The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I got this film in a pack with eight other films in it. I watched this one first because its very short description made it sound like it might be good. I was thinking a haunted house tell with some risqué scenes here and there. Instead, it turns out to be one of the most dull films I have ever seen from the Full Moon Studios. I just could not believe it was made by them, one never expects gold when watching their films, but one does expect more fun than this film had to offer. Even the music was bland...it reminded me of the music from that Pod People film. Someone pushing on a Casio keyboard for a minute at a time! The only saving grace was the two lead actresses who were very cute and you did get to see them nude. Not enough to save the film, I am afraid.The story at first seemed to have something to do with a girl who restores paintings. However, the focus is instead on this girl's friend who has returned to live at her castle. The painting restorer and the head of the castle view this show and invite the entertainers to the castle where the entertainers promptly drug and have sex with the two girls. At this point I am thinking it is going to be bad, but at least there will be plenty of nudity. Unfortunately, I quickly realize this film is not really much of a horror flick at all and only a slightly more risqué version of Beauty and the Beast. There is hardly any blood or gore and besides the first nude scene there is relatively little in the way of skin the rest of the way.Perhaps Charles Band wished to make a more serious in tone film, and I will not fault him for trying something different. One could almost say this is a horror film and a romance merged into one. However, it plays out way to much like a chick flick for my tastes as it needs more of anything! It also needed less paint restoration too. Yes, this goes on for way to long and the revelation here was not all that grand either. The ending was also relatively lame...just too much talking, not enough anything of interest to me when I have expectations of watching a horror film.

...this is 80s horror cheese to the core. Delicious.That said, while the STUNNING beauty of the two actresses probably brought you here (and do make the whole thing worth it) the best reason to stay is to see 80s horror cheese try SO. DAMN. HARD. to be a 'work of erotic Gothic film.' There's a special charm to such efforts if you watch for it. There are enough spoilers in the other reviews, so I'll elaborate on how this isn't just another 'so bad it's good' kind of charm. Specifically, while the slow motion shots and synth music must have seemed cliché even at the time, there is never one tongue in cheek or 'we know we're bad so go easy on us' moment. This is a recipe for pretentiousness or misguided sincerity, take your pick. Take it the same way you'd chose to be frightened or swindled out of your aloof cynical money at a carnival spook house.

Yes, this movie features the incredible...ummm, talents of Sherilyn Fenn and Charlie Spradling but honestly I was going to imitate another fairy tale and fall asleep for a hundred years rather than make it to the end. This is BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with a modern-day Italian setting, and a gothic horror spin by making it a psycho-sexual romp! Sounds intriguing, and it well could have been much like the SNOW WHITE movie that did this same thing with more success, or COMPANY OF WOLVES that remade Little Red Riding Hood into a very sexy gothic horror movie. But alas, MERIDIAN just plods along without much direction or clear focus on anything! The effects are not special, the story simple and not engaging, and valiant efforts by La Fenn and company can not save any scene in the entire movie. Only the die-hard Fenn fan could weather this storm, and I barely made it despite a very strong obsession for her.

This film will not challenge anyone intellectually. The castle where a good portion of the movie is filmed does have an eerie feel about it. Charlie Spradling and Sherilyn Fenn play the two women who are drugged at the castle where they live by some weird circus performers. The leader of the group takes Fenn into a back bedroom and strips her down and looks like he is going to have a good time with the nubile, lovely lady but then he passes her over to his twin brother. The leader then goes and strips down Charlie Spradling and and ravages her body while his brother gets it on with the drugged Fenn. Weird!