The Antichrist ( 1974 )

Directed by Alberto De Martino

The Exorcist is the Grand daddy of possession type films which all others will be compared to. In the years following The Exorcist,many films have tried to ride the coat tails of it's success. Many have failed, even the Exorcist II, The Heretic(1977)was a total piece of mumbo jumbo demonic bullshit. Director John Boorman has helmed a couple of genre pictures you may have heard of. Both Zardoz and Deliverance were made before The Exorcist II, so we can assume he would be capable of bringing it to the screen. Excalibur was filmed in 1981 which is excellent so I'm going to blame the writing for The Exorcist II for sucking like it did.

I love the Italians for their blatant rip offs of a movie that make money, Fulci did it with Romero's Dawn of the Dead when he made Zombie. In Europe and Italy specifically, Dawn of the Dead was known as Zombie and Fulci's Zombie is known as zombie 2. So with the Exorcist being as big as it was , the Italians were all over it like oregano on a spaghetti sauce.

Ippolita is a young woman, paralyzed from a car accident that also claimed the life of her mother.Ippolita has many issues, for one she is sexually frustrated and blames her father for the death of her mother. Her father's new fiancee Greta doesn't help matters much either.She is also losing her faith with God. When Doctors can't find a physical reason behind her paralysis, her brother Filippo discreetly invites a psyhcologist to a party being held in Ippolita's honour. Dr. Sinibaldi believes he can heal her paralysis with the power of hypnosis. With Ippolita asleep we see a young girl in the back seat of a car, her parents up front. Her mother doesn't like automobiles, and her father teases her as a dog runs out in front of them. Avoiding the canine the car screeches and leaves the safety of the asphalt road and tumbles into a wooded area . Ippolita's father is thrown from the car before it crashes into a tree. Mother's brains splattered all over the interior side of the windshield, and Ippolita still inside a burning vehicle, " My legs are dead" with Ippolita now in a frenzy the Doctor wakes her up from the hypnosis.The Doctor not happy with these results , makes plans for another session. This time he will take Ippolita back farther then the day of the accident. He ends up taking her back to the time before she was even born, before being reincarnated into Ippolita, she was a witch during the inquisitions.The most shocking sequence of the film is at the ceremony when this witch will become a sister to Satan. Among a sea of naked flesh of men and women engaging in acts of a sexual nature, the witch rises and and makes her way to the ceremonial alter. Laying on her back , a man dressed as a goat is mounting her. A female goat is led to the alter and positioned in a way that the witch is able to perform oral sex on it. This thank goodness is not shown, just implied. Meanwhile, Ippolita is seen squirming around on the couch like there is no tomorrow with her tongue flicking to and fro.I think the actress Carla Graviana was such a brave actor to do the things requested of her, or just desperate for the money. Any how this session seems to have cured Ippolita's paralysis. With Doctor Simibaldi the family decides to celebrate at dinner. Shortly Ippolita is gorging down her meal like a hog at an all you can eat buffet.Foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog she spews the nastiest, ugliest things imaginable with a deep bellowing voice from the darkest depths of Hell. Singling out her future step mother in particular. As her anger intensifies , drawers will come flying out of their cabinets, pictures will dance on the walls and lights will sputter on and off. I didn't find this as shocking as The Exorcist, where you have vile and blasphemous words coming from the mouth of a twelve year old as opposed to coming from that of a twenty something young woman.The acting I thought was quite good in this film. As mentioned before actress Carla Graviana had to do some weird shit, but other actors fared no better as one character was forced to lick up some green coloured bile as the possessed Ippolita regurgitates onto her hand. Actress Alida Valli has green pea soup spat onto her face ala Father Merrin from The Exorcist. I thought Director Alberto De Martino led the cast and crew to a mostly decent production, the only real short comings being the budget which didn't fully realise the film's full potential. Some of the graphic effects came off a little cheesy, such as when Ippolita's hand departs from her arm and chokes a character and Ippolita levitating. I'm not the most religious person in the world, but felt uncomfortable of a talisman with a picture of Jesus with a constipated look on his face and penis exposed.I felt this was unnecessary.

The look of the film was quite nice with lots of reds and blues to take in , Joe D'Amato is the cinematographer who has directed many horror films since this, my personal favorite being Beyond the Darkness, a sickie in it's own right.What Exorcist ripoff would be complete without a 360 degrees head spin? Again , the low budget pays havoc to a shoddy looking effect. Ippolita when possessed will seduce young men, one unfortunate horny toad is lured away from his class tour and is shown to have his head rotated around. Really it is just the actor laying on his back with his clothes on backwards. The music in this film is excellent, the score is provided by the great Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, I don't know jackshit about Nicolai but Morricone is responsible for many horror film soundtracks and the man without a name trilogy with Clint Eastwood such as A Fistful of Dollars, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly, all excellent films. The ferociousness of the violins used in this movie will make you feel like you are being attacked from your speakers.

My Thoughts: I definately did not find this to be as frightening as The Exorcist. I found this to be more of a poor man's version, the effects were just not that strong. The main Actress Carla Gravina, when not possessed had an angelic look about her, I wonder if the film makers had this in mind when casting. I also found The Antichrist rather anti climatic, Ippolita being pursued by her father and brother on the grounds of a church in the pouring rain. Theres probaly something symbolic about this, maybe the rain cleansing her soul, washing her sins away ?

My Rating: 3 Go Go Girls out of 5 This was still sleazy enough for my liking.