A woman goes to a psychologist and is hypnotized. In her hypnotic state, she has flashbacks of black widow-like murders she committed recently, while possessed by the Greek goddess Hera. In a confusing bit of editing, we also follow a group of detectives who are investigating the murders. The film is just a massive excuse for softcore porn and lame violence. I rented it because of the absolutely hilarious trailer found on the DVD for Miike's Gozu, which advertises "sex with on snowfield!", "homosexual sex!" (while a man and woman copulate on screen) and "sex with doctor!" The actual movie is much less funny, of course, but it has its moments. They invent all kinds of interesting new sexual positions. The woman causes an instant erection when she brushes against a man's crotch. Perhaps the best thing about the DVD is that the default language is actually English, a dub that sounds like it was produced in India, half incoherent and half containing ludicrously translated phrases like those I've already mentioned.
4 Reviews
Hera Purple will get you if you don't watch out.
goodellaa1 October 2002
A woman troubled by vague anxiety consults a psychiatrist. To obtain a faster diagnosis, he uses hypnotism. This results in what is for the audience an extensive series of homicidal sex fantasies. How much of them could possibly be real? Meanwhile, a team of detectives (with funny personalities and "morgue" humor) is investigating a series of very strange murders that seem to parallel the woman's "fantasies". This is just good fun, until they appear to be closing in on their quarry. Hera Purple and reality don't mix well and things start to get scary. By the third act horror is taking over. The whole thing is well made and executed (compare "Orgy of the Dead"). Could confuse children but very entertaining for adults.
Paisley Logic
tedg13 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Sometimes a mess is attractive. It takes some work to like things like this. I think they are conceived with no notion beyond delivering a soft porn product. In this case, all the matter is about ten long sex scenes of quite intense sex. They end (all but one) in the man's death. Its not obvious to me whether different actresses were involved, but it is supposed to be the same character. All this is trite and visually annoying. Franco and Sarno in their better times could at least have avoided boredom.
But the engaging bit is the story confabulated around this. It is intriguingly nonsensical, and in its way worthy of Ruiz. There are spoilers here but it hardly matters.
The main folding is this: a woman is undergoing therapy for "unease" and submits to hypnosis. During this, the analyst is horrified to have these murders recounted. We find at the end that the murdered men gangraped a schoolgirl and this is our hypnotized avenger. Only one boy in the gang demurred and he is the one who survived with only a memory of a fantastic sexual encounter with the adult.
The twist in this thread is that the final victim is the analyst himself, which explains his growing horror as the murders are described.
But there are odd overlays. The woman it seems is actually a host for the goddess Hera who gives her supernatural power and "explains" why the murders must be through or must involve, it isn't clear the sexual act. And why the act has to be unearthly. This is muddled, but tantalizingly so, as if there were some sort of ineffable dark logic we cannot comprehend. At the end, we discover that somehow this woman's husband and teen daughter have become infected with this Hera. Just how that works is equally baffling, but we see the husband masturbate and produce huge quantities of ejaculate. Its all inscrutable.
But here's the Ruiz bit. The husband is a filmmaker, and he is making a film that has precisely these elements. We visit a set and see one of the copulatory scenes in progress. Not much is made of this; it floats in the background, and the fold of the film within and the film we see is never explicit. But it is strangely, and puzzlingly seductive. The (uncredited?) actress of the film within has her hair dyed red.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
But the engaging bit is the story confabulated around this. It is intriguingly nonsensical, and in its way worthy of Ruiz. There are spoilers here but it hardly matters.
The main folding is this: a woman is undergoing therapy for "unease" and submits to hypnosis. During this, the analyst is horrified to have these murders recounted. We find at the end that the murdered men gangraped a schoolgirl and this is our hypnotized avenger. Only one boy in the gang demurred and he is the one who survived with only a memory of a fantastic sexual encounter with the adult.
The twist in this thread is that the final victim is the analyst himself, which explains his growing horror as the murders are described.
But there are odd overlays. The woman it seems is actually a host for the goddess Hera who gives her supernatural power and "explains" why the murders must be through or must involve, it isn't clear the sexual act. And why the act has to be unearthly. This is muddled, but tantalizingly so, as if there were some sort of ineffable dark logic we cannot comprehend. At the end, we discover that somehow this woman's husband and teen daughter have become infected with this Hera. Just how that works is equally baffling, but we see the husband masturbate and produce huge quantities of ejaculate. Its all inscrutable.
But here's the Ruiz bit. The husband is a filmmaker, and he is making a film that has precisely these elements. We visit a set and see one of the copulatory scenes in progress. Not much is made of this; it floats in the background, and the fold of the film within and the film we see is never explicit. But it is strangely, and puzzlingly seductive. The (uncredited?) actress of the film within has her hair dyed red.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
A pretty good erotic Korean horror movie
mvescovi29 April 2008
A woman bothered by dreams, anxiety and feeling that there is someone else inside of her goes to a psychiatrist. Under hypnosis she tells the pshchiatrist how, in her dreams, she and/or her alter-ego seduce men and then kill them while making love to them. Meanwhile,murders like her dreams are really happening.
This is an entertaining low budget horror film. The murders, while seemingly random, you eventually find out do have a pattern, there is an attempt to give some of the characters some depth, and there is a sad twist at the end. The acting ranges from below average to good. The main actress is particularly good and, in my humble opinion, as beautiful as her younger alter-egos. The sex scenes are very hot and arousing but not explicit. Also, some of the photography is quite good.
On the down side, there are some plot holes and how the goddess Hera gets involved is not explained nor is it clear the goddess Hera is really involved.
This is still definitely worth seeing and to me, is reminiscent of some of the Italian horror films of the 1970s like "The Devil's Wedding Night" and "Nude for Satan". Cheezy and fun.
This is an entertaining low budget horror film. The murders, while seemingly random, you eventually find out do have a pattern, there is an attempt to give some of the characters some depth, and there is a sad twist at the end. The acting ranges from below average to good. The main actress is particularly good and, in my humble opinion, as beautiful as her younger alter-egos. The sex scenes are very hot and arousing but not explicit. Also, some of the photography is quite good.
On the down side, there are some plot holes and how the goddess Hera gets involved is not explained nor is it clear the goddess Hera is really involved.
This is still definitely worth seeing and to me, is reminiscent of some of the Italian horror films of the 1970s like "The Devil's Wedding Night" and "Nude for Satan". Cheezy and fun.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
