THE NIGHT OF THE VIRGIN: A Horror Comedy That Isn’t Quite Either

Although the title suggested it may be a little derivative, I was genuinely excited to watch The Night of the Virgin, if just for the sake of what I thought would be a fun gross-out comedy with the sense of humour of something like Superbad, or even Evil Dead II. Unfortunately what I viewed was unbearably dull and used shock humour without purpose in an attempt to trick you into finding it more exciting.

Premise and Potential

The plot of the film centres around, as many comedies do, a nerdy virgin (Nico, played by Javier Bodalo) trying to get laid. Nico comes across a mysterious older woman called Medea in a club on New Year’s Eve and goes home with her in an attempt to finally get some action. Instead, though, she teaches him about the Nepalese goddess Naoshi, and various offputting demonic occurrences happen.

Regrettably, though, none of these disturbing happenings results in anything more than unfunny gross-out gags with nothing else to say. Director Roberto San Sebastian could have utilised the horror genre in order to provide an allegory for sexually transmitted diseases like It Follows, or comedy to explore the more cringe-worthy aspects of sexual inexperience as in The 40 Year Old Virgin, but does nothing this insightful. For the most part, the film feels like the set up for a far more interesting premise dragged out to feature length; imagine if the narrative of Jaws was entirely the opening scene with the teenage couple.

In terms of gory horror imagery, I personally enjoy vibrant practical effects the most, from the likes of Hellraiser and From Beyond. What films like this tend to share in common is a well-lit frame that can show these effects most effectively. I found that nearly every scene of this film was shrouded in an unnecessary amount of darkness, that didn’t make the mise-en-scene much more ominous and often obstructed the view of an otherwise potentially effective gross-out scare. If some light had been utilised even sparingly, I’m sure the visuals could have more effectively popped.

When other elements of The Night Of The Virgin falter, the performances remain consistent and memorable. Bodalo is believable as Nico, his wide-eyed horror and goofy grin bringing some life to the dark and dismal frame, particularly during the sadly relatable opening club scene. Miriam Martin as Medea commands every scene she is in, and she manages to project an enigmatic sense of power only minutes into her screentime. Having said this though, I find it sad that her powerful sense of sexuality is played for laughs with Nico as a ‘granny-f****r’, and framed as a kind of sexual perversion when it certainly wouldn’t be for a younger woman. Frankly, both of them deserve better than this movie.

Femininity and Homosexuality

This is a horror film that once again uses images of femininity as a source of gross-out scares and terror. We as the audience are meant to feel either horrified and disgusted or incredibly amused when Medea takes Nico’s phone and inserts it into her vagina, and when he samples some of her menstrual blood; the movie achieves neither, hitting a not-so-sweet spot between discomfort and embarrassment. Regardless, naming a murderous and sexual character after the notorious Greek goddess Medea seems like an intelligent reference and does serve to broaden the mythological grounding of much of the narrative.

Whilst the issues of feminism in the movie are somewhat more complex, San Sebastian’s treatment of homosexuality is undeniably appalling. Nico’s friends happily throw around homophobic slurs as insults without consequence, and a gay couple in the film are depicted solely as sexual deviants. Whether intentional or not, this disdain and disgust for gay people from most characters of the film just comes across as backwards and disappointing.

Conclusion: The Night of the Virgin

If you can find a graphic ten-minute long scene of a character masturbating funny or interesting, then you will enjoy this movie. With no clever jokes or insightful plot developments and not enough scares to build any real suspense or fear, I would recommend watching What We Do In The Shadows or even The Babysitter rather than The Night of the Virgin for a better recent horror comedy experience.

Do you think The Night of the Virgin stacks up against other horror comedies? Let me know in the comments!

The Night of the Virgin was released on streaming and DVD on June 12th in the UK and US.