Jose Larraz has never been a consistent director. He could be good (as the blisteringly-sexy VAMPYRES proves), but his pics could also reek (as with his recent chunk of dead-teen dreck, SAVAGE LUST). But this Spanish, three-way psycho-drama proved that with only a bare-bone budget and a minimum of (occasionally terrible) actors, the guy could still come up with a gorgeously realized, intensely erotic delight. Triana is a sultry young gypsy girl who's staying at the country estate of artist Lorna, while her usual employees are out of town. 18-years-old and plagued by sexual nightmares, Triana's fragmented dreams involve being chased by a naked young man on a horse, as well as various heartwarming close-ups of two horses screwing. So it comes as no surprise that Triana freaks out when this Nature boy begins riding about the grounds. Meanwhile, there's no shortage of lesbian subtext here, with the sexually-charged Lorna and Triana finally ending up in bed together for a steamy episode. And later, after Triana is raped in a field by this perpetually naked stranger, Chico finally puts on some damned clothes and introduces himself to Lorna. Before long, it evolves into a threesome, since Lorna enjoys them both. But Triana's fate has already been foretold -- she'll have sex with a man and someone will die -- so you know the shit is gonna hit behind the end credits. Starring Patricia Lorne, Lidia Machado and Claude Bellot, this might be little more than EuroPorn Chic, but it definitely succeeds on that simple level. The three leads are attractive, the dialogue is sparse, the plot twists are ballsy, and the uncut version has plenty of nudity and surprisingly hardcore inserts. There's also some wildly hallucinatory images, including a hollowed-out horse sculpture with a nude woman curled inside -- her bare ass a little too available to an oncoming stallion. Ripe with often-disturbing sexuality, this is trash of the highest order.

© 1999 by Steven Puchalski.