Justine (1977)

English tabloid legend Koo Stark stars in this outlandish adaptation of the infamous Marquis de Sade's Justine, the Misfortunes of Virtue. Young Justine's chosen path of goodness is thwarted at every turn, thanks to an escalating series of dark encounters with sexual depravity and Sadean excess while her sister Juliette chooses a path of debauchery and finds only happiness. Filled with ghoulish rituals and S&M excess, this late-night cable favorite finally comes to DVD with a new digital master created directly from original archival materials.

DVD cut, VHS uncut

Re the previous review, note that the scenes Redemption cut for the new DVD release are intact on their 1990s VHS release. July 13, 2008

I liked the movie, but...

This is a bizarre and original adaptation of De Sade's "Justine: Or The Misfortunes of Virtue." The original title was "Cruel Passion." Unfortunately, "Redemption" has been censoring their films lately: this one was among those that suffered from some cutting. What was wonderful about "Redemption" was that they released obscure and artistic horror films intact, but that hasn't been the case lately. I've only seen this film complete on video. I would have rated it four stars if "Redemption" hadn't hacked it to pieces... December 25, 2007

Great Movie..............

Do not listen to the previous review this is not a jess franco film......This is an artistic obscure film from the seventies Based om marquis de sade You will not be dissapointed by this film.Redemption films by Image entertainment are very rare artistic horror movies.If you like mainstream Horror Stay Away This movie is not for you. Only For those who appreciate quality old fashioned Horror............ January 11, 2007

Fast forward review

No sleaze fan needs to know anything about the basic story, so there are really only three questions; does Koo Stark out perv Romina Power, is there anything to match the "M" scene and what's the level of abuse? The answers are no, no, and it's pitiful.

Say what you want about Jess Franco, because I'll say plenty, mainly that he couldn't film a proper whipping scene to save his life, and his version of "Justine" is just awful, some potentially good scenes ruined by the trademark Franco red and green light treatment. But, every now and then, like the proverbial blind pig finding an acorn, he lucked into something good, like the hankerchief-sniffing branding scene, which is essential. Well, just forget about that here, no instrument of torture comes anywhere near Ms. Stark. She's nude a bit, and loved up some, but no "M" mars her chest at the premature end of this short and useless version of the classic.

The other reason why Franco's version was sleaze-worthy in the lol direction (in bad taste of course, but what about sleaze isn't?) was the rather young age of Romina Power, rumored to be appropriate for her actual age in real life. Koo Stark tries to look young, but the only reason she kinda pulls it off is that's she's flat. There's a world of difference between her hard little raisins and Romina's virginal baby taps.

Overall there's some nudity, a little nun lez, but that's not enough to rate even a half star. But maybe the minimum one sleaze star for the FBF (famous bosom factor, or lack thereof in this case), though nowadays probably there aren't that many who even remember why Ms. Stark was famous at all. Hint: royalty. June 10, 2006

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