Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel Trecento...

Most people that see this film use the word 'nonsense' to describe it and it's not hard to see why. The Reincarnation of Isabel utilises the age-old horror plot line of a witch being brought back to life; but unlike other films of it's ilk, this one jumps straight in at the reincarnation stage; thus forsaking any explanation as to why the witch was exterminated, and why there are people that want to bring her back. These things are explained somewhat a bit later on; and it's these scenes of 'explanation' that really highlight this film's problem. It's practically impossible to differentiate the flashback sequences from the main action, and if it wasn't for the fact that the woman about to be burnt at the stake was called Isabel, the audience would be none the wiser as to what is actually going on. The film features many scenes that appear to be completely random - some of them may be flashbacks explaining the story, I don't know! However, one thing that I do know is that this isn't a story based film - and when it comes to pure Eurotrash, this film excels!

The film features a very gritty European style, and every scene looks great. The lighting is superb, with several sequences seemingly existing only so the director can show off his impressive lighting techniques. The score is suitably creepy, and this is flanked by some excellent set design. The scenes involving the black magic rites themselves are particularly great because they seem to exist in dreamscape. These scenes look fabulous, and even though they're not making much sense, they still allow the film some credibility. No Eurotrash flick would be complete without gore and nudity, and this film features plenty of both. Beautiful girls wearing little or nothing are plentiful, and the gore tends to be of the 'realistic' kind, meaning that it's not gratuitous; but it looks real, and is all the more shocking for that. The film runs at almost 100 minutes, which is a bit on the long side considering it doesn't really have a plot to speak of. I recommend this film to anyone who likes films to look nice. If you're someone that sees a coherent plot as an essential element for a successful horror movie, then there's a good chance that The Reincarnation of Isabel is not your thing.

Jack Nelson (Mickey Hargitay) arrives a gloomy looking castle with his fiancé Laureen (Rita Calderoni) and strange things start to happen immediately. Why? The hell if I know but it is somehow related to Laureen being the reincarnation of Isabella, a witch who was staked and burned alive 500 years ago. Oh, and there are some vampires wandering around too. This is my second Renato Polselli flick (after the previous year's DELIRIUM, also with Hargitay) and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It is great in spots (moody lighting and an interesting editing technique) and completely lousy in others (totally fake rubber bats and easily exposed black backdrops outside of set windows). The biggest problem is it runs way too long (1 hour and 49 minutes) and doesn't make a lick of sense. Worth seeing once just for the 70s feel and the abundance of nudity.

"Reincarnation of Isabel" is a great example of good Euro-trash. It triumphs over its obviously low budget through a combination of gore, unintentional humor, a great score, flashy camera work, and large amounts of gratuitous nudity. It is surprising that this movie has not received a cult status yet, being that it is better than many cult movies. Thanks must be given to Redemption (the company that put this out) for finding a print of this movie, which was long considered lost, and giving it its first domestic release ever.

The "plot" is as follows: A woman named Isabel is burned at the stake when the Inquisition comes to her small village. Apparently they are not too far off, either, because she actually was a witch. Her husband and another local take her body and put it in the dungeon of a castle. Flip to present day: The husband and some of the locals who were on his side have been reincarnated (no explanation is given), and through some twist of fate know it. The husband then attempts to reincarnate Isabel with the hearts of young virgins in some satanic ritual. There is actually much more to the plot (something to do with vampires, and many unnecessary characters), but it all becomes a confused mess. This lack of plot can be forgiven, though, because the plot is not what the movie is trying for.

"Reincarnation of Isabel" is one of the most enjoyable Euro-trash movies, containing everything one has come to expect from this genre. Well, not quite everything. This movie unfortunately lacks in violence and gore. After the violent opening, the movie contains no more realistic effects (it does, however, contain some unrealistic effects. For example, a few "witches" are scratched with sticks, which is fine and dandy (they were topless, after all), but the effect was so cheap it was unintentionally humorous. It was achieved through the use of rubbing a blunt club with wet paint on the end against the skin of the two "witches."). The fake violence was not the only source of unintentional humor; the subtitles were actually much funnier. On the plus side, the acting was surprisingly good and solid, the music was decent, and the direction was pretty solid. It should also be noted that "Reincarnation..." gets better with every viewing. It should be viewed at least twice to get the wanted effect.

Recommended for all fans of Eurohorror. My rating: 7 out of 10.

In terms of the plot, acting, and especially the directing, it's quite difficult to know what to make of this film.

At one level, it's a familiar set of nonsense featuring a spooky castle, long-undead characters, gratuitous nudity, very cheap "special" effects and *very* variable levels of acting. However, what makes it stand out for me is the increasing apparent randomness of the scenes - just as if the director had decided to shoot "a bunch of stuff" and then assemble them in some sort of sequence while editing. (e.g. "this spooky guy in the cloak looks good on the battlements against the setting sun - let's drop that in a few times" and "we've got these girls tied up on crosses - let's keep flashing back to that to keep the audience awake", etc...)

Utterly bonkers and quite entertaining if you like this sort of thing, but not a good film!

Well you sure can't fault director Renato Polselli for not trying to entertain us that's for sure. The Reincarnation of Isabel like his deranged giallo Delirium before it is a non-stop barrage of sleazy thrills and gore. Polselli was certainly not a director who could be accused of being understated. His films are deranged and borderline incomprehensible, and full to the brim with naked women. He was clearly an unashamed exploitation film-maker who just got down to it and served up the goods with no consideration whatsoever to good taste and decency. But you know what? His movies do have a definite style – albeit a pretty haphazard one. The Reincarnation of Isabel is a perfect example. It's about a group of vampires who keep the body of a witch in the basement of a castle, awaiting a chance to resurrect her with the blood of several virgins. Cue the arrival of a party of knuckle-heads with the requisite gaggle of – deeply unconvincing – virgins.

I suppose it's a rip off of Mario Bava's Black Sunday in a way. Not that you'll probably notice as other than the witch idea it's a pure sleaze-fest with some gory violence chucked in for good measure. Every woman who appears in it gets naked and is terrorised at some point. Its sexist stuff of the first order naturally, although not quite as misogynistic as Delirium. The story sort of makes sense some of the time but you'll be forgiven for wondering what's going on a lot of the rest of the time. Polselli's haphazard style is the reason for this, as scenes are edited together bizarrely and characters act in ways that can only be described as insane. The film stars the always entertaining Mickey Hargitay and Rita Calderoni, both of who appear in Delirium along with most of the other cast members from that film. I was also astonished at the appalling haircuts sported by most of the girls – in virtually every other Italian production from the time the women all look like they have been groomed by super-chic stylists; the chicks here look more like they have been dragged through a hedge. But what the hell, they all get naked right? Anyway, the soundtrack is pretty good - quite moody and at times psychedelic, while the camera work is sometimes inventive and the dungeon set is admittedly pretty funky.

Overall, it's a very commendable example of Euro-Trash. Senseless? Yes. Gratuitous? Of course. Laughable? At times. Entertaining? Oh yeah.