Anita Strindberg in The Antichrist (1974)

Clips

Pics

Review

The Antichrist (1974), or L'Anticristo in Italian, was released today by Anchor Bay in another pristine transfer. The film was released to video in the US under the title "The Tempter", so that is the official IMDb name. It is essentially an Exorcist spin-off, although director Alberto De Martino claims not. True, he amplified the story somewhat, and has a few breasts, but he still spins heads around, levitates the possessed girl, and has her vomit pea soup. The score sounds like most of the scores for Italian horror of the era, probably because they are all written by Ennio Morricone. In this film, Carla Gravina has been paralyzed since age 12 due to some trauma. Although there seems to be no physical reason, she can't walk. They try visiting a religious relic to no avail. The doctors blame sexual repression for her condition. They hire a shrink who thinks he can cure her with past life regression, where we find out that she married the devil, and was burned as a witch. This is supposed to cure her, but merely activates Satan within her. Time for the exorcist.

This may be the Playmate of the Apes of Exorcist movies. It was overly long, and eventually tedious, but there were things to admire. C-.

Nudity Report: Gravina shows a lot of skin but nothing important, and either she or her double shows everything in decapitated or long shots. Anita Strindberg as the father's fiancée shows buns and breasts in a pre sex scene. There are several naked people at the satanic ritual for the hypnotic dream sequence.

IMDb Summary: IMDb readers say 2.9 of 10. I find that a little unfair. Of all of the Exorcist knock-offs, this is the first to bring something more to the table, and was beautifully photographed.


Written by: Tuna …courtesy of Scoopy.net