Venom

Shelved for nearly five years after completion (reputedly for tax reasons), this was Sykes' feature debut: not - contrary to appearances in an opening sequence involving nude bathing and a mysterious nymph - sexploitation but a spirited horror/adventure movie. The script, about mysterious goings-on in a Bavarian forest (with the hero tangling with a supposed spider goddess, murderous villagers, and evilly-experimenting Nazis) is full of holes; but the action remains tautly visual, and the direction is imaginative enough to gloss over the worst narrative clichés.