Bezenby More exorcist style rip offs from Alberto De Martino, director of hilarious Kirk-Douglas-In-The-Buff Omen rip off "Holocaust 2000" and so-so haunted house film "The Blancheville Monster". This time, he's in Rome detailing the demonic possession of a paralysed woman who falls prey to a past life where she was a witch. And yes, this is the film where our lead lady performs a bit of 'spice island' on a goat.After a cacophonous beginning in a Roman church with loads of screaming, yelling, and screaming, our girl (and rich father Mel Ferrer) decide that religion ain't gonna cure no duff legs, and the girl heads back to her plush Roman home, only to find an obscene religious card belonging to a guy who previously took a header off a wall (this bit will make you do a double take). Crestfallen that God isn't helping her, she goes to see her Uncle, Cardinal Arthur Kennedy, and they indulge in a bit of theological banter.At the same time this girl (her name Ipolita or something) starts having flashbacks to a past life, where she is persecuted for being a witch and worshipping Satan etc. A psychologist turns up to help her and undertakes regressive hypnotherapy in order to find out what's going down. I'm getting bored writing the plot of this one which should give you an indication of the pace of this film.There's a couple of good sequences, like the bit in the catacombs and some trippy persecution scenes, and if you take the goat bit away from that flashback bit then I would say that bit was alright, it's a good looking film (cinematography by Joe "pubes" D'Amato), and has an Ennio Morricone soundtrack, but it's an Alberto De Martino film, so it kind of takes its own time, and is kind of okay, like any film I've seen of his (four in total I think). It's your standard possession film with some obscenity thrown in for good measure. Arthur Kennedy was good, however Not sure why the Italians spent so much time and energy on exploitation films like this, or indeed Women in prison films or cannibal films or films like The Beast in Heat. They were so much better at Gialli, crime films, or zombie films. The Antichrist is a film you'll watch just for the sake of getting it out of the road on your list of Italian films to watch.What would be good, however, would be to have the ability to float about like that - Imagine floating into your work on a Monday. The japes!

Paul Andrews The Antichrist is set in Rome where businessman Massimo Oderisi (Mel Ferrer) lives with his lover Irene (Alida Valli), his son Filippo (Remo Girone) & paralyzed daughter Ippolita (Carla Gravina) who has been unable to walk properly since childhood when she witnessed her mother killed in a car accident. Her father Massimo has tried everything, from faith healers to psychiatrist's to no avail, Massimo will not give up however & ask's psychiatrist Dr. Marcello Sinibaldi (Umberto Orsini) to see if he can do anything for Ippolita. Dr. Sinibaldi is convinced that Ippolita's condition is mental & if she can overcome the mental issue then she would regain the use of legs, in an attempt to discover what is affecting Ippolita psychology Dr. Sinibaldi hypnotises her which releases regressed memories of one of her distant ancestor's who was a Nun but turned to Satan & was executed soon after for Witchcraft. Ippolita soon changes as she becomes possessed by the Devil who wants to be reborn through her, it's decided an exorcism is the only answer...Originally released in the US theatrically under the title The Tempter this Italian production was co-written & directed by Alberto De Martino & is your basic rip-off that the Italians were so famous for during the 70's & 80's, to be fair to them they were pretty good at them & some terrific horror, gore, sci-fi, sleaze & trashy films exist because of this entire sub-genre. No-one made rip-offs like the Italians, I am not sure if that is a good thing or not but they sure made lots of entertaining films during this period. There's absolutely no prizes for guess that The Antichrist is a straight rip-off of The Exorcist (1973) which is rightly regarded as a classic, while it's fairly entertaining in a sleazy & silly way The Antichrist is a million miles away from being described as a classic. At just over 110 minutes the script takes a while to get going & it's 40 odd minutes into the film before Ippolita is astrally raped & becomes possessed complete with a hilarious flashback to some guy in a Goat mask having sex with her ancestor after he makes her lick a Goat's ass, no I am not making that up either. There's the green vomit, some head twisting (although in a twist not the possessed Ippolita) & lots of foul language directed to polite members of society including her father & lover whom she ask's if she likes his cock in her. While watching The Antichrist I got the impression that the makers were playing it deadly straight & some of these scenes come across as silly & a little funny at times (the floating hand scene has be be seen to be believed) which does lessen the impact a bit but if taken in the right spirit there's some fun to be had here. The script doesn't make any great statement about religion or faith or psychological conditions like it might have but that would have slowed things down even further so it's no great loss.If you like your 70's & 80's Italian exploitation then The Antichrist will be right up your street but don't expect lots of gore, only one person is killed during the entire film although several Toad's are killed. There's a bit of nudity & sex including some incest which is then seemingly forgotten about after the cheap shock value is over. One thing that did impress me was the visuals, not so much the photography or direction but the locations & sets which are sumptuous, varied & striking. The blood red corridor lined with bust's that stare in all directions is ultra cool, the deserted streets of Rome & it's architecture is amazing, grand Churches & Cathedral's along with the Italian countryside, huge halls with walls covered by massive oil paintings & the climax set in one of those Gladitorial coliseum things The Antichrist surprisingly is a visually superb film.Not that scary thanks to all the bright colours & slightly silly set-pieces The Antichrist is well made although the English dubbing is sometimes pretty bad, the cast is a mixture of English & Italian speakers so who know's how it was actually film? The five times Oscar nominated Arthur Kennedy & the highly respected Mel Ferrer probably need the money, why else would they be in this? I must admit I really disliked the lead actress here, I thought Gravina was unappealing & unlikable.The Antichrist is a great film to look at with some brilliant sets & locations & it has some entertaining sleaze & exploitation but it's slow & predictable & it is just an inferior rip-off of The Exorcist although it entertains in it's own right I suppose. It could have been much worse that's for sure, fans of Italian exploitation should definitely give it a go.

The_Void I've only seen a handful of Italian Exorcist rip-offs; but I've seen enough to know that this type of film generally isn't very high quality. The same can't be said for Alberto De Martino's The Antichrist, however, which is so far in front of all the other Exorcist rip-offs that I've seen that you could just about throw all the rest of the Italian devil/demons films into the mix; and this one would still rise above the majority of them. Of course, the film has something of a bad reputation for a reason - and how much you enjoy this film may well hinge on just how important a coherent plot line is to you; but if you can ignore that, what we have here is a very good horror film. The plot is not far removed from William Friedkin's 1973 film and focuses on a wheelchair bound woman. Her psychiatrist believes that her problem may be mental rather than physical and sets out to cure her. However, in doing so he brings back memories of her past life; which involved her worshipping Satan, and the woman is soon possessed by the Devil...This film really is very similar to The Exorcist both in style and execution. The victim here spouts vomit and atrocities just as Regan did in the earlier film and of course we get an exorcism scene to go with it; but the film still rises head and shoulders above most films like it thanks to the visuals. Alberto de Martino really put care into how the film looks and many frames are extraordinarily beautiful. The house in which most of the action takes place is a lavish construction that is a pleasure on the eyes - while sequences such as a devil worship orgy as well as the numerous scenes that depict the result of the possession will stick in the memory long after the film has finished. It's clear that the scriptwriter wanted to shock his audience and some of the things that the leading lady spouts really are quite vulgar and blasphemous, which is a highlight. It all boils down to the big exorcism scenes; and De Martino certainly doesn't disappoint here either as its loud, brash and entertaining throughout. In fact, if it wasn't for the turgid opening scenes - this could easily be considered a masterpiece! Don't miss this one!

chau_65 I've always liked this movie and i've been lucky enough to find a VHS copy of the french translation of it in a video rental store that was closing down ten years ago with the original plastic box they use to have in movie rental stores.This is the rarest of my collection since i haven't find any(at least in french like mine)over the internet and i cherish it.Sometimes, i think about selling it but, the one who would buy it would have to lay down the cash, believe me!The special effect are quite mediocre, the actors are bad or badly directed, but since i was only ten years old when i first saw it, the souvenirs makes it more valuable to my eyes.I hope you enjoyed it as much as i do every time i watch it and; who knows, you might owned it someday