The Night of the Virgin Review: A young virgin has a nightmare of New Year’s Eve after meeting older woman Medea at a party.
The Night of the Virgin review by Kat Hughes, February 2017.
The Night of the Virgin review
Nico (Javier Bódalo) is a twenty-something virgin out partying with friends on New Year’s Eve. After being ditched by his mates, and striking out several times, Nico resigns himself to another sexless evening, then he meets the mysterious Medea (Miriam Martín)…
The pair go back to her place and Nico finds that his new year will definitely kick-off with a bang, but it won’t be a pleasant one. Can Nico survive the new year’s festivities?
The Night of the Virgin, or La noche del virgen as it is known in its native Spanish tongue, is a bizarre amalgamation of sex, horror, comedy and gross-out visuals. This is a film that seems keen to shock, and it succeeds. Viewers should strap in, as director Roberto San Sebastián assaults you with everything in his arsenal pretty much from the start. The film offers us stabbings, awkward sexual encounters, horrific labour, nightmarish creatures, and every spectrum of bodily fluids imaginable.
The Night of the Virgin review
With so much being thrown on screen, the story feels fractured and schizophrenic. There’s an intriguing story buried amidst the chaos, but it gets a little lost. The run time also seems slightly excessive for a film of its ilk. At just shy of two hours, it drags in places, and without a fully cohesive story, the attention can wander.
Actors Bódalo and Martin give bold and very brave performances. Both fully commit to their roles and must have gone through Hell for the production (both spend a good potion of the film soaked in various fluids, and that stuff isn’t easy to get out). It takes guts to sign on for a film as insane as this one and the duo prove that they are up to the task.
The Night of the Virgin won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and you’ll definitely need a strong stomach to last the duration. Those of a particularly sensitive nature should probably give this one a wide birth. That being said, if you don’t mind a film with a twisted sense of humour, a unique take on the minefield of one night stands, and bodily fluids streaming from all orifices, then this one’s for you.
The Night of the Virgin screened as part of Frightfest Glasgow 2017.
