The Antichrist

After one failing attempt approximately a year ago, I really wanted to give this movie another chance, if it were only to struggle beyond those confusing and headache-inducing opening five minutes this time. If you consider watching "The Antichrist", bear in mind that the intro is extremely hectic and unappealing but the movie quickly improves after that. We open at some sort of pilgrimage location where a Holy Mary statue supposedly cures crippled people and where a man possessed by demons jumps off a cliff. This introduction is overlong and the photography is really ugly. After that, however, we're more properly introduced to the female lead character. Ippolita is bound to a wheelchair since a car accident at the age of twelve and her lonely existence causes her to lose all faith in God. She becomes an easy target for Satan to possess her body & soul, especially when she also turns out to be the reincarnation of a 16th Century witch that was burned at the stake (hypnosis brought that up). Overnight, Ippolita transforms into a Satan-puppet who seduces young schoolboys and dreams about wild sex with a guy in a goat mask who feeds her toad heads! Her loving father, brother and priest uncle do whatever they can to save poor Ippolita's soul, but the Devil within her is strong and not at all planning to leave without a 'good vs. evil' battle. Another reviewer righteously pointed out already that it's way too easy to label "The Antichrist" as being just another Italian "The Exorcist" rip off. It only turns into a shameless imitation halfway through the story, when Ippolita moves furniture with her mind and says naughty things similar to the lines Linda Blair driveled in "The Exorcist". The least we can do is refer to this exploitation gem as a "Rip-Off DeLuxe", as Alberto De Martino really bothered to add new ideas and even a couple of very interesting sub plots, such as the incestuous relationship between Ippolita and her brother and the alternative voodoo-treatment by a sleazy-looking religion guru. There are quite a few redundant sequences and the slow pacing often gets on your nerves but "The Antichrist" really isn't such a bad film overall. The only truly embarrassing moments occur when the film tries to look EXACTLY like "The Exorcist", with green vomit and rotating heads etc… Compensating for these flaws are a cool soundtrack, fairly adequate performances and a handful of stylish scenes near the middle of the film. Particularly the orgy-hallucination is hauntingly beautiful and more fascinating than any random sequence in William Friendkin's "The Exorcist".

The Tempter is a great cheesy devil flick; it rates right up there with The Eerie Midnight Horror Show and House of Exorcism ! Cheesy effect, but some great shock value ! The mix of out of work American actors, funky clothes, and some great gross out effects make this one worthwhile. Most of the Italian Horror flicks of the time were cheesy, but worth some great laughs. There are some great creepy and blasphemous scenes in this flick, including some nudity and crazy stuff! A lot of these flicks were very melodramatic and I think added to the movie. Some great visuals and interesting symbolism make this movie a great one to throw on at parties and yuk it up! Highly recommended !

After the Christmas release of "The Exorcist" in 1973 there were a slew of "rip offs" churned out in the US and many other countries. Mario Bava's "Lisa And The Devil" was re-shot with new footage and a new story line and released here in the states as "House Of Exorcism". Now we have this interesting gem released on dvd by those great chaps at Anchorbay. I remember seeing this on vhs as "The Tempter" about ten years ago. It stuck with me as it were. However, where William Friedkin emphasized on the horrors of demonic possession, Alberto De Martino shocks us with the vulgarity. Watch the uncut dvd and look at the Tarot card. I mean I think it is because of the film and The Exorcist that pea soup sales have plummeted. I mean it. No joke. No Tom Foolery. I don't really need to explain the plot as it is a carbon copy of The Exorcist. Nevertheless, it is very interesting and once again we are treated to a haunting score by Ennio Morricone. This movie gets two inverted crosses up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A lot of people would have you think that this movie has no value, but I found it to be, in a lot of ways, more ambitious than THE EXORCIST. True, it is a complete ripoff, and it is virtually devoid of any atmosphere of fear. BUT... Technically speaking, the film is more "out there" than THE EXORCIST, boasting some blue-screen effects and frantic editing, not to mention some utterly surrealistic sequences that take it to another level. The whole thing stays cold, but you'll find yourself having a bit of fun anyways -- if you like seeing puke flying about that is!...

Alberto de Martino is an Italian director who likes to rip-off big box office hits from America and England. He borrowed from the Bond movies for his spy flick Operation Kid Brother; he borrowed from The Omen for his dreadful Holocaust 2000. The Tempter (a.k.a The Antichrist or L'Anticristo) was made in between the other two movies I've just mentioned, and is Martino's inevitable plagiarism of The Exorcist. What's extraordinary is that good professional actors like Carla Gravani, Mel Ferrer, George Coulouris and Arthur Kennedy (yes, the Yankee reporter from Lawrence Of Arabia!) were persuaded to slum it in a shambolic production like this. Gravani plays Ipolatta, a young wheelchair-bound woman who demonstrates psychic abilities. A psychiatrist persuades her to try out regressive hypnotism to cure her disability; she agrees to give it a try, but inadvertently unlocks memories from a previous life in which she was burnt at the stake for satanism. To make matters worse, she is also possessed by the devil and becomes a foul-mouthed, vomit spouting, sexually hungry bitch! An exorcist (Coulouris) is brought in to rid her of the demon within. The Exorcist was one of the scariest films ever made, but this dismal clone is just tasteless and boring. The bouts of sex are purely there to give the film a degree of appeal to adolescents who get aroused by the possibility of a glimpse of tit. They certainly don't add to the atmosphere of the film. The so-called horror sequences are rendered hopelessly laughable by pitiful special effects. Still, the image of a toad having its head torn off and a woman performing oral sex on a goat's anus is enough to put you off your lunch for a day or two, and Gravani frequently lapses into revolting drooling which looks (intentionally?) like semen. If that's the kind of imagery which floats your boat, you might enjoy this. However, most viewers (myself among them) will be rightly repelled by this stupid potboiler and will find it a real challenge to sit through.

Ippolita, a sexually frustrated (and fairly unlikeable), wheelchair bound young woman, feels that she has been forsaken by God. Under the watchful eye of Dr. Marcello Sinibaldi, she undergoes hypnotic regression in an attempt to restore her ability to walk. However, when it is revealed that an ancestor of hers was burnt at the stake as a devil worshipper, the psychologically fragile Ippolita becomes a prime candidate for diabolic possession. Cue projectile vomiting, levitation and blasphemy as director Alberto De Martino ladles on the bargain basement FX in this pretty poor Exorcist rip-off. Despite lavish cinematography by Joe D'Amato, an effective Ennio Morricone soundtrack, and a willingness to go the extra mile to upset (most notably in the notorious orgy/ritual scene, in which a goat receives an implied ass tonguing, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it image of Christ with a huge erect schlong!), L'Anticristo remains a second rate production that bores more than it disturbs. You would think foul-mouthed, green-puke spitting females with a tendency to float around their room automatically make a film worth watching, but, hampered by leaden pacing and some dreadful effects, De Martino's movie is a chore to sit through.

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!

When I went in the video store to look for a horror video I found this piece of flop that unfortunately blew me away with the words "the best special effects" and I decided to give it a try. Boy was I wrong! This movie was more laughable with it's "special effects" than scary. I could just imagine the poorly paid crew and staff pushing furniture across the floor and moving paintings on the other side of the wall in the midst of a demonic presence. A handicaped woman who looses her handicaped during her demonic attacks suddenly becomes a tool for Satan and all we see is poor acting and laughable hallucinations borrowed from movies such as "Rosemary's Baby", "Exorcist" and numerous other titles that tried to copy them as well. This is one of the worst of demonic horror movies that I have seen; slobbering all over herself like she has rabies and the mocking of sexual scenes with the Devil. Give me a break.

I remember seeing this movie when I worked at one of my local video stores back in 1998. The description of the movie on the box was rather hilarious as it is obviously bashing itself by saying "Move over Linda Blair". Yes, this is one of the many rip-offs of the famous Friedkin directed film "The Excorcist". Now, just because it was a blatant rip-off does not mean that it wasn't a decent film. First of all, this movie has a very good and creepy soundtrack done by Ennio Morricone. If it weren't for the soundtrack this movie would not have been very good. Second, one of the leading stars in the movie is the infamous Mel Ferrer who has been in many Italian horror flicks in the later part of his acting career. Third, the atmosphere of this movie is actually very well done. It was done well enough to keep your interest high. Unfortuanitly, the down parts of the movie are when the lead actress who gets possessed starts talking just like Linda Blair in "The Excorcist" and she also starts vomiting green crap all over the place just like in "The Excorcist". But if you are a fan of this genre of film making than you can overlook these blatant rip-offs. All in all, I liked this movie. It is nothing great but still enjoyable and worth watching. 7\10 stars

Dismissing The Antichrist as a rip-off of The Exorcist is too easy. Sure it was designed to cash-in on The Exorcist's success, but it's not the first movie to ride the coattails of another movie. Just look at all the sequels that Jaws spawned (Piranha, Tintotera, Crocodile, etc.) for an even better example. My problems with The Antichrist have nothing to do with comparisons to The Exorcist. Instead, I think that The Antichrist is a mess of a movie on its own. I suppose that for a movie of this type to be effective, it helps if the audience cares or has some sort of feelings for the characters. Other than the main character, Ippolita Oderisi (Carla Gravina), we never learn enough about them to care what happens to them. As for Ippolita, she's so unlikable that I couldn't have cared less whether she was possessed or not. She's a bitter woman with no redeeming characteristics that I could discern. Even before the possession, she seems to relish making everyone's life miserable. And why should it bother me that she is possessed by the devil? She asked for it - literally. So, she got what she wanted. I had no sympathy for this woman, and without that, the movie doesn't work. There are other problems with The Antichrist beyond whether or not I cared about the main character. The acting is plain old bad. Even somewhat accomplished actors like Mel Ferrer look like their starring in the local amateur hour. In one scene, I swear he looks embarrassed to be anywhere near this film. The only actor of any consequence who comes off with any dignity in tact is Anita Strindberg and that's just because of her limited screen time. I suppose that I'll leave it at that and not write anymore about the other areas where the movie fails. Writing about everything I had a problem with in The Antichrist is like shooting fish in a barrel. I could target the special effects, a score that's not up to Morricone's high standards, or the cheap attempts to gross-out the audience, but you get the idea.