The first time I saw DEVIATION it messed with my head. The second time I saw DEVIATION it made more sense and gave me some inspiration for a story idea of my own I've been toying with. The third time I saw DEVIATION I realized that one of the things working against the genuine enjoyment of this film is how it'd been handled, or rather not handled as the case may be. Probably due to soundtrack rights more than anything, DEVIATION has only seen one home video release that I am aware of, which is a grubby, washed out, somewhat tattered full frame English language transfer who's color is about all turned sepia.
And yet the film has some wonderful Larraz moments: brief periods of intense, life-altering (or ending, depending on what character) brutality that sort of leaves you twitching after the shovel has stopped being hacked about, dreamy orgy scenes where girls in blue sunglasses lie about giving various partners their turns, a lesbian seduction & abandonment, and a really nasty scene that may have influenced John Boorman's DELIVERANCE (1972) where a somewhat despicable pig-like loser is forced to lay a hippie chick at the end of a switchblade.
Like Larraz' VAMPYRES and BLACK CANDLES the film often changes gears abruptly after long periods where not much seems to happen, which may be the result of the crummy looking transfer going around: With widescreen photography and proper colors this film could easily have been a "Video Nasty" flavored rival to Nicholas Roeg's PERFORMANCE, which is what I think served as Larraz' primary inspiration. It's advertised as a sex & drugs & rock and roll hedonistic horror romp -- which indeed it sort of is -- but is more of a psychological thriller about an inbred, incestuous English family living outside of the norms & influence of the modern world. A somewhat mismatched young couple happens upon them after an very peculiar road accident and is drawn into their web of indulgence, madness and murder.
Jose Larraz was of course a Spaniard by birth but (as documented in Pete Tombs' "Immoral Tales") became enamored by the droll sleepiness of the British countryside, which he transforms into hedge-rowed, claustrophobic nightmare landscapes with his films. Being an early effort this one may seem a bit timid compared to later movies more plugged with his own brand of excess (EDGE OF THE AX, REST IN PIECES, THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED) and it's somewhat slow, deliberate pace can easily be mistaken as aimlessness. But what he is really doing is indulging himself in the mod trappings of British hipster society and weaving a little morality play around the inherent madness of British culture.
I switched on the Spoiler Warning button due to the ending so if you don't want it ruined stop reading; The ending is all too familiar to fans of Larraz' work, where what was seen becomes a question rather than the conclusion to a film. Even VAMPYRES concludes on a note of ambiguity (and it's beginning is it's ending, compounding the matter) but here his little gag surprise twist actually works for a change. Compare how this film holds up against his controversial & undeniably sensational BLACK CANDLES (1980) and you'll see what I mean -- and in fact the two films tell more or less the same story, as does his 1978 film THE COMING OF SIN; Young British couple finds themselves trapped in a web of sin by otherwise respectable deviants living outside of the norm of society, one is absorbed into the morass and the other used as a sort of focal point for the morality play, with an ending that is supposed to suggest that it all may have been a dream or delusional vision by a repressed hedonist at heart.
If I like this film better than BLACK CANDLES -- and I do -- it is only because this is an actual movie with actors and performances and camera angles and a payoff rather than just a carnival of flesh & brimstone. First-timers to Larraz Land should probably first go by way of VAMPYRES or SYMPTOMS, if you can find it, but like DEVIATION the latter has been shamefully ignored by a present-day media industry that may not be willing to take a chance on a small, grim, nihilistic little project like this with no real heroes or good guys and a head trip ending. Larraz deserves better, he didn't make that many films and they all deserve to be seen again. Good luck finding it.
7/10
And yet the film has some wonderful Larraz moments: brief periods of intense, life-altering (or ending, depending on what character) brutality that sort of leaves you twitching after the shovel has stopped being hacked about, dreamy orgy scenes where girls in blue sunglasses lie about giving various partners their turns, a lesbian seduction & abandonment, and a really nasty scene that may have influenced John Boorman's DELIVERANCE (1972) where a somewhat despicable pig-like loser is forced to lay a hippie chick at the end of a switchblade.
Like Larraz' VAMPYRES and BLACK CANDLES the film often changes gears abruptly after long periods where not much seems to happen, which may be the result of the crummy looking transfer going around: With widescreen photography and proper colors this film could easily have been a "Video Nasty" flavored rival to Nicholas Roeg's PERFORMANCE, which is what I think served as Larraz' primary inspiration. It's advertised as a sex & drugs & rock and roll hedonistic horror romp -- which indeed it sort of is -- but is more of a psychological thriller about an inbred, incestuous English family living outside of the norms & influence of the modern world. A somewhat mismatched young couple happens upon them after an very peculiar road accident and is drawn into their web of indulgence, madness and murder.
Jose Larraz was of course a Spaniard by birth but (as documented in Pete Tombs' "Immoral Tales") became enamored by the droll sleepiness of the British countryside, which he transforms into hedge-rowed, claustrophobic nightmare landscapes with his films. Being an early effort this one may seem a bit timid compared to later movies more plugged with his own brand of excess (EDGE OF THE AX, REST IN PIECES, THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED) and it's somewhat slow, deliberate pace can easily be mistaken as aimlessness. But what he is really doing is indulging himself in the mod trappings of British hipster society and weaving a little morality play around the inherent madness of British culture.
I switched on the Spoiler Warning button due to the ending so if you don't want it ruined stop reading; The ending is all too familiar to fans of Larraz' work, where what was seen becomes a question rather than the conclusion to a film. Even VAMPYRES concludes on a note of ambiguity (and it's beginning is it's ending, compounding the matter) but here his little gag surprise twist actually works for a change. Compare how this film holds up against his controversial & undeniably sensational BLACK CANDLES (1980) and you'll see what I mean -- and in fact the two films tell more or less the same story, as does his 1978 film THE COMING OF SIN; Young British couple finds themselves trapped in a web of sin by otherwise respectable deviants living outside of the norm of society, one is absorbed into the morass and the other used as a sort of focal point for the morality play, with an ending that is supposed to suggest that it all may have been a dream or delusional vision by a repressed hedonist at heart.
If I like this film better than BLACK CANDLES -- and I do -- it is only because this is an actual movie with actors and performances and camera angles and a payoff rather than just a carnival of flesh & brimstone. First-timers to Larraz Land should probably first go by way of VAMPYRES or SYMPTOMS, if you can find it, but like DEVIATION the latter has been shamefully ignored by a present-day media industry that may not be willing to take a chance on a small, grim, nihilistic little project like this with no real heroes or good guys and a head trip ending. Larraz deserves better, he didn't make that many films and they all deserve to be seen again. Good luck finding it.
7/10