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Night of the virgin (2016) Spain
Director: Roberto San Sebastián Music: Jorge Granda Cast: Javier Bódalo, Miriam Martín, Víctor Amilibia Awww, Spanish Horror. Visually dripping with atmosphere, but story wise tending to naivety. But still you´re not worrying about all the time you spent with Paul Naschy or the blind dead in the senventies, or at least some of the work of Jess Franco. During the eighties Bigas Luna and Agustí Villaronga surprised with a new touch and a more serious approach to the phantastic genre.
"Night of the Virgin" reminds one in a way of the strange movies of Álex de la Iglesia, a mix of repulsion, schock, surprises and a goddamned lot of fun - but in reality any comparison to something you saw before is really farfetched. At least the story can be summarized in just a few sentences.
Starting from this simple plot director Roberto San Sebastián now works his magic and creates something that for me is a hilarious absurdist comedy, while my 27 year old daughter met the movie with disgust and repulsion. “Sound like a TROMA-experience”, some will think now, but “Night of the virgin” works on a completely different level, even if actor Javier Bódalo looks and plays a lot like a little brother of Melvin Junko (before turning into the radioactive superhero) and the whole story is constructed around a planned sexual encounter. The movie simply looks brilliant, Medeas dirty flat, where almost the whole movie takes place, is full of small detail – perhaps even to full of them in the bathroom set – and the camera always finds some new and interesting angles in the relatively small set.
Also working in a subtle way is the music which almost works against the visuals. Of course the electronic score by Jorge Granda has his loud passages, most of the time he is packing the audience in melodic pink cotton candy clouds, even if – or better especially when – the screen is filled with disgusting images. This is another point which will probably go right over the head of audiences just entering the theatre because of the promised shock-value. Off course “Night of the virgin” also delivers in this area. A tidal wave of different bodily fluids floats over the actors – and in a way also over the audience. Starting more or less harmless with some sperm and menstrual-blood, the movie ramps it up in the last 30 minutes and is able to surprise even an hardcore audience like this writer. Off course this avalanche of splattering fluids is not very realistic, except from some puddle of vomit including some nice steaming croutons, but it´s the sheer mass of puking, shitting and bleeding that makes the difference. So be prepared - “Night of the virgin” takes no prisoners, but people with a strange kind of humor and an eye for something special won´t be disappointed. Dia
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Even in this millennium some strokes of genius, like the “Rec”-Series (2003-2014), the almost classic ghost movie “The Orphanage” (2007) or the mindfuck-movie “Timecrimes” (2007), went out to surprise audiences worldwide. 
The virgin of the title is a young male named Nico (
Thanks to an excellent and creative script the main protagonists are well rounded and loyalty and sympathy between themselves and the audience changes often. The dialogue is really funny and avoiding tasteless humor in the style of Rob Zombie, even if you will hear words like joder, carajo und puta a lot in the original version. But that´s just the way the characters talk and fight, the real humor is a lot more subtle (f.E. a great gag about David Bowie) and in no way in your face and will probably not reach a “normal” audience.
