Not as vile as other reviews have suggested, although certainly sordid and lurid, but it also does a great job of building tension and an uncomfortable mood and is a worthwhile thriller.

Young aspiring fashion model Tulia visits the country house of Sarah and her "nephew" Theo, under a pretence that Theo is something of a young prodigy who will take brilliant photos of Tulia to kick-start her career. However, the ulterior motive is to be a toy in Sarah's regular threesomes. An air of danger and mystery is established early on due to the unsatisfying explanations given regarding the disappearance of Sarah's previous lover, Rhonda, who stayed at the house under similar circumstances. The film presents several possible culprits, including Theo, Sarah, a strange flute-playing figure in the woods and a possible supernatural element.

The performances are good, with. Karl Lanchbury as Theo being particularly memorable. He is creepy, manipulative and yet charismatic enough to keep Tulia and the audience guessing as to his motivations.

The ending is a little disappointing and abrupt; it really just goes through some predictable motions and ends on a sordid and unpleasant note. All in all, though, this is an effective and gripping thriller.

Do you know that numb feeling of watching a movie and, after about 35-40 minutes into it, you suddenly realize that nothing - absolutely nothing - even remotely interesting or exciting has happened so far? "Whirlpool" gave me that annoying feeling. There's a creep rowing in a canoe for an awfully long time, and an uptight wealthy 40-something woman is parading around in her mansion. That about covers the first quarter. The two apparently live together as aunt and nephew (yeah, sure) and they are both deviant pervs. The aunt is a lesbian with a fetish for luring naïve fashion models to the house, and the nasty nephew photographs them. They all play strip poker together, and the pretty model is too unfathomably stupid to leave even though she gets humiliated, or simply because these two persons are utter loonies!

"Whirlpool" was the first long-feature film of the Spanish born José Ramón Larraz and enjoys somewhat of a cult status because it was presumed lost for several years. Well, I'm a big fan of Larraz and deeply admire several other films he made, but "Whirlpool" could have remained lost as far as I'm concerned. It's unpleasant, but not in a way that uncanny & gritty 70s exploitation flicks should be unpleasant. It's insufferably dull and slow-paced, and not at all compelling because you don't care for any of the characters. Vivian Neves, for example, is truly gorgeous - but with her clothes on and without - but her character is so incredibly naïve and brainless that you can't cheer for her. Regarding J. R. Larraz' resume, I can highly recommend "Vampyres", "Symptoms", "Rest in Pieces" and "Edge of the Axe". Even "The House that Vanished", "La Muerta Incierta", and "The Coming of Sin" are worthwhile, but this one (and "Deadly Manor") are quite worthless.

She died with her boots on - and not much else.

Yes, José Ramón Larraz didn't do anything subtle, huh?

Sarah (Pia Andersson) is a woman of a certain age living in the countryside of London with another shutterbug named Theo (Karl Lanchbury) in a relationship that has them refer to one another as aunt and nephew. Sara invites a model named Tulia (Vivian Neves) to stay with them and be photographed; the very first session goes poorly as Tulia sees a hooded figure spying on her. She shares that this same thing happened when her friend Rhonda (Johanna Hegger) stayed at the house and that something was wrong with the lake.

That night, everyone gets drunk, the ladies get naked and Theo and Tulia make love whole Sarah looks at photos of Rhonda when what she really wanted was a threesome. Things get stranger when Mr. Field comes looking for evidence of Rhonda and Theo sets him up to nearly assault Tulia while he films it.

Of course, all is soon forgiven and that menage a trois ends up happening. Moments later, Mr. Field is stabbed to death by Theo, who follows that up by confessing to Tulia that he's a sadist as she stares at photos of Rhonda being abused by multiple men. She tries to run through the woods but he catches up to her and snuffs her out.

In case you wonder why Roger Ebert said that this movie had "particularly grisly sort of violence, photographed for its own sake and deliberately relishing in its ugliness. It made me awfully uneasy," it would be because this movie is, well, shocking and brutal at almost every opportunity.

As you can imagine, this movie was cut to pieces when it first played in England. Also released as Perversion Flash, Flash Light and She Died with Her Boots On, this feels like the first version of Larraz's superior Symptoms. That said - it's still pretty effective.