A hippie love cult led by the stern, yet charismatic the Divine One (perfectly embodied by the delicious Laura Gemser) lures young innocents for their money and corrupts them in the name of their cause. The blithely passive and brainwashed cult members fornicate like bunnies, frolic about in their birthday suits, prostitute themselves for cash, engage in ritualistic chants, and get brutally whipped when they disobey the stern rules. Complications ensue when loyal recruiter and disciple Dorian (blonde doofus Christian Anders) falls for the fetching Patricia (lovely and voluptuous Simone Brahmann), who's the wealthy daughter of a powerful American senator. Writer/director Anders offers an enjoyably oddball cross between "Hair" (the incredibly dippy disco theme song and a couple of crazy song and dance numbers are both totally sidesplitting, albeit unintentionally so) and the infamous Jim Jones religious cult that certainly doesn't skimp on either the plentiful tasty nudity or the equally abundant sizzling soft-core sex (we've got straight, lesbian, and interracial couplings served up hot and spicy for the viewer's delight). The heightened erotic atmosphere and Gemser's smoldering sensuous presence ensure that this film never becomes dull. Better still, Anders treats all the wild and raw carnality with complete seriousness, which in turn greatly enhances the picture's considerable campy charm (a twisted ceremony involving the deflowering of the virginal youngest cult member rates as a definite loopy highlight). A delectably daft and decadent doozy.
Review of Divine Emanuelle
