El Anticristo

This filthy and spooky movie results to be a wildly popular ¨Exorcist¨ imitation , concerns Hipolita (Carla Gravina), she's an invalid young with unsettling problems from his mother died for a car crash in an accident along with her father (Mel Ferrer) and then she resulted paralyzed . She only has understanding for his brother (Remo Girone) . Her mental problems and intervention a doctor (Umberto Orsini) lead to an act of possession by an ancestor framed as a witch by the Inquisition . Eventually she's deeply possessed and starts seducing a young and other local men in order to murder them . Hipolita becomes possessed and a strange exorcism seems to be the only solution to stop the craziness and heal the young invalid . An exorcism carried out by a Father exorcist (George Colouris) turns out to be the mean to save her , but the surprising events go awry . What it says is what it means. Deliver her from evil. From the bowels of hell, the serpent has risen, to pour foul evil upon the world

This exploitation picture displays eerie horror , witchcraft , grisly killings , bestiality , satanism and lots of blood and gore . Most often films made to cash in on another hugely box-office ¨The Exorcist¨ tend to be inferior to the template but I have to say, as far as rip-offs of the Freidkin's classic go, ¨The Antichrist¨ is on the better end of the spectrum . Large cast with American actors working in Italy , such as Arthur Kennedy , Mel Ferrer and George Colouris . Revolting , scary scenes and nasty images take place on orgy scenes with goat included . Packs luxurious scenarios with a lush corridor plenty of sculptures and careful cinematography showing glamorous sets by known cameraman/director Joe D'amato , though cheesy special effects on the levitation scenes . Creepy and terrifying musical score composed by classic musician Ennio Morricone and conducted by Bruno Nicolai .

The motion picture was well directed by Alberto De Martino , though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . Martino was an Italian craftsman , working from the 60s in all kind of genres , B-movies and exploitation flicks . As he directed Peplum (Secret seven , Spartan gladiators , Invincible gladiator , Valley of stone men) , Spaghetti Western (Django shoots first , Providence , Charge of seven cavalry) , Warlike (Dirty heroes) , European spy genre (OK Connery , Operation Lady Chaplin) , and Terror (Miami Golem , Horror , Holocaust 2000) , among others. Rating : 6/10, acceptable and passable , though sometimes embarrassing .

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!...

In the 70"s there was a"devil craze"due to the success of Satan themed horror classics like Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and The Omen. This film riffs heavily off of The Exorcist, but does it with a different style of filmmaking and a setting in Rome/The Vatican. It does have a good atmosphere with great sets and good camera work. The acting is also quite good and with the cultural differences and European style give this enough to set itself apart from the movie that this is trying to rip off. At the end of the day, it is a rip off and no it's not as good as The Exorcist, but it also is not that bad. In fact, you could do a lot worse in this genre and if you enjoy movies of this type then The Antichrist is worth a look.

Great stuff. The Italian exploitation rip-off bandwagon didn't miss a beat on any genre, and here we have THE EXORCIST acting as the "inspiration" for a horror picture. Naturally, the sleaze is turned up enormously and the result is a truly entertaining piece of cinematic scuzz. I think the other reviewers have covered the majority of the fun stuff that goes on herein, but I'd just like to add that the movie is nicely put together and photographed, and the hilarious dialogue is sufficiently hammed up by the actors. Plus, it's great to see Arthur Kennedy in ANY movie!

My highlight of the film was when the "possessed" woman seduces a German exchange student- truly hilarious.

I personally found the oft-revered THE EXORCIST to be laughable and ludicrous. L'ANTICRISTO simply goes even further, and if you are equipped with an imagination and a sense of humour, I can think of a lot worse ways to spend an hour and a half.

This movie gave me chills. Whereas the excorcist didn't scare me in the least, this movie is more detailed, and more focussed on life outside of the girl's room! It's an old movie, but truly scary!! absolutely recommended.