Coming of Sin (1977)

I have to hand it to Larraz, he has a great eye for beautiful women! Marianne Morris of Vampyres is nothing short of amazing and the actress he cast as Lorna here is every bit as attractive (either Patricia Lorne or Lidia Machado, the credits don't distinguish who is who). Some of the erotic scenes involving her among the most tantalizing I've ever seen. It really is a shame she hasn't acted since.

Jose Ramon Larraz's The Coming of Sin is a unique European sexploitation film. It's unique in the fact that despite it's leisurely pace explicit sexual nature it manages to come across as both artistic and completely engrossing. This is even more surprising in light of that fact that Larraz had no professional actors, only a few weeks time to shoot it, and practically no money. The most experienced performer in the film was in fact the large black horse that had supposedly played in many westerns aolongside Yul Brynner and Robert Mitchum. Somehow, out of all these ingrediants, Larraz pulls off a poetic and dreamy work of art.

The plot takes a back seat to a dreamy and over lit visual style. Lorna is an attractive woman who lives alone on a large estate. She takes in a dark haired gypsy girl named Triana. Triana is a recluse who is haunted by nightmares of a naked man on horseback. Soon the exhibitionist equestrian gallops into the picture and shakes things up on the estate. His presence brings forth a dark and passionate love triangle that consumes all three of them.

Like I said earlier, the story isn't nearly as important as the visuals used to present it. This movie immediately sucked me in and I was totally engrossed for the short run time. The film's main strengths lie in strong sexual dream imagery, which seem very Freudian in nature. The most notable of these involves a model horse, which is half hollowed out and contains one of the leads nude. The lead male then rides around (nude, of course) on his black horse preparing to copulate. Taken out of context, these scenes may sound silly, but taken as a whole I found this movie to be an unforgettable experience.

For this review I watched the region 0 (PAL) Pagan DVD release which is letterboxed at approximately 1.85:1. Something struck me as odd though, towards the end of the film there was some lense flare, which extended over the black in the bottom of the letterboxing. There did seem to be a lower point where the black was darker and the flare stopped. Overall this is a good presentation of the film with (for the most part) minimal scratching and print damage. The disc also includes some good extras. The still gallery is rather extensive and covers not only this film but includes posters for a good deal of Larraz's work. The best part though, is an approximately 30 minute interview with Larraz covering a variety of topics. Larraz is always an entertaining fellow (listen to the Vampyres commentary if you need further proof) and does not disappoint here. My favorite anecdote concerning this movie can be found in the book Immoral Tales by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs. Concerning the male lead he said, "The actor told me he could ride the horse but he couldn't. He'd jump on the horse and say, 'Jose, my balls, my balls! Get me a cushion, Jose!' So the stuntman had to ride the horse. I remember one day I was cross with the actore and I said the only professional here is the horse."