Ah, Exorcist rip-offs! – God love ’em.
Built around a remarkable performance from Carla Gravina, this is a surprisingly compelling hodge-podge of devil-worship, reincarnation, incest, possession, and some other stuff I don’t dare mention on the front page of the blog…right up to about the two-thirds mark, at which point everyone threw up their hands and said, “Oh, bugger it! – let’s just rip-off Friedkin!” The fact that they proceeding to do precisely that, and on an effects budget that wouldn’t have covered The Exorcist‘s use of pea-soup, makes the final third compelling for all the wrong reasons.
[Caution: some images NSFW!]
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#1 by JessicaR on January 5, 2010 - 10:12 pm
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I love the pic you used, I’ve never seen Amanda Plummer look so giddy.
#2 by lyzard on January 5, 2010 - 11:29 pm
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Yes, she was really on a roll at that point her career, what with this and Tomb Raider… (OMG! Cross-board humour!)
Seriously, Carla Gravina’s range of expressions in this film is one of things I really enjoy about it. Ippolita spends so much time looking so darn pleased with herself.
#3 by El Santo on January 5, 2010 - 10:28 pm
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“I must say, it’s very odd finding the same sort of plot that drove endless anti-Catholic literature during the nineteenth century in an Italian film!”
Lyz, you really must see Flavia the Heretic one of these days. In that movie, the unwilling novitiate becomes lover and right-hand woman to a Turkish corsair chief, whom she helps to plunder her former convent before inducing him to declare war on her own father! You’ll want to brace yourself for the horse-gelding scene, though. You know how the Italians were about such things.
#4 by lyzard on January 5, 2010 - 11:32 pm
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I know how *I* am, and that’s enough. Still…there’s probably a censored British print of it out there somewhere I could try…
Oh! – speaking of which, apparently the British print of L’Anticristo left the goat stuff intact, but censored the decapitated toad. It’s moments like this that I really feel that I’m half-English.
#5 by El Santo on January 6, 2010 - 11:01 am
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“Ippolita spends so much time looking so darn pleased with herself.”
She really makes being possessed by the devil look like an incredible lot of fun, doesn’t she?
#6 by lyzard on January 6, 2010 - 3:02 pm
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The shot of her that I included in the Arthur Kennedy set cracks me up every time I look at it.
#7 by The Rev. D.D. on January 7, 2010 - 10:34 am
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As soon as The Puma Man was mentioned, the first thing I thought was, “Puma Man, he flies like a moron…” Upon reaching the final picture, I proceeded to piss off several people in the computer lab by laughing rather loudly. So thanks for that.
Did anyone else think, “Awwwwww, fakey snakey!” or is this another moment where Ms. Kingsley’s going to get an uncomfortable look into my thought processes?
Anyway, your review has convinced me to make an effort to find this. It sounds much more interesting than I’d been led to believe (I’d been led to believe it was utter crap, and it seems that perhaps it’s not.)
A final, completely unrelated note–what’s happening with that monster iceberg down your way? Did it break up yet? (I know I could probably look this up, but who’d take Google over Kingsley?)
#8 by El Santo on January 7, 2010 - 12:18 pm
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“I’d been led to believe it was utter crap, and it seems that perhaps it’s not.”
I’d characterize it as immensely entertaining and often imaginatively handled utter crap, myself. It’s probably my favorite Exorcist rip-off these days.
#9 by lyzard on January 7, 2010 - 5:10 pm
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The iceberg is in the process of breaking up…so now we have a whole swarm of killer icebergs heading our way. Someone call SyFy!
L’Anticristo is indeed suprisingly entertaining – sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. So utter crap, no. I should stress, though that the levitation and falling scenes look much worse in the flesh, when you can see the movement involved: the screenshots only capture a portion of their awfulness.
By the way, Rev, did you ever track down Zombi Holocaust? I’m still waiting to hear back from you on that one. 🙂
#10 by The Rev. D.D. on January 7, 2010 - 10:30 pm
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I had heard they were worried it’d do that, because of the increased hazard to shipping. Plus, you know, the Legion effect.
I have seen the levitation scene, either on Gangrene or just on YouTube…WOW.
I haven’t had much luck finding ZH, but to be fair I haven’t had any spare money for that sort of thing so it wasn’t a top priority. Honestly, though, if I’d known you were waiting to hear back from me on it, I’d have tried much harder. I toss myself on the mercy of the court…er, lab.
#11 by lyzard on January 8, 2010 - 8:47 pm
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Oh, lord, no; I wouldn’t force Zombi Holocaust on anyone. It’s more that you seemed to be setting it for yourself as an assignment.
#12 by The Rev. D.D. on January 10, 2010 - 12:22 am
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I actually had, since as I think I said it’s one of the only Euro-zom movies I’ve not caught yet. Your influence would’ve given it extra impetus, is all.
#13 by The Rev. D.D, on January 21, 2010 - 9:18 pm
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Hey, Ms. Kingsley–did you happen to watch the Shriek Show release of ZH? I have a line on that one, and it seems to include the Dr. Butcher footage as an extra. I seem to recall SS getting good marks for their releases; if this is the one you had, I’ll pick it up and get it watched this weekend, so I can finally get back to you on it.
(Poor L’Antichristo–I’m neglecting it in its own thread.)
#14 by lyzard on January 21, 2010 - 9:51 pm
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Yes, it was the SS release I watched…but I can only say again, please don’t feel compelled on my account! (Of course, if you’re an Italian zombie completist, by all means…)
#15 by The Rev. D.D. on January 22, 2010 - 10:33 am
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As I said, it’s a combination of things. It’s a Euro-zom movie I’ve not seen, which means I’m definitely interested to see it. It’s also a movie a B-Master specifically asked me about.
Let’s face it, you guys are like rock stars of the B-movie reviewing world. If a favorite musician asked me what I thought of a certain CD, it’d add more reason to get said CD and listen to it, even if I was already wanting to see it. Having our beloved B-Queen ask my thoughts on a movie is the same way. I want to see it anyway, but now there’s more reason to get my ass out there and find it, which I have.
If for some reason I utterly hate it (and I really can’t see that happening…hell, I didn’t even utterly hate Zombi 4 or Hell of the Living Dead, and this sounds better than either of those) I’m not going to blame you for it. I knew the risks going in.
I’ll be watching it this weekend; I’ll put my thoughts in the thread for ZH, and leave this poor abused thread in peace.