Don't Deliver Us From Evil (1971)

Original Title: Mais ne nous Deliverez pas du mal

Director: Joel Seria

Writer: Joel Seria

Composers: Claude Germain, Dominique Ney

Starring: Jeanne Goupil & Catherine Wagener

More info: IMDB

Tagline: At First It Was Just a Game

Plot: Anne and Lore, neighbors and best friends, barely into their teens, board at a convent school where they have taken a vow to sin and to serve Satan. Anne keeps a secret diary, they read a salacious novel, they get a classmate in trouble, they spy on the nuns, they set aside their communion wafers; they make a pact of devotion. Summer vacation starts: Anne's parents leave her alone with the servants for two months at the family château. She and Lore are free to make mischief. They are cruel as well and play games of seduction. As summer ends and fall term begins, things come to a head.

My Rating: 8.5/10

Would I watch it again? DEFINITELY!

WOW! Where to begin... I've heard of this movie for quite sometime and I finally got around to it. I'm kicking myself in the pants for not seeing it sooner. You think Hannibal Lector is evil? Hitler & pals? Dick Cheney? Rosie O'Donnell? They've got nothing on these two girls, particularly Anne. At first all their little "games" they play on people are forgivable as teens but then they start to really show you their dark side. Darth Vader is a space pussy compared to Anne & Lore. Every single act of cruelty they engage in gets worse than the previous one, building to a climax that will have you absolutely horrified. They tease men, sexually, to the brink of insanity. They like to kill things.

In the first scene of this kind Lore is about to put poisonous seeds in all of the bird (finches, parakeets and such) cages of Anne's dim-witted gardener. Anne stops her. "Don't. If you poison all of them then he will feel sad all at once. If we poison one per week then we can drag out his pain."!!! How do ya like them apples? And that's just the first of the "I can't believe they're doing this" moments. The first bird they kill? You see it (it's really tranquillized but it looks absolutely real) happen in real time. The camera stays on that bird through all of its struggle. It's difficult to watch. Naturally, they're giggling which makes it even worse. Everything builds to the point of no return for them - a murder. The shocks don't stop there. The last five minutes will have you utterly paralyzed. It's been several days since I saw this and I'm still affected by it. It has to be seen. It's rare thing for a film to get this kind of reaction out of me. I can't really describe it. Maybe if I put it into song...."Hello ma baby, hello ma honey, hello my ragtime gal...". Nope that won't do either. The score, by the way (by Claude Germain & Dominique Ney), is pitch-perfect in its execution.

The extras on this disc include: Exclusive interviews with writer/director Joel Seira, star Jeanne Goupil, and British crime expert Paul Buck (who discusses the film’s real-life inspiration and the issue of female murderers and couples who kill.)

A couple more things to point out. This DVD is released by Mondo Macabro (http://www.mondomacabrodvd.com/) and is outstanding. I HIGHLY recommend just about everything in their catalog. If you've been over for one of my movie nights there's a chance you've seen at least one of their releases. Oh, and this story is based on a real life pair of best friends in New Zealand in 1954. Peter Jackson's film, HEAVENLY CREATURES, follows that story.