The Leopard (1963), and The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971).
Playing ‘the Devil’, credited as L’uomo/Il diavolo, is Gianni Santuccio, born Giovanni Santuccio on May 21, 1911, in Clivio, Lombardy, Italy, was an Italian actor and theater director. Santuccio was also active in radio drama, television, and film. Notable movie appearances include The Possessed (1972) and Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970). He won the Riccione Prize for directing in 1970 with his production of Strindberg’s Dance of Death. Known for his classical acting style and distinctive voice, Santuccio continued performing until the 1980s.
Bourgeoisie vs. Counterculture: Conformity vs. Freedom:
Queens of Evil (1970) stands as one of Italian horror cinema’s most enigmatic artifacts – a film that uses its horror veneer to mount a savage critique, a commentary of the moral relativism of both the counterculture and those who would destroy it. Director Tonino Cervi transforms what could have been a simple exploitation piece into a barbed meditation on freedom, desire, and the price of paradise. The tale serves as an allegory about the corruption of idealism when innermost desires are unleashed, a common theme in counterculture films.
The film’s genius lies in its calculated ambiguity: are the three women who ensnare Ray Lovelock’s wandering motorcyclist David liberators or jailers? Their modernist house in the woods operates as both sanctuary and prison, its sleek surfaces and geometric designs forming a stark rebellion against the organic world outside. This visual tension mirrors the film’s larger concerns about authenticity in an age of manufactured experience.
David, ostensibly our countercultural hero, gradually reveals himself as perhaps the most conventional character of all – his performed rebellion masking a desperate need for structure.
These Queens – embody both the temptation of hedonistic pleasure and the insidious threat of conformity. Cervi’s direction creates a dreamlike ambiance, blending erotic tension with an undercurrent of menace. The isolated woodland setting contrasts sharply with the women’s modernly furnished space, serving as a visual metaphor for the clash between nature and civilization, freedom and constraint.
This juxtaposition is further emphasized by the film’s striking visual style, which incorporates prismatic sequences, outlandish costumes, and surreal imagery that borders on the avant-garde. The narrative unfolds at a languid pace, allowing tension to build gradually as David becomes further ensnared in the sisters’ web.
Queens of Evil cleverly inverts traditional fairy tale narratives and contains the sexual politics and power dynamics of female agency: The women’s sexual assertiveness challenges traditional notions of passive femininity that test the male fantasy and vulnerability of David’s situation, which ultimately reveals his weakness.
While the film is often seen as sympathetic to the counterculture movement, it also offers a nuanced observance of David’s easy corruption, suggesting that the hippie ideals of free love and rejection of materialism may be more vulnerable to co-option than the supporters of this movement believed. The film posits that true freedom requires constant vigilance and a strong sense of self, and it can be threatened by the potential to be twisted into a new form of conformity. David’s journey shows just how vulnerable those ideals of freedom and rebellion can be and just how bleak and seductive those forces of conformity and control can be.
The result is a film that feels less like a relic of its era and more like a prophecy – one that warns of how easily the ideals of hedonism can be dangerous and how the trappings of liberation can become the tools of influence.
Even with its apprehension, Queens of Evil and its anti-establishment undertones still might be interpreted as unabashedly pro-counterculture, portraying the Queens and the bourgeois figures as representing the “straight world” that preys upon free-spirited youth.
The film explores the tension between individual freedom expressed by David’s initial lifestyle and the conformity the women and their mysterious associates symbolize. The ‘Devil’ needs this corruption for his agenda – the downfall of humanity- to thrive.
Haydée Politoff.
Ida Galli and Sylvia Monti.
The titular Queens, with their connection to a mysterious castle owner and bourgeois social circle, represent the establishment’s attempts to absorb and neutralize the threat posed by free-thinking individuals. David’s journey from idealistic hippie to compromised conformist serves as a warning against the seductive power of material comfort and sexual gratification when used as tools of control.
Queens of Evil’s pacing seems to test the patience of some viewers, but it contributes to the film’s hypnotic quality and allows for a deeper exploration of its tropes. The seemingly idyllic existence offered by these enigmatic women – abundant with decadent feasts and sexual liberation – slowly reveals itself as a gilded cage designed to strip David of his ideals and individuality. Queens of Evil can be interpreted as an allegory for the dangers faced by the counterculture movement of the late 1960s.
Meanwhile, the titular Queens – Liv, Samantha, and Bibiana – shadowing David’s pro-counterculture worldview – shift between roles: earth mothers, sexual revolutionaries, and avenging angels symbolizing the Queens or sisters as the fruit of the poisoned tree.
Cervi’s direction shows remarkable restraint, allowing dread to accumulate like condensation on a wine glass. Rather than assault us with psychedelia overkill, he uses surreal touches sparingly. Cervi incorporates these sequences and erotic moments, aligning with the aesthetic sensibilities of counterculture cinema.
Witches of the Forest: The Three Queens: A Triptych of Temptation:
The three sisters – Liv, Samantha, and Bibiana – symbolize temptation and represent the seductive power of evil, luring the protagonist, David, away from his free-spirited lifestyle. With their avant-garde aura, they are like exotic poisonous flowers that attract insects with their vibrant colors and sweet scents, but then they trap and devour them.
Liv, Samantha, and Bibiana – are far more than mere seductresses, though. They represent a complex triptych of temptation, each embodying different aspects of societal control and corruption. Each of them – a different type of temptation or enticement.
Bibiana symbolizes sensual pleasure and hedonism, offering David immediate gratification at the cost of his principles. She’s very sensual and very much about indulging the senses.
Samantha represents intellectual seduction, challenging David’s beliefs and offering a twisted form of enlightenment. A seduction that targets the mind. She makes David question everything he thought he knew.
Liv embodies material comfort, stability, and domesticity that many people crave, tempting David with the very bourgeois lifestyle he claims to reject. She shows him a way out of the struggle. David inextricably gets pulled into this luxurious, decadent world with these women.
Together, they form a powerful narrative for the ways in which the establishment seeks to neutralize threats to its power – through pleasure, ideology, luxury, and comfort.
Each sister represents a different path and way for David to potentially stray from his ideals. They’re each holding up a different mirror to David, showing him what he could have if – he lets go.
It sets up an allegory about the Corruption of Ideals: the sisters represent the potential corruption of counterculture ideation when faced with material temptations. There is also the Seduction as Control: the sisters’ power lies in their ability to seduce and manipulate David, representing how social dominance can be exerted through subtle, alluring means rather than overt force.
The film also subverts traditional gender dynamics by positioning these three formidable women as the orchestrators of the narrative. These sisters embody a complex duality: alluring yet perilous, wielding their beauty and intellect as potent weapons. Their psychological manipulation of David represents a more insidious form of power, challenging conventional portrayals of femininity in cinema. By eschewing the typical passive female role, these characters become active agents, masterfully controlling the protagonist’s fate through a nuanced and terrifying game of manipulation.
These three Queens are the ones who lure David in and seduce him with those promises of a better life, but… they, too, are also trapped in a way. However they possess their own powerful agency and have hold sway over David; they’re still bound to a greater influence – the castle owner, ‘the devil’, and to those larger forces that control the world. They’re not truly free, either.
THE HOUSE: Swallowed Up in the Uncanny Void:
The house itself is a character in the film. The house in the woods offers a false utopia: It initially appears as David’s personal Eden, aligning with his free-love philosophy, but ultimately reveals itself as a trap. Ironically, the house itself serves as a metaphor for the allure of materialism and conformity: It is a pop art opticon, like a place where the inmates are constantly under observation, following David through the house like an unseen voyeur and predator.
The contrast between the Exterior vs. Interior, while appearing rustic from the outside, the interior is described as modern and high-fashion, symbolizing the deceptive nature of temptation. The house’s bizarre decor, including giant portraits of the sisters and countless cushions, represents excess and vanity. Those portraits of the sisters… they’re everywhere. It’s like they’re always spying on David, even when they’re not physically present. It creates this constant feeling of watchfulness; he’s never truly alone.
The isolated house in the woods represents a liminal space between civilization and nature, mirroring David’s position between counterculture ideals and societal norms. The stark contrast between the rustic exterior and the lavishly modern interior of the house further emphasizes this duality. The recurring motif of mirrors throughout the film serves multiple purposes. They reflect David’s increasing loss of identity as he succumbs to the sisters’ influence while also suggesting the illusory nature of the reality he’s experiencing. The distorted reflections in these mirrors hint at the warped version of freedom they offer.
In vast contrast to Ray Lovelock facing down effectively creepy and terrifying zombies in the Italian countryside, his character of David stumbles upon an ‘uncanny house’ in the middle of the woods, home to these three enigmatic and captivating women. Liv, Samantha, and Bibiana – the three wicked sirens. This ultra-modernist house embodies a striking contrast of elements, the clash between the Arcadian and the sleek. It’s perfect because it captures that feeling of being in-between. The house is in the woods surrounded by nature, but inside, it’s all modern, luxurious, almost sterile, like it doesn’t quite belong to either world.
In terms of Architecture and Space, the modernist house serves as the film’s central visual metaphor. Its clean lines, geometric shapes, and stark white surfaces create an artificial paradise that stands in deliberate opposition to the surrounding forest. The juxtaposition suggests civilization’s attempt to impose order on natural chaos. The house’s glass walls create an unsettling transparency while paradoxically serving as a brilliant visual representation of how apparent freedom can mask confinement.
And this tension between those two worlds is really at the heart of the film. It’s about those conflicting desires that David is struggling with. The desire for freedom, but also the desire for comfort, the desire for individuality, but also the desire to belong.
And the house becomes a kind of battleground for those desires. However, David’s desires are also his entrapment, of course, because David might think he’s escaping the constraints of society, but he’s actually entering into a different kind of captivity. One that’s even more insidious because it’s disguised as paradise.
This is such a perfect description because it promises him everything he thinks he wants, freedom, pleasure, beauty. But those things are ultimately illusions designed to control him, to keep him from achieving true liberation.
This false utopia promises this sort of idyllic retreat but ends up being something much darker. Outside lies organic movement, while within are these sharp geometric designs. Plus, it’s lavishly decorated, with all these giant portraits of the sisters and mirrors everywhere is almost a stage set for seduction, which, of course, it is. The giant portraits, the mirrors, the furniture – those are not just affected set decorations.
The tracking shots are like the house’s eyes following David as he moves through this increasingly unsettling environment. The house itself becomes a symbol, a visual representation of how easily David can be tempted to trade his freedom for a beautiful guilded cage, a stunning prison.
Psychedelic Symbolism and Visual Reality:
The visual style and symbolism in Queens of Evil create a mesmerizing trip that blends the psychedelic with the pastoral. The film’s aesthetic is a striking fusion of late 1960s flourishes, ethereal high fashion, and folkloric-meets-psychedelia imagery, reminiscent of Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell’s designs of the era. Cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi crafts a stylish and artfully shot world, balancing Gothic elements with counterculture visuals. The film’s set design is particularly noteworthy, featuring sharply stylish yet indolent, tree-inhabited period interiors and egotistic shrines with giant black-and-white glamour shots of the sisters. The wild locations and decor create a surreal atmosphere, and the sisters’ ever-changing appearance, with their limitless supply of flowing gowns, elaborate makeup, and increasingly outlandish wigs, adds to the film’s unreal quality. This visual extravagance, combined with bizarre sequences, is part of what defies categorization.
Queens of Evil (1970) effectively uses psychedelic sequences to enhance its horror elements, creating a unique and unsettling atmosphere that blends counterculture aesthetics with supernatural dread:
The disorienting visuals employ twitchy editing and outlandish images, such as one featuring Ida Galli with a monstrous serpent with an imposing eyeball painted on her breast or a painted mouth on Syvia Monti’s neck to create a sense of unease and unreality. The surreal atmosphere and the psychedelic elements contribute to the film’s surreal fairytale vibe, making the horror more dreamlike and unpredictable, with the themes of illusion vs reality that is central to the film’s message. With its blurred reality, these sequences obscure the line between substance and hallucination, making it difficult for both the doom-fated hero and us to discern what is truly happening. It enhances the paranoia while the psychedelic imagery amplifies the sense of paranoia and disorientation, mirroring David’s mental state as he becomes ensnared by the three sisters. The trippy scenes serve as visual metaphors for the corruption of 1960s ideals and the dangers of unchecked hedonism. This also includes the film’s hellish soundtrack, featuring Ray Lovelock singing ominous songs, and the underscoring incantations, which serve to complement the visual psychedelia to create a more immersive and unsettling vibe.
The film employs a sophisticated color palette that shifts between two main aesthetic styles. There are pastoral scenes featuring natural greens and earth tones when David is on his motorcycle, representing authentic freedom. The artificial interior world is dominated by whites, deep reds, and metallic surfaces that characterize the sisters’ domain. With the colorful costuming and character design, the three sisters’ appearances are thoughtfully shaped to represent different aspects of feminine allure and threat. Their costumes shift between sophisticated modern fashion and more primitive, almost pagan styling – particularly during ritual scenes. This visual duality reinforces their role as figures straddling civilization and wilderness. Vibrant, almost garish hues dominate the Queens’ domain, creating a psychotropic wonderland that’s both alluring and artificial. The stark contrast to the natural, deep, earthy tones of the forest symbolizes the conflict between authentic experience and manufactured pleasure.
Cervi’s direction and Sergio D’Offizi camera techniques employ several notable visual strategies: tight interior shots that create claustrophobia within the seemingly spacious house and wide angles that emphasize the isolation of the house in that wilderness. Those wide-angle tracking shots show a lot of the background. They highlight the contrast between David’s desire for freedom and the rigid social structures he’s trying to escape.
But at the same time, those wide shots also show how isolated he is even in his rebellion. He might be rejecting society, but he’s still alone. And it’s not just David. Those wide shots are used to isolate the sisters, too, showing how they’re trapped within the system they represent; even those in power aren’t truly free.
There is also the use of Dutch angles during the psychedelic sequences that destabilize reality; the way the camera is tilted makes everything feel so off-kilter, creating a perspective that is skewed. And it’s so effective. It visually reinforces the idea that reality is unstable and that things aren’t always what they seem. It’s like we’re experiencing David’s paranoia right alongside him. It’s not just the Dutch angles; the whole film has this unsettling that is in sync with the unseasy score.
The film’s surreal and psychedelic elements aren’t merely decorative but serve to blur the line between reality and fantasy. These moments often coincide with David’s growing loss of autonomy, suggesting that liberation might actually be another form of control.
Cervi’s direction is a superb study in creating an unsettling atmosphere. The film’s languid pacing, often criticized as slow, seems, in fact, a deliberate choice that mirrors the gradual erosion of David’s will.
These incredible and terrifying phantasmagorical and jarring visuals woven throughout the film tap into that sense of unease, disorientation, and uncertainty already brewing in society. This was the early ’70s. Long, lingering shots and the nebulous maneuvering through its plot feel like a surreal fever dream. It’s one of the film’s trademarks. It creates ambiguity between what is real and imagined, like David’s own experience.
We have the portraits that represent that sense of surveillance and that feeling of being watched. And then there are the mirrors, which are even creepier. They’re everywhere, reflecting the sisters but also distorting their images.
The mirrors are showing us two different realities, two different versions of the truth. They reflect not only physical appearances but their psychological states, inner turmoil, and fractured identities. David’s reflection is often distorted and fragmented. It’s like he’s literally losing his sense of self as he gets more entangled with the sisters.
The mirrors are like a visual representation of his psychological disintegration. As he falls deeper under their spell, his reflection becomes more and more distorted, mirroring his growing confusion, his loss of identity, and his inability to distinguish between reality and illusion.
And the sisters are reflected in the mirrors, too, but often in a more glamorous, idealized way. That contrast highlights the film’s exploration of illusion versus reality. David’s reflection is distorted because he’s being manipulated. His true self is being eroded. The idealization of all three sisters are suggestive that they’re not entirely real, that they’re more like projections of David’s own desires and fantasies.
Into the Witch’s Lair: David’s Descent:
The Fatal Encounter: The film opens on a dark, winding mountainside road where David, our motorcycle-riding hero, encounters a middle-aged man (Gianni Santuccio) dripping with money in a luxury car that has a flat tire.
The wealthy stranger condescendingly dismisses David as part of a misguided generation. Their tense confrontation immediately establishes themes of class conflict and the consequences of rebellion. David shares with the stranger that marriage is hypocrisy. As the older man hovers, smoking his cigar, he comments on David’s casual nature—“ I see you, too, are one of those who are against everything.”
David offers to help, and the stranger tells him, “I’d offer you a hand, but a year ago, I sprained my back, and you’d need two jacks to straighten me up again.” As David replaces the tire, the man challenges his morals and worldview.
Man: About your hair. You look like a tramp.? David: Maybe that’s the way I want to look.?Man: But why go around looking like a tramp when you can do lots of important things that can be useful? Nowadays it’s possible with a little effort to find yourself a good position. You can get married, raise a family.? David: I don’t think I can stay faithful to one woman.
After he continues imparting his older generation’s observations, David reacts, “ Cool it… don’t make with those catchwords. They’re all slogans now. I’m just a free man.””
The Man “ Ah, a free man. For people like you, freedom means destruction. Subversion. You have nothing to offer… and get those ideas of freedom out of your head. You’re like all men… But, let the perfume of a beautiful woman inebriate their senses, and right away, all the rest is forgotten.”
As the odd man takes hold of David, he points outward into the night and tells him to imagine a beautiful girl –” What would he do then? You know what you’d do. You’d try to seduce her, but the girl will resist. You’ll want to explore every labyrinth of her body, a mystery. You’ve made her, at last. You think you’ve won, but you’re mistaken. Pleasure will change your entire being, your flesh, and your spirit.”
David “ Excuse me, mister, what’s your bag? Are you some kind of guru of sex?”
The stranger finishes his exchange with David by warning him, “You’ll realize too late that you’ve reneged on your revolutionary ideals and fallen at last as a slave to sex and, therefore, to the devil.”
After David helps him with the tire and endures the man’s mocking of his lifestyle, the stranger repays David’s kindness and surreptitiously jams a nail into the front tire of his bike.
After fixing the puncture, David catches up with the car, pulling alongside him and demanding to know why he sabotaged his bike, but the stranger loses control of his car and crashes into a gravestone, killing him.
A pair of truckers refuse to help David when he flags them down.
David sees that the stranger is dead; and tries to flag down passersby to help him. Two men in a truck see him waving them down but add their bit of social commentary; one of the men says, “They should get rid of them lousy scum. They stink a mile away. ”
At first, a monophonically liturgical and ominous baritone incantation, like a resonant, fateful messenger, begins underscoring David as he tucks a flower into the man’s coat pocket before continuing on with his journey.
When he sees a police car on the road ahead, he turns off the road and slowly rides through the woods. As he enters the enchanted darkness of night, the soundtrack turns into the glossolalia of seduction – he stares at the crossroads that will lead him to the Queens. In the trees, David sees an owl, who seems to be aware of his presence. This owl will be an omnipresent totum throughout the film. He discovers a secluded cottage and then parks his bike in front of the outlying shed to spend the night.
The following day, David is awakened by a curly-haired young woman named Liv (Haydée Politoff) who introduces herself; she tells him to leave, warning that “they” wouldn’t want to find him on their property. She tells him, ” No, no, go the way you came. It’s better.” This leads to his meeting ‘they,’ the other two beauties, brunette Bibiana (Evelyn Stewart/Ida Galli) and redhead Samantha (Silvia Monti), who both encourage David to stay as long as he’d like and encourage him to join them for breakfast.
David is invited into their stylishly decorated house, with decor that features vibrant colors, massive floor-to-ceiling black and white portraits of the three women like a shrine to themselves, and numerous scattered cushions on the floor. He’s served cake for breakfast, a playful nod to Marie Antoinette’s infamous quote. David eats this sumptuous delight with primal indulgence.
David’s gorging himself with these monolithic cakes reminds me of The “Eat Me” cake in Alice in Wonderland, which symbolized temptation and transformation, representing Alice’s journey of self-discovery and her struggle with identity. When Alice encounters the cake, she’s faced with a choice that leads to unexpected physical changes, reflecting the unpredictable nature of growing up and the challenges of navigating societal expectations. Cervi must have had this in mind.
They ask him- “ Why don’t you tell us where you’re going?” David says, “ Well, I don’t know. Nowhere special. Anywhere. I’m just looking for a new world.” Liv asks, “A new world; what does that mean?” he says with casual conviction – a hippie’s credo, “ A world without selfishness, without violence. It’s difficult to make clear.”
Liv asks skeptically, “ How does love come into this world of yours?” “ Well, nowadays, love is always tied up with a sense of guilt. Unless it’s officially recognized by society.” Now Samantha asks, “ You are for free love then?” he tells her, “ Of course, Love has to be seen as something that turns you on. An expression of life. Not a guilt complex.”
The sisters’ initial hospitality has an undercurrent of strangeness, particularly in how their modern home contrasts with the surrounding wilderness. This jarring architectural choice serves as a visual metaphor for the film’s divergent themes.
The Seduction Begins: The women lure David into staying, beginning a sequence of increasingly strange events. Each sister takes turns attempting to charm David, but their methods suggest manipulation rather than genuine attraction, though I’ve always had the sense that Liv might be drawn to him.
The house itself seems to become a character, filled with impossible angles and stark modern design growing more labyrinthine and oppressive. The fairy tale elements emerge. In what becomes a dark twist on Goldilocks, David discovers peculiar aspects of the house and the sisters’ lifestyle. Liv asks, ” So you’d be unfaithful to your woman?” Inside their flamboyantly decorated house, David shares with them his free-love philosophy, claiming, “But Live… If I’m faithful to one woman, it would mean that I’m unfaithful to all the others, and what did all the others do to me that I should be unfaithful to them?” Samantha wonders, ” Then the same thing applies to us women too.” He tells her, ” Sure. I’m for equality for the sexes.”
Their seemingly idyllic existence includes elaborate meals, strange rituals, and an increasingly apparent aversion to letting David leave.
When he announces that it’s time to go… he winds up returning, unable to resist these three beautiful women. He abandons his cross-country journey on his motorcycle and begins to fall deeper into the hedonistic pleasures they tempt him with. Despite initial hesitation, David is drawn to the sisters, where Bibiana reveals her macabre hobby of embalming squirrels, ” It’s like stopping life.”
David is enticed by the sisters’ beauty. Despite their obvious eccentricities, David remains and will wind up bedding both Samantha and Bibiana.
” They say it’s under a spell. According to ancient legend, whoever stays there til morning, their destiny’s determined for good or for bad.”
Following a frolic in the nearby lake, David and his beguiling muses come by an apparently enchanted castle. Strange occurrences begin to multiply, while Liv seems to possess the ability to teleport herself.
Samantha plucks an apple from the tree and offers it to David, who, seemingly oblivious to the symbolic weight carried by such fruit since the tale of Genesis, accepts and eats it without hesitation. It symbolizes The Fall of Man, or David, which sums up the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, leading to their expulsion from paradise. Or, the witch who offers Snow White a bit of her cursed apple.
After Liv appears seemingly out of nowhere in her hammock and Bibiana shares her love of embalming animals, Samantha steals David’s bike.
The most provocative of the three sisters, Silvia Monti’s Samantha, taunts David by stealing his motorcycle and going for a joyride, then draws him into a lake to swim with her, vexing his sexual advances until he is completely mixed up. In a subtle beachside seduction, the hunter becomes prey, as it becomes clear Samantha has planned this from the beginning.
David has now been transformed from a free-souled drifter, into a more than willing participant. But this paradisical experience eventually makes him wonder about his benefactors of pleasure.
Bibiana tells David that evening, ” I didn’t think you’d want to leave. After all, you’re the one that wanted to change the world.”
In an atmospheric scene afterward, the sisters vanish without a trace, leaving David to explore the eccentric confines of their house, thrust into absolute darkness, changing the place’s fantastical geometry. He begins to roam around Bibiana’s closet filled with her striking wardrobe. He does the same with Liv’s closet. The difference in their clothes conveys their individuality.
And then following the trail of the women deep into the eerie woods beyond. His search leads him to a clearing where he discovers the women encircling a fire, engaged in what appears to be an occult-like ritual for the “Feast of the Nubile Maidens.”
Back at the house, Bibiana tells David, ” It’s strange, David. You’ve changed. You used to smile. Now, you don’t seem sure of yourself.” She seduces him while Liv and Samantha listen.
David is now seduced by Bibiana.
There’s that whole question of the castle owner as well. Some people think he’s literally the devil – I tend to agree. It’s definitely open to interpretation. He’s this mysterious figure who seems to be orchestrating everything from behind the scenes. Still, you could also see him as a representation of those hidden forces that control society, like the wealthy elite or powerful institutions that benefit from keeping things the way they are. So, even if he’s not literally the devil, he still represents this kind of corrupting force. He’s a symbol of those power structures that David is trying to escape. It’s ironic; It highlights how difficult it is to break free from those systems even when you think you’ve rejected them.
Later in the dark of night, David witnesses an unsettling scene: the three sisters engaged in conversation with a man, the owner of the castle. He follows him into the woods.
David is intent on confronting this mysterious figure. However, his pursuit is abruptly halted by a sudden, surreal, violent storm that engulfs him, and he is struck by lightning. Overwhelmed by a series of hazy, disorienting visions, which include the recurring motif of a divinely aware owl, David loses consciousness.
He experiences a hallucinatory dream sequence featuring the sisters in outlandish wigs and body paint that bears a serpent. And Liv’s vagina produces a hand holding a gun that shoots David in the back. What does that say about gender? The imagery of a woman’s vagina producing a gun that shoots a man in the back could be interpreted as a subversive inversion of phallic symbolism, perhaps suggesting a reclamation of power and agency traditionally associated with masculine dominance.
When he finally regains his senses the following morning, David finds himself back in the sisters’ care. Bewildered by his experience, David asks about the enigmatic man. The sisters casually explain that he is the owner of the nearby castle, and they’ve all been invited to a soirée at his nearby castle that very evening. David tells them he will be leaving, but they insist he come to the party at the castle. They convince him not to leave; the party is in Liv’s honor and is the summer’s first Saturday. They take a carriage, and there are slow drum rolls. This sounds like the prelude to his execution.
David accompanies the sisters to the gathering, where he is greeted by an intimidating array of elite guests—the quintessential society hierarchy. The eccentric aristocratic guests and their probing questions, which feel like interrogations, overwhelm him at this sinister party.
David encounters a solitary priest in an isolated room in the castle. It is an augury about the fate and fall of his temptation.
During the evening’s festivities. The party’s attendees exude an air of calculated sophistication and menace. David comes across a priest who questions why David doesn’t know the guests. ” Don’t you recognize them? They’re the people who count. Society.” Overwhelmed by the strange guests and their incessant questions, he seeks comfort from the youngest sister, Liv, who is the last to seduce David, completing his total surrender to the sisters’ mysterious and dangerous spell. After he and Liv make love, she tells him, ” Remember the legend of the castle? No one can ever separate us. Do you want that?” he tells her yes and that he feels so different. She tells him it’s love.
In the final stage of the seduction, Liv capturing David in her bed marks a significant turning point in the story right before its violent conclusion. It is his complete submission to their bewitchment that leads him to his irreversible fate.
He tells the sisters, ” You have succeeded in possessing me. I’d do anything not to lose you.” They ask him, ” You’d even give up your freedom?” he confesses, ” Yes.”
The Climax: A Shattering of Illusions:
As David lays Christ-like on the bed, the sisters surround him. The film’s gruesome finale, the violent and surreal revelation, serves as a powerful culmination of its themes. The revelation of the Queens’ true nature and their connection to the mysterious castle owner can be interpreted not only as a secretive satanic cult that has chosen its sacrifice but as the unveiling of the hidden power structures that exist within society.
The film concludes with a mighty, feminist-driven, hypnotically frenzied bit of bloodletting. In a shocking twist, after making love to Liv, all three sisters turn on the hapless David, violently hacking him to death.
The castle’s owner is unveiled as the enigmatic figure David clashed with on the road at the film’s outset. This revelation exposes him as the Devil incarnate, who employs the three sisters as his agents to eliminate free spirits like David. He, as one of the disciples of the counterculture, with their rejection of traditional morality, poses a unique threat to the Devil if they are willing to subvert the idea of sin.
The cigar-smoking stranger asks the three sisters, ” There is no doubt that you killed him at the right time?” They tell him that in the end, he gave up his will freely and all his convictions. ” Now he will torment himself… forever.”
They share with his eminence… the Devil; it is getting more difficult with each man they seduce. He tells them, “These individuals with their own ideas are influencing the world… we must eliminate them before it’s too late. I will no longer be needed. They’re all losing the pleasure of sinning, I’m afraid.”
The Devil gets into his black Rolls-Royce after he lectures his dark marionettes, or, shall I say, the cogs in the machine of his dominion—the master of fallen grace—to go out and corrupt men. Liv, Samantha, and Bibiana, dressed in all white, get into a white Rolls-Royce and leave. But first, Liv blows David a kiss while he lies in his grave – it is a kiss goodbye. For a moment, there is a twinge of sadness. I believe she fell in love with him.
This is followed by a time-lapse of delicate blooming flowers growing out of a shallow grave.
David’s fate suggests that those who abandon their principles for comfort and pleasure may ultimately find themselves sacrificed on the altar of the very system they sought to escape.
Queen of Evil is an implicitly savage critique of both sides, a cynical commentary taking aim at both the counterculture and the establishment. The film doesn’t condemn the desire for stability, but it does suggest that this pursuit of comfort can come at a cost. You might be giving up something essential about yourself—your individuality, your principles. And it does all of that within the framework of this really stylish, unsettling horror film.
This psychedelic fever dream of a film defies easy categorization, blending elements of gothic horror, counterculture critique, and surrealist fantasy into a uniquely captivating experience. As we delve deeper into its labyrinthine narrative and rich symbolism, we uncover a work that is both a product of its time and a timeless exploration of the complexities and nuances of human nature.
Queens of Evil is a film that rewards close analysis and multiple viewings. Its rich montage of symbols, allusions, and subtext offers a compelling critique of both establishment values and counterculture idealism. While it may not have achieved the widespread recognition of some of its contemporaries, it remains a fascinating artifact of its era and a testament to the power of cinema to explore complex social and philosophical ideas through the lens of fantasy and horror. It’s one of the reasons I’m so drawn to the horror genre.
Filmmaker Tonino Cervi seams together a fabric of ancient lore, sacred narratives, and fairytale motifs into this film’s eccentric spectacle, blending them with the rebellious spirit that defined the late 1960s and early 1970s. The movie suggests the championing of the counterculture movement, casting the eponymous Queens and the stuffy older gentleman bookending the story as embodiments of mainstream society’s malevolence. This establishment, it seems, exists solely to victimize free-thinking youths like our hippie hero. Such a bold stance sets Queens of Evil apart in the trippy horror landscape of its time.
The film’s ultimate message seems to be a warning against complacency and the dangers of seeking easy answers to life’s complexities. In David’s journey, we see reflected in our own struggles with temptation, conformity, and the search for authentic existence in a world full of illusions.
As a parable of superficial seduction Queens of Evil, the three mysterious sisters embody an exaggerated vanity and dangerous allure that exposes the perils of ephemeral attraction. Their baroque fascination serves as a seductive trap for the naive protagonist, David, revealing how surface-level charm can manipulate and corrupt. The film uses a fairytale-like narrative to critique the moral bankruptcy of valuing appearance and fleeting pleasures over genuine human connection. The sisters’ outlandish appearances and behaviors are designed to captivate David, drawing him into their world of moral decay. Through David’s interactions with them, the story explores how superficiality can lead to a spiritual crisis, reflecting broader cultural anxieties about an image-driven society.
Queens of Evil’s legacy and influence occupy a unique position in the evolution of horror cinema. It bridges the gap between the gothic traditions of the 1960s and the more explicit, politically charged horror of the 1970s. Its influence can be seen in later works that blend surrealism, horror, and social commentary, from the works of director Alejandro Jodorowsky to more recent films like Ari Aster’s mindblowing psycho-folk horror Midsommar 2018.
I finally got my copy of the Blu-Ray version of Queens of Evil from Mondo Macabro, which presents the film in the original widescreen format with options for either the English or Italian language versions. It also includes audio commentary by Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan, alternative sequences from the film, and an archival interview with Ray Lovelock.
This has been Part One of The Journey to Italy Blogathon hosted by two fabulous and prolific bloggers I admire greatly! Gil at RealWeegieMidgetReviews and Kristina at Speakeasy!.. and please visit all the submissions!
See Part 2:
L’Avventura 1960: Antonioni’s Haunting Exploration of Alienation and Desire in Post-War Italy
This looks a wonderful horror and those photos so compelling me to check this out. Love how you write so passionately about this film, the cast and those movie comparisons – as you know Tam Lin is one of my favourite Scottish films. Thanks for joining the blogathon with such an immersive post, Joey. Looking forward to part 2.
Thanks Gil! I know you’d love this film. And just Lovelock alone is worth the venture! Tam Lin is a great double feature with Queens of Evil. the folk-horror vibe is perfect! Cheers!
Hell of a movie with amazing visuals! Fantastic review! You’ve made me want to rewatch this ASAP!