Despite its trying to convince us it is a supernatural film, Serpent's Lair is really a variation on Fatal Attraction (1987) – there are not any actual supernatural elements until the last twenty minutes. It quite closely resembles the Spanish Immortal Sins (1992) about a man being sexually tempted away from his wife by a reincarnated witch. As with both Fatal Attraction and Immortal Sins, the film charts black-and-white polarized dividing lines when it comes to female sexuality – seductive, sexually wanton and easily available female sexuality is evil, while good is represented by Heather Medway’s boring but loving and sexually non-assertive wife. There is a quite sexist, quite Baptist underlying assumption that woman must be either whores or housewives and that the whore aspect is linked with all manner of diabolical trickery.

These types of films usually have a certain hypocrisy in that their appeal is rooted in the very prurient aspect that they condemn – that is to say they focus on the sexual desirability of the seductress and shoot the sex scenes in a clearly erotic light. In this regard Lisa B. has considerable sizzle when on screen, but in terms of erotic appeal the film is utterly dull. For the initial encounter the film does the almost criminal thing for this type of film – Lisa B. keeps her clothes on and the camera coyly turns away at any hint of naked flesh. This changes somewhat later but the film barely even raises enough steam to fog a window on any icy morning.