Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Rapeman The Beast is Polish filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk's most infamous work. Based on the story Lokis by Prosper Mérimée, its combination of anti-bourgeois satire, graphic pornography and heavy beastiality themes make for some shocking viewing.American heiress Lucy Broadhurst and her aunt Virginia have travelled out to the French countryside as Lucy is to be married to Mathurin de l'Esperance, a French aristocrat. As the ladies wait to be introduced to Mathurin (he is in the midst of being baptised) they explore the old château and Lucy comes across some ancient artwork depicting women coupling with animal-like beings. Lucy is soon formally introduced to her groom-to-be and they sit down to dinner.As night falls everyone retires to their respective chambers and Lucy falls into an ongoing erotic dream / fantasy wherein she witnesses a woman in the forest being stalked then raped by a wolf-man-horse hybrid, she awakes aroused and checks in on her husband to be. Finding him dead she panics, wakes her aunt and they disappear into the night.The Beast is either a strangely erotic art-house masterpiece or a sickening display of bestiality worship scantily concealed by it's lofty pretensions. Straight off the mark the opening scenes of graphic horse copulation set the tone. It is also then that we are introduced to the leering Mathurin, who is intently "supervising" his horses mating. When the priest turns up to baptise Mathurin he has two little altar boys with him that are obviously his lovers, yet another of Borowczyk's stabs at organized religion (see Behind Convent Walls).The underlying themes of the human animal and its primal urges are pretty blatant, especially in a scene where Sirpa Lane follows a cute, innocent lamb into the forest only to see it torn to shreds by the "evil" beast before he rapes her.It could definitely be said that the first hour of the film is just a set-up for the notorious beast scenes as it does kinda drag (especially for those who already know what's about to follow) and very little happens aside from Mathurin and Lucy finally meeting and a running gag regarding Mathurin's sister and the black servant constantly being interrupted mid-coitus. Although for those who are bored by the first hour it is definitely worth the wait because once the beast is on the scene it's all go! As mentioned above the beast is some bizarre kinda wolf-man-horse hybrid, the horse part being his gargantuan member with which he attacks Sirpa Lane in the prolonged festishised rape sequence - this scene really has something for everyone: foot fetishists, tit-men, rape-men (hah!), bukkake fans, animal lovers, it's all in there.The Beast is an utterly surreal piece of avant garde film-making that is a must-see for fans of Euro-cult cinema and boundary-pushing foreign films in general.

Galina Another variation and improvisation on the famous and beloved children tale, La Bete (1975) aka The Beast tries to imagine (in very graphic and what may seem offensive and disturbing but in reality rather silly and comical way), what actually happened between Beauty and the Beast? I am amused by many reviews and comments that seem to look too deeply into this movie. I would not go so far as saying that it is a serious and dark exploration of such subjects as sexual frustration, longing, fulfillment, or satirical criticizing of the catholic Religion. I would not even call it a horror-erotic movie. It's more of the parody on all genres it touches or mentions even though it's got some shocking moments in all departments that sure will stay in your memory.The long (way too long) scene between an Aristocratic young woman and the supposedly horrifying but the most laughable I've ever seen in the movies creature with truly impressive...well anatomy, is set to the clavichord music of Scarlatti and is hysterical. My husband and I both laughed out loud at the exaggerated details of the encounter. The moral of the scene is - beauty can and will defeat the monster. The question is - who is the target audience for the film? For an erotic picture, it is too verbose; for an art movie - it's got too many jaw-dropping scenes of sheer madness and I'd say an abrupt ending. IMO, the film creator did not mean for it to be a serious drama. As a parody of art house/horror/erotica, it is funny and certainly original. Have a good laugh and try not to look for some deep meaning. This story of the curious Beauties and the lustful Beasts certainly is not recommended for co-viewing with the children. The opening scene that may shock an unprepared viewer much more than the infamous scene of bestiality can be successfully used On Discovery channel for the program like "In the world of animals - mating habits and rituals of horses".

Scarecrow-88 I could just imagine director Walerian Borowczyk giggling behind the camera at how his film skewers and jabs Catholicism(..preferably priests, hinting at their lascivious secrets)and graphic displays of bestiality with this hairy beast banging a duchess in the dreams of a wealthy heiress, Lucy Broadhurst(Lisbeth Hummel). Pulling no punches and knowing no boundaries, Borowczyk allows the viewer to watch a grand display of this monstrous beast's semen oozing pecker, growing longer as it sets it's horny sights on this poor female running for her life in the wilderness, attempting to escape. Throwing caution to the wind, we watch as the beast rips away her clothes until the woman is almost completely naked, before positioning her and engaging. Then, the icing on the cake is her beginning to enjoy it. Folks, this kind of sequence obviously isn't for the easily offended and is as tasteless and raw as my description sounds. Lucy, having the dream about this encounter, gets so worked up she wishes to have sexual intercourse with the man she plans to wed, a pagan named Mathurin(Pierre Benedetti) whose "true nature" will soon be revealed at the end after a tragedy opens up a secret that has plagued the I'Esperance family for two centuries. Through a book created by a member of the I'Esperance, a (in)famous duchess, the Marquis(Marcel Dalin) of the I'Esperance manor for which Mathurin lives with his overbearing father Pierre(Guy Tréjan)introduces Lucy to the tale of her vanquishing of a beast. Inside a case, the Marquis even shows Lucy and her Aunt Virginia(Elisabeth Kaza)a torn piece of clothing, worn by the duchess, with claw marks. Through this knowledge comes the dream which comes to Lucy that night, with her so heated by the experience she is overwhelmed with ecstasy, watering down her naked body(underneath a see-through, thin gown)eventually masturbating with a rose! Is the dream Lucy has a real ordeal? Does this ordeal plague the I'Esperance family? The film shows how Pierre awaits the Cardinal's seal of approval for Lucy and Mathurin to wed(..this is needed if Pierre's son is to become tied to her inheritance)while a local perish priest(..and his choir boys, for which he keeps VERY close to him)hangs around ready for his part in carrying out the marriage. But, certain circumstances will possibly throw a kink in the works for Pierre can never truly escape his family's past mistake.Besides the graphically displayed sexual sequence of a beast ravaging a female, there's the opening scene of Mathurin watching, almost in a hypnotic state, as a male horse, hung, is guided into the "breathing" vagina of a female horse. You have the local perish priest, and his affectionate display for his two male choir boys(..always having them nearby with his arm around one or even kissing another). You have the Cardinal finally arriving, finding a photo Lucy took of the male and female horse mating, slipping it into his pocket. You have Lisbeth Hummel's rose masturbation and long stretches with her buck naked, yearning for the warm embrace of a man. So much is here, I felt, to shock it's audience into a frenzy. I think there's a specific audience who'll really enjoy this(..even aroused, maybe), but I'm not the biggest fan of watching horses copulating, or some beast ravaging a woman. But, for a film with such shocking material, it's so well made, I can't say it doesn't have it's technical merits. This film is so audacious and daring, I must admit that it's the kind of cult film certain to gain admirers along the way. I will finish by saying that the director goes out of his way to plant a continuing image in the viewer's mind, the stiff, semen oozing penis of the beast as it pursues the female victim.

Xex-Arachnid If you were born around the time this movie was finished, and had a liberal/open minded household that I had, I'm sure during the early 80's you'd be first introduced to walking in on your parents watching dirty movies or extreme dirty movies. You know, not 100% pornographic but rather an alchemical mixture of actual drama and pornography, or that you'd sneak into their collection and pop in the plastic rectangle representation of such a film in a big dookie machine called a VHS. You had to be very quiet and ninja like but still having minor heart failure when huge pop noises were made when pressing the tablet-like buttons out of fear of being discovered. Whatever the case, such films were sent into the back of your mind, waiting and waiting to be reunited with such visual "art". Needless to say, this movie fits into the aforementioned description to a "T". Many people will comment on the extreme sexual nature of the film but perhaps due to me being desensitized, I am more disturbed by the subtleties. Was the creator speaking to us on deeper levels of human carnality and or what could be considered a true abomination, interracial relations, bed frame masturbation, voyeurism, or could it be desperation for social status to the point of murder, pedophilia/homosexuality, or the repressed sexual nature of social elitist females in 18th century France? Who can say, but despite Mr. Borowcyzk's taste for vivid, raw sexuality being the "norm" for his works, I'd say that indeed this movie does speak to the viewer on a deeper level concerning bestial carnality. Once I have learned this, the story became much more interesting beyond the giddiness of shock value and there fore, it is well worth checking out.