Devil Story

Devil Story, also known as Il était une fois... le diable (lit. 'Once upon a time... the devil'), is a 1986 French Nazisploitation[1] horror film written and directed by Bernard Launois. It is his seventh and last feature film.[2] An uneven mixture of the slasher and Euro-gothic genres, it was largely condemned by critics for its incoherent script and technical incompetence.[3] It has since gained a cult following because of its reputation as one of the worst films in history.[2][4]

Devil Story
Theatrical release poster
FrenchIl était une fois... le diable
Directed byBernard Launois
Written byBernard Launois
StarringVéronique Renaud
Marcel Portier
Pascal Simon
Nicole Desailly
CinematographyGuy Maria
Edited byRaymonde Battini
Music byPaul Piot
Michel Roy
Production
companies
Release date
  • 26 November 1986 (1986-11-26) (France)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

Plot

A seemingly deranged murderer in a Schutzstaffel uniform with a disfigured spine and pig-like[3] face terrorises a rural area of Normandy and slaughters whomever he encounters on random—first a couple of campers, then a man asking for directions to the nearest gas station.

A couple's car breaks down on the road, and they decide to stay at a nearby hotel until they repair their car. The hotel is a modified old castle run by an elderly man and woman. The nervous couple learn from their hosts that the place is cursed.

Reception

After initially released in 1986 in only a small number of theatres in French provinces, the film was shown in Paris as a double feature at Le Brady, under the title Il était une fois... le diable.[2]

In Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won't Write About, author and critic Clive Davies described the film as "75 mins [sic] of near-catatonic nonsense" with "a dumb, circular ending".[5] Scott Aaron Stine wrote in his The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s: "Despite the charming contrivances, [Devil Story] is just one more reason why French cinema rarely ventures or strays into splatter territory".[3] Lexikon des internationalen Films, a German-language reference work on all theatrical films and many television films released in Germany since 1945, noted the film's homages to John Carpenter's 1980 film The Fog.[6]

Home media

The film was released on VHS by a French company called American Vidéo in the late 1980s.[2]

The film was restored in 4K resolution from its 35mm original camera negative and released on Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome in 2021.[4][7] This restored version was screened at the Fantastic Fest, an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, US, in September 2021.[8]

References
  1. Magilow, Daniel H.; Bridges, Elizabeth; Vander Lugt, Kristin T., eds. (2012). Nazisploitation!: The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture. A&C Black. p. 316. ISBN 9781441183590. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023 – via Google Books.
  2. Mignard, Frédéric. "Bernard Launois". CinéDweller.com (in French). Archived from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  3. Stine, Scott Aaron (2015). The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s. McFarland. p. 113. ISBN 9781476611327. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023 – via Google Books.
  4. "Devil Story". American Genre Film Archive. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  5. Davies, Clive (2015). Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won't Write About. Headpress. p. 345. ISBN 9781909394063. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023 – via Google Books.
  6. "Devil Story". Lexikon des internationalen Films (in German). Filmdienst. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2023. (...) dessen Orientierung an John Carpenters Kultfilm "The Fog - Nebel des Grauens" unübersehbar ist.
  7. Hays, Loron (28 September 2021). "Devil Story (1986) Vinegar Syndrome Exclusive - Blu-ray Review". Reel Reviews. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  8. Rife, Katie (25 September 2021). "5 under-the-radar titles to check out at Fantastic Fest 2021". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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