Meridian
One of several B-movies Sherilyn Fenn made during during the late 1980s, Meridian was released originally on home video in 1990 (the first of many releases under a variety of titles over the years). Part sexploitation thriller and part fantasy horror, the script adapts ideas from the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, while also weaving in ghosts along with its curse. While problematic, for a number or reasons including our lead falling in love with her rapist, the film has impressive production values for a B-movie with the castle, and the various statues and gargoyles across its lawn, making for a visually interesting backdrop to the proceedings.
Fenn stars as Italian-American Catherine Bomarzini who returns to her family's castle for the first time in years, also reuniting with her more adventurous college friend Gina (Charlie Spradling) working nearby as an art restorer. Talked into seeing a traveling carnival just outside the castle grounds by Gina, who also invites the performers to dine with them in the castle over Cathehrine's reservations, the night ends with the twin brothers (who hide the fact that there are two of them) drugging and each raping one of the women.
Shaken following the events of the night, Catherine begins seeing a ghostly woman (Isabella Celani) in the halls of the castle (which we also learn she saw as a child). Meanwhile, Gina returns to work restoring an old painting. Together each puts part of the mystery together. Also filling in a large piece of the plot is a story told to Catherine by her former nanny (Hilary Mason) about the last time the performers targeted a woman living within the castle.
The brothers Lawrence and Oliver (both played by Malcolm Jamieson) are trapped themselves in a hate-filled spiral of a curse of immortality with Oliver often turning into a beast while the more charming Lawrence acts more beastly most of the time. It's Lawrence who returns to rape Catherine a second time only to be stopped by his brother, knowing that if Catherine can fall in love with him she can break the curse.
The film is one of many director/producer Charles Band made during his career (which peaked with him putting out an average of two films every month). Meridian is certainly a product of its time as it unapologetically capitalizes on the titillation of getting its stars naked as much as possible and comes to some concerning conclusions about date rape being an aphrodisiac on the road to love, although the script does allow for Fenn to play up the confused emotions Catherine struggles with over the course of the film both in what was done to her and the larger gothic tragedy in which she's been ensnared.
- Title: Meridian
- IMDb: link
