The Marquis de Sade is prehaps the most extreme example of a writer whose actual life history has been inextricably confused with the events and characters depicted in his fiction, resulting in the popular perception of de Sade as some mythic personification of sexual depravity, cruelty and evil. Hunter investigates the zone where de Sade's life, literature and legend most closely collide with cinema. Featuring examinations of the films of Luis Bunuel, Jesus Franco and Joe D'Amato, covering genres from horror and porn to arthouse and underground, a plethora of films are examined.