Faust: Love of the Damned

Faust: Love of the Damned
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Brian Yuzna
Screenplay by	David Quinn Miguel Tejada-Flores
Based on	Faust (comics) by Tim Vigil and David Quinn
Produced by	Ted Chalmers Carlos Fernández Julio Fernández Antonio González Bea Morillas Miguel Torrente Brian Yuzna
Starring	Mark Frost Isabel Brook Jennifer Rope Jeffrey Combs Andrew Divoff
Cinematography	Jacques Haitkin
Edited by	Luis de la Madrid
Music by	Xavier Capellas
Production company	Castelao Producciones[2]
Release date	12 October 2000 (2000-10-12) (Sitges Film Festival)[1]
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Spain[2]
Language	English

Faust: Love of the Damned is a 2000 Spanish English-language superhero horror film directed by Brian Yuzna. It is adapted from a screenplay by David Quinn and Miguel Tejada-Flores based on the comic book of the same name by Tim Vigil and David Quinn. It was produced by Ted Chalmers, Carlos, Julio and Antonio Fernández, Bea Morillas, Miguel Torrente and Brian Yuzna. It premiered at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival on 12 October 2000.

The film, which was the first of nine to be produced by Filmax's Fantastic Factory label, won the award for Best Special Effects at the 2000 Catalan International Film Festival in Sitges, Spain.^[3]

Plot[]

Arriving to a crime scene officer Dan Margolies (Jeffrey Combs) investigates a brutal scene of multiple bodies mutilated then he’s attacked by the assailant, who wears metal gauntlets with long blades resembling claws. The assassin almost kills him but stops after seeing his boss in the shadows, retracting the claws back into the gauntlets. Taking him to a psychiatric hospital to find answers Margolies meets Doctor Jade De Camp who believes she can help the patient. After using music to help his treatment she notices him staring at a death metal CD. She plays the CD and drives the assassin into a rage, smashing the boombox and regaining his memory.

The assassin reveals his name to be John Jaspers (Mark Frost), who sold his soul to the mysterious M (as for Mephistopheles) (Andrew Divoff) in order to avenge the death of his girlfriend, Blue (Jennifer Rope), at the hands of a gangster. M gave John the gauntlets and warns him one day when he believes in something again he will regret the deal he made and M will take that away from him. John now armed with his new weapons enacts bloody revenge on the gangster and his men, embracing the inner devil inside him.

However, John learns he now has become M’s slave and cannot break the contract. M forces John to eat the gangster’s heart to let John’s evil grow. Jade does not believe John’s story and instead tries to help the human part in him to resurface again. Jade presents her findings to Margolies who digs deeper into M’s involvement and the secret society he belongs to called The Hand. Back at the hospital John is taken by M’s henchmen who drug him, bind him in a straitjacket and throw him in a empty grave, where M proceeds to have John buried alive and take Jade as part of the warning he told John earlier. John finds himself in Hell where he’s attacked by a skeleton. He breaks free from the straitjacket, retrieves his gauntlets and kills the skeleton. He escapes his grave and a shadow of him changing is seen on the tombstone which reads ‘Faust’.

Jade is attacked by M’s men. Before she is taken away, John- now transformed into the devil Faust- arrives, kills the men and saves Jade. He flies onto a roof and asks a gargoyle whether he spilled too much blood or not enough, now becoming more in tune with his demon side. The surviving man returns to M’s mansion to inform him of what happened but instead is seduced and later killed by M's wife Claire, with M proceeding to punish her in a special effects heavy scene, due to her constant manipulation and lust for killing. Jade returns home after talking with Margolies who now has gotten closer to finding out M’s true motives and his involvement with many people and events over the years. While home Jade finds out John is there too, trying to talk to her and to stop his bloodlust. But when she mentions police outside, John becomes angered and turns into Faust when he realizes the cops are on M’s payroll.

Faust kills the cops and chases after Jade. Eventually he corners her on a subway but begs her to come with him to save her, after he separates the train with his claws when the police chief- who works for M- also arrives to take Jade. Faust takes her to his old and ruined apartment where he changes back to John but still has a devil face, and proceeds to taunt Jade about good and evil. Jade calms him down and the two make love, but stop when Jade begins screaming. She tells John she was raped as a child but can’t remember the man’s face and it left severe psychological damage to her. The two embrace and rest. Meanwhile back at M’s mansion the police chief interrupts M’s meeting to reprimand him for not telling about John’s power. Margolies is there hiding behind a two way mirror and witnesses M kill the chief where he is discovered by M shortly.

Margolies calls Jade to meet at M’s home but now it’s revealed he has betrayed her and sided with M. M plans to use Jade to lure John for the ritual he intends to conduct. M is betrayed however when Claire has his doctor give him a syringe filled with a poison that begins to dissolve M; not before he kills the doctor for his betrayal. Claire later shoots M in the head with a shotgun and begins to torture Jade in extreme sadomasochistic fashion to mentally break her. The plan works and Jade has become corrupt, but to Claire’s shock M is alive again and now has everything he needs for his plans.

John, standing on the bridge where he made his deal with M, sees an image of Jade in danger and runs to her aid. Now as Faust he crashes the ritual, but due to the terms of the deal he cannot hurt M. He becomes defeated, turning back into John when the mentally broken Jade rejects him for M. M proceeds with the ritual, killing Claire by removing a snake from her stomach, letting it slither into Margolies’ mouth to be consumed, and now has opened a gate to Hell. He further humiliates John by having sex with Jade but the trauma she received as a child snaps her back to full awareness, even remembering it was her father who had done the act to her. M has now summoned a demon who proceeds to burn all of his followers to death. Jade knocks out M and frees John, becoming Faust to kill the demon and ruining M’s plans.

Still under the control of his contract M tortures John, but Jade offers up herself in exchange for John to be free of his contract and have his soul returned. M agrees and burns the contract, but John loses his powers and thus the injuries he received earlier begin to take effect. Now free, John stands up and kills M, but because he ate the gangster’s heart he sealed his fate and finally dies with Jade mourning over his body.

Cast[]

• Mark Frost as Jonathan "John" Jaspers / Faust
• Isabel Brook as Jade de Camp
• Jennifer Rope as Blue
• Jeffrey Combs as Lt. Dan Margolies
• Andrew Divoff as M (Mephistopheles)
• Mónica Van Campen as Claire

Release[]

Faust: Love of the Damned premiered at Sitges Film Festival on 12 October 2000.^[1] It was released theatrically in late October 2000.^[4]

Trimark released it on DVD in 2001,^[5] and Mosaic released a DVD in the UK in January 2002.^[6] Arrow Video re-released the DVD on 18 April 2011, containing several special features.^[7]

Reception[]

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AllMovie's review of the film was mixed, writing, "Check your brain at the door and eat up this grisly eye candy."^[8] Jonathan Holland of Variety described it as "entertaining in a voyeuristic way but also as corny, crude and excessive as they come."^[9] Gareth Jones of Dread Central rated it 2/5 stars and called it "utter, utter trash" that is a guilty pleasure.^[10] Bloody Disgusting rated it 4/5 stars and wrote that it was much better than expected, though cheesy and corny in spots.^[11] Patrick Naugle of DVD Verdict called it "low budget horror slop with lots of T&A" of interest mostly to Yuzna fans.^[5]

Soundtrack[]

The film's soundtrack was released through Roadrunner Records and featured songs by heavy metal artists. Machine Head's "Take My Scars" was used as the film's theme song, playing over the film's opening credits. The band's song "The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears" is also featured in the film, but not on the soundtrack. Other songs included in the film but not the soundtrack are "Remanufacture" by Fear Factory, "Lady Bird" by Baby Fox, "Def Beat" by Junkie XL, and "Breed Apart" by Sepultura.

Track listing

References[]

External links[]

• Faust: Love of the Damned at IMDb
• Faust: Love of the Damned at AllMovie
• Faust: Love of the Damned at Rotten Tomatoes