Through the Looking Glass (1976)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Jonas Middleton

Writers:

David Maryla (screenplay)
David Maryla (story)

Release Date:

17 October 1977 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adult | Horror

Plot:

A rich socialite escapes her boring lifestyle when a ghost takes her to a sexual hell where anything goes. |

Plot Keywords:

Hell | Urination Scene | Demonic Possession | Mirror | Attic

Cast

Catharine Burgess	...	Catherine
Jamie Gillis	...	Demon/Father
Laura Nicholson	...	Jennifer
Kristen Steen	...	Young Catherine (as Marie Taylor)
Douglas Wood	...	Richard
Kim Pope	...	Ann
Eve Every	...	Lilly
Ultramax	...	Mrs. Manchester
Roger Caine	...	Abel (as Mike Jefferson)
Nancy Dare	...	Karen (as Suzan Swanson)
Terri Hall	...	Lisa
Jeffrey Hurst	...	Mr. Manchester
Rocky Millstone	...	Eugene (as Jacob Pomerantz)
Grover Griffith	...	Fat Man
Victoria Karl	...	Beauty Queen

Runtime:

USA:91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:X

Company:

Mastermind Productions

Movie Connections:

Version of Alisa v strane chudes (1981)

A breakthrough genre-crossing art house/grindhouse hallucination

In the freewheeling 1970s, pornography very nearly went mainstream after DEEP THROAT and THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES played to packed houses across the country and a number of "porno chic" films made around this time had decent budgets, actual plot lines, and attractive stars. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is a classic grind house/art house example from this era but it also stands alone as one of the eeriest sex films ever made. Beautiful VOGUE model Catharine Burgess (once described as "a $2.98 Catherine Deneuve") stars as Catherine, a detached beauty with an accommodating architect husband, a young daughter, a father fixation and a dark secret. Catherine gets no sexual satisfaction from her husband because she spends most of her time in the attic, pleasuring herself before an antique mirror she's had since childhood and there's a demon in the reflection that shows the lady a world of unbridled lust on the other side of the glass. In a nod to ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Catherine sees a Mad Hatter's party that degenerates into an orgy with herself as centerpiece and the masturbatory and incestuous fantasies of the mirror are reflected in her husband and the household staff. Catherine has lived in the isolated mansion all her life and rarely leaves it but when her husband plans a trip to Paris for them, the insatiable satyr offers her an eternity of ecstasy ...for a terrible price. The film has a strange, dream-like quality where sex & horror blend as if in a nightmare and Catherine Burgess' air of detachment only adds to the aura. The sex scenes, integral to the story, are few and far between so it's hard to see the "trenchcoat crowd" enjoying this one even though there's a memorable sequence where the viewer gets to go deep inside the heroine. Academy Award-winner Aron Obler & Harry Manfredini (FRIDAY THE 13th) contribute an evocative, moody score and the surreal, Felliniesque ending segues into a denouement that is truly disturbing and not easily forgotten. Recommended, but not for the squeamish. Released in hard and soft-core versions.

"A landmark movie" -Bruce Williamson, PLAYBOY