The year is 1982. The country is Spain. Carlos Aured is shifting from the horror genre to a new genre exploding in popularity, the rated “S” sex film. Under General Franco, Spain had strict obscenity laws and once he passed away, the law became much less censorious. Aured put together a film provocatively titled “Sex Apocalypse” about a group of small-time, sex-obsessed criminals who decide to go for the “big score” (pun intended). They kidnap a sheltered, rich girl to hold for ransom. As the movie goes, their victim quickly adapts to their philosophy, perhaps too quickly to be believable. Eventually, their new acolyte turns the tables, resulting in a literal orgy of sex and violence. In the special features, some inspirations for the story are floated, including the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the Manson Family cult. To my eyes, I see the story of Patty Hearst as an influence much more than the Manson family, but I am very well-read on the Manson Family.

The movie contains plenty of nudity. Between the four main ladies, all of them are exposed through most of the film. The two male characters get down to Speedos or when they are fully nude, there is something blocking their genitals. The sex scenes are simulated. So it is not an actual hardcore film, but the director originally intended it to be. Humorously, they had to scrap the idea because the men that auditioned could not perform with the cameras running. When it comes to the violence, there is actually very little in the run time of the movie and when it does occur, it is not very graphic. The movie gets its shocking rating purely from the sexual content.

The Blu-ray picture quality is very good, and the transfer is a 2k scan of the original negatives. When originally released in the 80s, there were two edits of the film, an “S” rated version and a more sanitized version. The Mondo Macabro release is the more explicit version. The movie has Spanish audio with English subtitles and the audio sounded fine to my ears even though it felt like the entire film’s audio was recorded in a studio after the fact. There is an interview with the biographer Miguel Angel Plana about the director, Carlos Aured and an additional featurette interviewing Richard Reguant, writer and film maker. Throw in an audio commentary track (Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson) and the special features are done. While they are entertaining, I would have liked to see a few more.

The real question is “Was I entertained?” I will have to answer, “Mildly.” The truth of the matter is that the story was bare bones with little character development, but then, that wasn’t the point of the film. The movie was made to make money off of the new market due to the recently changed laws by showing as many naked women as possible. In this respect, the movie definitely delivers. However, I can’t help but feel that in this day and age, one would be much better off going to the internet for that kind of thing. So, I guess whether or not a person should buy this release depends on how interested they are in seeing a specific actress in a state of undress.