Whirlpool (1970)

Swinging London fashion model, Tulia (Vivian Neves), is lured to an isolated country estate by a creepy older woman called Sara (Pia Andersson) to meet her even creepier photography-obsessed nephew, Theo (Karl Lanchbury).

She doesn’t seem too perturbed to learn that Rhonda (Johanna Hegger) – the previous female model that went there – has disappeared without a trace, nor does she find it strange that on her first night in the country the aunt and nephew get her drunk and engage her in a perverse game of strip poker.

She almost has sex with Theo (while his aunt Sara secretly watches) but he isn’t able to perform. The next day he takes her into town and pays a friend to rip her clothes off and nearly rape her while he takes pictures.

This doesn’t seem to bother her either because soon she’s involved in another bisexual three-way sex/photography session with the aunt and nephew.

This directorial debut from the cult Spanish expatriate director Jose Larraz is a far more amateurish affair than his later (and better) films like Symptoms and Vampyres, but has the same basic themes: sexual perversity played out against a background of haunting natural beauty.

The movie was written off as a cheap sex movie when it was released and you can see the ending coming from a mile away (the alternative title – She Died With Her Boots On – pretty much gives it away).

Theo
Karl Lanchbury
Tulia
Vivian Neves
Sara
Pia Andersson
Rhonda
Johanna Hegger
Tom
Andrew Grant
Olivia
Sibyla Grey
Pub Landlord
Larry Dann

Director
José Ramón Larraz