Why has German b-movie actress Julia Kent written the script to "Der schwarze Fluch" (The Black Curse, 1995)? Nobody will ever know an answer... probably inspired by lots of kitschy pulp fiction love books, b-movie crime dramas, sixties/seventies adventure and horror movies and boring prime time soap operas, Julia Kent, who also plays the main role in this German production, tells a really trashy story.
A female Munich photographer (Kent) is losing her husband (played by James Brolin!!) after a revenge attack by some gangsters. She's traveling to an unnamed South American island to write a story but faces a series of brutal ritual murders and a doppelganger of her killed husband (of course played by Brolin, too!). Kent is suspected of being the murderer soon and has to find the truth on her own...
The most remarkable things about this movie are the cast and the retro collection of b-movie plots, sub plots and cliches. Director Otto Retzer found three American actors - James Brolin, Deborah Shelton, Brent Huff - who were willing to play in this TV production. The rest of the cast consists of well-known German actors - Claude-Oliver Rudolph and Ralf Richter of "Das Boot" fame, Sky Dumont (another "Boot" and "Eyes Wide Shut" star), b-movie veterans Artur Brauss and Herbert Fux ("Mark of the Devil") and TV villain Wilfried Bassner ("Das Erbe der Guldenburgs").
Retzner and Kent have also put any kind of trash to their move to create thrills and suspense and a whole story, which isn't working of course. There are gory murders, bloody corpses, a sex-addicted wife (Shelton), an arrogant millionaire (Bassner), greasy love stories, a car chase, pseudo jungle exotica, a female prison, a small courtroom drama, an exploding house, horror moments, curses, big Cabrio cars, a Bavarian biergarten, a conspiracy plot and a typical psycho drama doppelganger.
The watercolor sunset at the happy end could have been painted by Jeff Koons. And the most ridiculous things are the locations - the movie was probably filmed on Majorca, as there are some special thanks mentioned to notorious Majorca hire car magnate Hasso Schutzendorf who has died recently. So the Mediterranean holiday island has to serve as South American jungle island!!
"Der Schwarze Fluch" is a bad and boring movie, but at least remarkable for its waste of film stars and for the recycling of b-movie styles of the last 50 years! If there will ever be a Julia Kent appreciation society, I will become its first member!
