Eugenie Matteson (Zoe Trilling) arrives in Alexandria, Egypt to stay with her father while he is on an archaeological dig. Her father, a Christian religious fanatic who often quotes from the Bible, believes his daughter to be little Miss Innocent - but he doesn't realize that he has brought her to the one place that will corrupt her. Walking in the market place dressed like a regular American teenager would in hot weather, Genie is attacked by a group of perverse Egyptian men looking to get lucky, but she is saved in time by Sobina (who apparently has a sexual relationship with Genie's father) who introduces her to the work of the Marquis de Sade, as well as the darker side of life in Alexandria. Sobina takes Genie to a club where the first act of corruption is committed when Genie is given opium. Before long she begins seeing things - sexual things with her father coming in and preaching in the background. (This is arguably representative of her conscious telling her to get out, yet she's fascinated by this crazy world of sex and drugs)The next day she meets Mahmood, a hunky, intelligent and wealthy Egyptian and they quickly strike up a romance. As time wares on, Genie finds herself the target of a cult obsessed with the Marquis de Sade and led by one of his relatives (Robert Englund stars as both the Marquis and his descendant).
I found this film entertaining but disturbing and weird as well. I saw it for Robert Englund (I love his work)and I was pleased with his performance. Zoe Trilling isn't much of an actress, but I've seen worse. There is a lot of erotic sex scenes and nudity in this film, but honestly, it's a horror film about the Marquis de Sade, people, what did you expect? I actually didn't mind the sex - it all relates back to the theme of the corruption and perversion of this one young woman. The snakes are obviously symbols of the serpent in Eden's apple tree; the film takes a jab at religious fanaticism as a whole. (i.e. religious zealot father is into bondage games with the local prostitute...) I do have a problem with the fact that the connection between the de Sade cult and the religious circuit that Genie's father's archaeological dig is based upon. (I think it has something to do with hidden treasure...) This is a huge plothole that has always bothered me.
This is not the perfect movie, and no way is it a classic, but it's not incredibly terrible either. The acting is decent and there is some symbolism littered throughout. I think they tried to make this a deep film, but failed to answer some necessary questions when it came to the end of the story. The scenery and sets are great as well, I just wish they filled in the plot holes before wrapping this.
For people who like to analyze films, you might have fun with the symbolism in this. I did. BEWARE the sexual content - if sex scenes make you uncomfortable you might want to skip this flick because there's a lot of sex and nudity throughout the film. There is also mild torture, drug use, and violence. Worth a watch in my opinion.
