Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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!

Witchfinder General 666 William Friedkin's Cult-milestone THE EXORCIST (1973) spawned quite a number of European rip-offs, or at least of European films that treated the subject of daemonic possessions. As far as European Exorcist-rip-offs go, Alberto De Martino's L'ANTICRISTO aka. THE ANTICHRIST of 1974 is doubtlessly the creepiest and best I've seen. (There is one Italian movie with a similar possession topic, which, in my opinion, is better than this one, Massimo Dallamano's great IL MEDAGLIONE INSANGUINATO aka. THE NIGHT CHILD of 1975. That movie is far too different to label it an Exorcist-rip-off, however.)The possessed here is not a little girl but a young woman, Ippolita (Carla Gravina) who has been paralyzed since the car accident that killed her mother. Since her paralysis has no medical foundation, her father (Mel Ferrer) assigns a psychiatrist to help his daughter. The hypnosis therapy, however, has unwanted results...The storyline is not merely based on THE EXORCIST, but has similarities to a classic Italian Horror formula: An innocent young woman being possessed by an evil ancestor who is her spitting image (and, in this case, even has the same name). The innocent/evil female double role was started in Italian Horror film in Mario Bava's 1960 masterpiece LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO (BLACK Sunday/THE MASK OF Satan), which first brought Italian Horror film to international attention. Barbara Steele became famous for such a double role in that film, and continued to play comparable roles in several other Italian Gothic Horror movies. In L'ANTICRISTO, it is Satan who, centuries after possessing an ancestor who was subsequently burned at the stake, takes possession of a wheel-chair-bound young woman.The film is a good example for the stylistic and visual elegance of Italian Horror cinema. The settings are beautiful and eerie alike, the camera-work (done by the one and only sleaze-filmmaker Joe D'Amato) is great. The score is a collaboration of masters Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, needless to say that its brilliant and increases the thick atmosphere. The film has a good ensemble cast including Mel Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, the great and beautiful Cult-regular Anita Strindberg, Alida Valli, who would appear in the probably most famous Italian Horror film, Dario Argento's masterpiece SUSPIRIA (1977) three years later. Carla Gravina is believable in the lead and the eerie-looking George Couloris fits well in the role of the Exorcist.Some people seem to dislike the somewhat bizarre first 5 minutes of the movie, but I actually found them to be highly atmospheric. In my opinion, the film got slightly less interesting in the second half, when some of the EXORCIST references became too obvious. The only real complaint one could have are the clumsy effects when objects and people are floating in the air; from today's point of view, they should probably just have left these sequences out, but then, any cult-cinema lover will be willing to look past that in the light of the great style, atmosphere and creepiness of the rest of the film. Overall, this is a very stylish slice of Satanic Horror and highly recommended by yours truly, especially to my fellow fans of Italian Horror.

BA_Harrison 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.

Lucien Lessard Ippolita (Carla Gravina) is a stunningly beautiful young woman, who is paralyzed and having doubt in God (Especially in Faith). Ippolita has some serious mental problems, since she vividly remembers the death of her mother. Her well-meaning psychologist (Umberto Orsini), who believes in re-incarnation. The psychologist find that Ippolita had another life as a Witch during the Inquisition. Eventually, she becomes possessed by a demon and she seducing local men in the city, only by murdering them. Only an exorcism could save her soul.Directed by Alberto De Martino (Blood Link, Djanga Shoots First, Holocaust 2000) made an interesting, arresting horror film for the first hour until it's turns into a shameless rip-off to "The Exorcist". Despite an strong performance by Gravini and dated but good special effects. The good cast helps (Including the late Mel Ferrer and the late Arthur Kennedy) ease certain idiocies moments during the second act.DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an good-Dolby 2.0 Mono Sound. DVD has interviews with the director and co-music composer:Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, John Carpenter's The Thing-1982), T.V. Spot and Poster & Still Gallery. This film could have much more successful, especially in the second half. But Still, it is more stylish than expected with executional cinematography by the late:Aristide Massaccesi (Which Massaccesi is best known for directing Hard-Core Porn Films as Joe D'Amato). Also known as "The Tempter", which runs 96 minutes. Since the DVD is the original 112 minutes uncut Italian version. It is worth a look. (***/*****).