For his early films, José Ramón Larraz moved to England and delivered the sort of psycho-sexually flavored genre efforts many British directors seemed incapable of conceiving (except for people like Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell at the start of their career, with 'Performance' being a fine example). A film like 'Vampyres' (1974), at the time, even earned Larraz a reputation of being a feminist filmmaker, which is a fairly odd side-effect when essentially creating an on-screen lesbian vampire bloodbath. His second feature, 'Deviation' dates back to 1971 and turned out a strange and unsettling little film, very much worthy mentioning as an early entry in thrilling '70s Euro-exploitation cinema. Larraz, directing under his pseudonym J. R. Larrath, manages to concoct a mildly surreal and fairly unnerving atmosphere without either reverting to more typical & meaningless dream-like imagery (like his fellow Euro-colleagues Jess Franco and Jean Rollin often tried their hand at; with what I've seen from him so far, I place Larraz on a higher pedestal as a filmmaker) or blood-soaked stagings (like exploitation movies in general were starting to dictate). 'Deviation' does contain a fair amount of weirdness, nudity and bloodshed, but in a somewhat more subtle manner. Not seldom so would Larraz's visual flair often lean more towards the Italian giallo films from the '70s than it would be in sync with the at the time prevailing British horror cinema. 'Deviation' can easily be placed between movies like Wes Craven's 'Last House On The Left' (1972) and Don Gronquist's 'Unhinged' (1982), coincidentally two American films, yet it still has that tangible European flavor to it (not in the least shaped by Stelvio Cipriani's splendid original soundtrack compositions).The plot (spoilers): One dark night, Olivia and Paul are driving home when a deviation sign leads them onto a road into the woods. When they have an accident, they are invited by Julian and his sister Rebecca to spend the night in their mansion. Paul is convinced he hit someone on the road, while Olivia doesn't believe him. Julian is a taxidermist in his spare time and he, uhm, doesn't exactly stick to animals. Paul will soon learn he did run someone over, but won't live long enough to tell anybody about it. Meanwhile Olivia is kept drugged & dazed and because of her state willingly participates in psychedelic, nightly orgies organized by Rebecca and Julian. When things go from bad to worse and Olivia finds out they murdered and skinned her lover Paul, she manages to fight back and kill the two siblings.

Super, spirited and sexy tale from the master of sex and witchcraft in the English countryside, even if he is Spanish. See also, Black Candles, Symptoms and Vampyres if you like this as much as me. Larraz was very good at catching that brief period in England when it seemed that little rich kids could do just about anything they wanted. And what a lot wanted to do was sex and drugs and play with the paranormal. In this instance we start out with a tale of taxidermy but somehow that gets forgotten and we have a more usual tale of pretty suburban girl lured into posh kids den of iniquity. Lisbet Lundquist is stunning as the vampire like lady with a penchant for the perverse, and worse and her accomplice, Julian is played most effectively by Karl Lanchbury. Its all very believable, the orgy and drug scenes are exceptionally well done and as for the seduction of the elderly chemist by aforementioned vampire like lady, well do see for yourself, if you can find a copy.

Julian and Rebbecca,a mysterious couple who live in the virtually empty autumnal woods and practice taxidermy.They capture Olivia and subject her to the mysteries of pleasure and sex.Her lover Paul is murdered by Rebecca,who is a predatory female serial killer."Deviation" is a quiet and unsettling little film punctuated with the scenes of violence and sexual perversion.The psychedelic drug orgy sequence is fantastic as is the sex scene between Rebecca and old doctor,which leads to savage murder.The autumnal mood of "Vampyres","Symptoms" and "Whirlpool" is present here in spades.Larraz is also capable of building atmosphere in a very subtle way.A must-see for fans of European exploitation.8 deviations out of 10.

Jose Larraz is a very skilled filmmaker. His SYMPTOMS (1974) is among the most atmospheric and best of horror pictures. It boasts a miasma of nuanced menace that is not unlike Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW (1973). Immediately after "Symptoms" Larraz made the stylish but sleazy VAMPYRES, and thence charted a course of exploitation films.DEVIATION is one of his earliest films. In terms of quality it falls somewhere in between "Symptoms" and "Vampyres". The intense, unsettling, fabulously edited pre-credits sequence, replete with a pulse-pounding score by Stelvio Cipriani, had me prepared to proclaim Larraz one of the pre-eminent horror directors. The following 20 minutes or so are also very good, as the story follows a young couple that becomes stranded in the middle of nowhere and is offered overnight refuge in a large English manor. The male half of the duo senses something is wrong and investigates. He is quickly despatched, and the house's inhabitants, a sadistic brother and sister, turn their lascivious attentions to the female boarder, who is blissfully unaware of any peculiarities.Sadly, the middle section of the film, involving a tiresome succession of drug orgies and couplings, isn't nearly as strong. Larraz's command of the cinematics, however, remains consistently excellent. He has an innate ability to craft scares and suspense, but it is sometimes simply supplanted by his predilection for (fairly innocuous) sex scenes.Despite the unevenness, "Deviation" is well worth seeking out.