When you’re a guy like Lucio Fulci, it’s hard to top
yourself. Where do you go after the
eyeball scene in Zombie? Luckily for us,
he kept a little gas in the tank for The Devil’s Honey. I can’t say it’s one of his best pictures
overall, but it does contain a few moments of Fulci at his WTF peak.
For starters, the movie begins with a scene in which a
musician uses a saxophone as a marital aide on his girlfriend. I bet this just jumped to the number one spot
on your “Must See” list, didn’t it? Later
in the film, he makes her give him a hand job while he’s riding a
motorcycle. He also forces her to put a
gun on her crotch for a video shoot.
There’s also a scene where Brett Halsey watches a hooker rub nail polish
all over her nether regions.
It’s almost a manual for what not to do with your genitals.
Anyway, Corinne (Moonraker) Clery catches her doctor husband
(Halsey) with a prostitute and threatens to divorce him. Halsey is still reeling from the news when he
goes to operate on a saxophone player (Stefano Madia). Unable to perform the operation, the patient
dies in surgery. The saxophone player’s
girlfriend (Blanca Marsillach), already a bit nuts due to their sadomasochistic
relationship, starts sending Halsey death threats. Eventually, she kidnaps him and tortures him,
but they soon begin their own kinky relationship.
For the first half-hour or so, you’re going to think The
Devil’s Honey is gearing up to be a classic.
Somewhere along the way Fulci kind of forgets to up the sleaze
quotient. Then again, when your picture
starts with a forced orgasm via saxophone, it’s hard to keep that momentum
going.
The problem lies mostly with the third act. It’s here where Marsillach holds Halsey
prisoner. Instead of keeping the focus
on her increasingly psycho behavior, Fulci cuts to flashbacks of her
tumultuous relationship with Madia.
These cutaways take away from the tension and lessens the overall impact
of the final scene. Even with that in
mind, The Devil’s Honey will be well-worth watching for Fulci aficionados.
AKA: Dangerous
Obsession. AKA: Divine Obsession.
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