: Due to its extreme themes and legal challenges, the film never received widespread theatrical distribution or mainstream DVD treatment.
The movie opens with a highly disturbing sequence: a young girl named Jeanine inadvertently witnesses her mother () engaging in sexual relations with the family's Doberman dog. When her deeply religious father ( Paul Müller ) catches them, he reacts with manic violence, chaining the animal inside the family home and setting the entire structure ablaze.
: The mention of VHS indicates that the film was at some point made available on this now largely obsolete format for home viewing. VHS tapes were a common medium for watching movies and recorded content outside of theaters from the late 1970s through the 1990s. Bestiality -Bestialita- - Peter Skerl 1976 -Vhs...
Peter Skerl remains one of the more enigmatic figures of European cult cinema. Born in Belgrade, he started his career as a stage director before transitioning to screenwriting and film directing. Bestialità was intended to be part of an ambitious trilogy, which ultimately collapsed due to severe financial constraints.
But the mystery is this: how could this be real? In an era before CGI, many viewers assumed the scenes were either real (an unspoken crime) or the clever use of fakery. The truth, as revealed by actress Franca Stoppi (who played Jeanine's mother), is that the scenes were "clearly, of a simulation". The director's achievement was not in capturing an illegal act, but in staging it so effectively that audiences were left wondering. The trick was assisted by the fact that the dog in the film, a Doberman named Satana, was an exceptionally calm animal who followed his trainer's commands. : Due to its extreme themes and legal
The script, co-penned by Luigi Montefiori (better known as George Eastman—the mastermind behind cult horrors like Anthropophagous ), blends elements of Italian giallo moodiness with raw, psychological sleaze. The Mystery of Director Peter Skerl
was condemned for "immoral acts" by a Roman judge due to a simulated scene with a dog at the beginning of the film. Media Formats: : The mention of VHS indicates that the
One of the key selling points for collectors is the film's co-writer: , the pseudonym of Luigi Montefiori. Eastman was a towering figure in Italian exploitation cinema, known for his work on ultra-gory and explicit films like Anthropophagus: The Beast and the Nazi-exploitation/porn hybrid Porno Holocaust . While Eastman was not the director of Bestiality , his involvement as a screenwriter gives the film a direct lineage to some of the grimmest, sleaziest Italian films of the era. This connection has turned Bestiality into a "mandatory shelf-filler for completionists of Italian grindhouse cinema".
The narrative is driven by Jeanine’s deep-seated childhood trauma: as a girl, she witnessed her mother in a compromising position with the family Doberman, an event that ended in a horrific fire. Years later, Jeanine remains obsessed with the animal, leading to a bizarre and ultimately tragic collision between the visiting couple and the island’s dark secrets. Is it Art or Sleaze?