Welcome back to 1 out of 5 – Would Recommend, where the influx of 90s indies and anti-heroes into our recent auctions prompted me to bust out my DVD of Faust: Love of the Damned. It was purchased about a year ago when a run of the comic upon which it is based first came up for auction, but I only just got around to it.
What’s The Plot?
Artist John Jaspers is attacked in his home by vicious gangsters and his girlfriend is murdered before his eyes. Whilst considering suicide, he meets a mysterious man called M. who offers John the power to get vengeance. At first, this turns him into the devil’s blade wielding hitman but he reveals and becomes the gargoyle-esque beast called Faust, blood-soaked defender of the innocent against M.’s machinations!
Who Made This Beautiful Garbage?
The flick is produced and directed by Brian Yuzna, who produced all of the Re-Animator films and wrote/directed installments 3 and 4. It was co-written by Faust co-creator David Quinn, something somewhat unusual even for an indie comic movie.
Five Reasons to See It
- This flick features some of the least sexy sex scenes and nudity ever seen in a B movie. In particular, psychosexual torture stuff starts getting to be waaaay too much near the end of the flick.
- The flick uses pretty exclusively practical special effects and they look pretty dang good.
- Jeffrey Combs plays the role of Detective Margoles, and turns in the better-than-necessary performance we expect out of a genre film legend.
- M. has the power to inflict body horror that is as disgusting, unsettling, and weirdly sexual as anything I’ve ever seen in a Japanese film.
- No quotes stood out, but every primal scream to the heavens is subtitled “(hollers)” which is an odd choice to say the least. Note that the flick’s in English, but subtitles are standard in the Walker household.
Recommendation
I bought this flick expecting it to be awful and, as such, I took my time getting around to watching it. Turns out, it’s actually rather quite good – although man does some of the weird, violent sexual imagery (toned from the original comic, I’m told) gets a bit tedious by the end. Nothing amazing, but a lot better than a flick like Barb Wire or Spawn. The fact that it was made in Spain and not within the traditional Hollywood studio system is probably a big reason for that.
Side note, Faust the love of the Damned got a theatrical film release before characters like Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Shazam, Hellboy, et al did. Admittedly, it did not get nearly as wide as a theatrical releases those characters, but that’s amusing nevertheless. Are you looking for the best place to sell your vintage movie collectibles?
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