13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent occult thriller with a surprising end, worth to be seen, December 20, 1999
This review is from: Mephisto Waltz [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is one of the best occult thrillers ever made. Direction, acting, cinematography and the music score are superb as is the script based on the Fred Mustard Stewart novel with the same title. Curd Juergens plays a famous concert pianst and Barbara Parkins his adoring incestuous daughter. Wanting to make their illicit love eternal they feel compelled to make ritualistic human sacrifices to Satan. The film aided by an excellent Jerry Goldsmith score manages to create an unsettling and more and more threatening atmosphere as the true nature of these two becomes clearer and a journalist played by Alan Alda gets drawn into their web. His wife, played by Jacqueline Bisset, sees the imminent danger in nightmares. These dream sequences that gradually unveil the shocking truth are extremely well filmed and the music enhances the emotional impact even further. This one is a real chiller with some very frightening moments and a very surprising end. Its many disturbing images will haunt you for quite some time. It proves that elegant filmmaking becomes the horror genre very well. I can recommend The Mephisto Waltz unconditionally and hope that it will be released also on DVD someday.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
'S'more psychological terror than true horror!, June 7, 2005
This review is from: Mephisto Waltz [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Coming on the heals of "Rosemary's Baby" and slightly before "The Exorcist," "The Mephisto Waltz, like the other two, was released when SATANISM seemed to be the "in" thing in Hollywood. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, the film has a little bit of everything in its plot: incest, dysfunction in the family, corporal transference, Faustian overtures, stereotypically creepy friends and associates, "trippy" camera angles, stalwart genre-actor Brad Dillman, and a truly effective score, provided by Jerry Goldsmith.
As far as the acting goes, Jacqueline Bisset is quite good as the wife determined to rescue husband Alan Alda from a mysterious benefactor, a very eerie Curt Jurgens. Barbara Parkins, best known for her work on television's "Peyton Place" and the filmed version of "Valley of the Dolls," does well in the part of the Jurgens' overly "devoted" daughter.
And what movie about the devil would be complete without a "hound from hell"??? "Robin" the hound scores a few brownie points for his appearance.
Only does Alan Alda seem a bit weak in the starring role. I couldn't help but think he was playing "Hawkeye" doing his best to be less than sardonic.
Inasmuch as Amazon doesn't allow "half" stars, I rounded this 3.5 film up to a 4.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Was No Rosemary's Baby Rip-off, May 26, 2006
This review is from: Mephisto Waltz [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I loved this movie! I just discovered the book and am waiting patiently for it to arrive. Why do people say it is a Rosemary's Baby ripoff? It is nothing like Rosemary's Baby except the satanist angle. Are all satanist movies RB rip-offs? I don't think so. I also thought Alan Alda did a fabulous job. It's the one time I thought he was sexy in a movie. The other reviewers have given the plot of the movie so I won't repeat them. I will just say I am entertained every time I see it.
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