The Devil's Honey

Director - Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead)
Starring - Brett Halsey (The Godfather: Part III, Wrath of God), Corinne Clery (The Humanoid, Plot of Fear), and Blanca Marsillach (The Witch Affair, Flesh + Blood)
Release Date - 1986
Genre - Thriller
Tagline - "Having a lover is dangerous.  But losing a lover is deadly"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When it comes to horror there is dozens of names that pop up based on the tastes of the person you are talking to.  People hear the names like Romero, Carpenter, and Craven on a regular basis but when mention gore the name Lucio Fulci is immediately brought up.  Fulci started his career working on westerns but made the jump to horror and thrillers in the late 60s.  By the 70s he was becoming a master of horror and by the late 70s and early 80s became an unmistakable name in Italian horror.  In 1985 Fucli's career was put on hold when he contracted hepatitis.  In 1986 he returned to directing with the sleazy thriller The Devil's Honey.  The film was recently released on blu by the folks over at Severin.  They were kind enough to send a review copy my way.  Thanks guys!
     The film follows a young woman who is madly in love with her boyfriend.  Her boyfriend is very sexually driven and would often force her to perform sex acts when she did not want.  One day he is in an accident and the doctor set to perform his surgery has a break down because he is going through a divorce after his wife discovers his love of prostitutes.  The young woman holds him accountable for the death of her boyfriend so she abducts him and using his love of sex to torture him before she finally realizes that she was in an abusive relationship and was often raped.

     Lucio Fulci is known the world over for his brutally horrific films.  Personally, he is one of my favorite directors and one of the few geniuses that could actually deliver gore with a story.  Most horror films go too heavy on the gore and skip the story or vice versa.  I knew The Devil's Honey wasn't going to be the gore flick I often enjoy from the Italian Godfather of Gore but would Fulci be able to tell a sleazy story?  The answer is Hell Yea!  The acting in this one is good but a few scenes are a little over dramatic.  The cast has amazing skill in front of the camera and they all work very well together but a few of the scenes was a little over the top making it feel like a late night erotic soap opera.  This makes those scenes feel less genuine.  The story for this one is very entertaining.  The viewer will have a hard time looking away from the screen.  The film is sexy and uses a lot of real life incidents to make it believable.  The film has a steady pace which makes for a smooth watch.  Finally, this isn't the gore soaked horror flicks that we are accustomed to with Fulci.  Instead, we have the female form and expressive sexuality.  Overall, The Devil's Honey was a sleazy masterpiece.  The characters are great, the story is mesmerizing, and it's sleazy as fuck.  Check it out.