La verità secondo Satana

Although there is a crime committed in the Second Truth of Satan and the plot does deal with the disposal of a body, this is a dark comedy not a giallo. The plot has Diana (Rita Calderoni), a spoiled rich girl, driving her boyfriend to suicide. He kills himself and hopes to frame her for his "murder." Instead of calling the police, Diana attempts to hide the body. Unfortunately, for her, a passerby has seen the body and is going to blackmail her. . . kind-of. I say kind-of because this bizarre individual, a ham actor playing a ham actor, is more interested in eating eggs and baffling Diana (and the viewer) than obtaining money or favors from her. Eventually, Diana's secretary shows up and nude hippies soon follow (!).

Almost all of the film is set in the apartment of the dead man. Despite this, the visual style keeps the viewer from getting claustrophobic. The film features the oddball camera angles and bright flashing colors one would expect from director Renato Polselli. The downside is that the film is not funny. This is not a small problem. Still, I was not bored by The Second Truth of Satan even if it was a far cry from Delerium or Black Magic Rites/The Reincarnation of Isabel.

I cannot speak for what was or was not originally in the film. The print I saw (from Video Screams) had a fair amount of nudity but no sex that I can recall, either simulated or explicit. To be honest, I would rather have had the laughs.

"La Verita Secondo Satana" was produced by Renato Polselli's own company G.R.P. Cinematografica.The film was originally titled "The Gospel by Satan".A beautiful Rita Calderoni believes she has driven her lover to suicide.According to Jay Slater because of the word gospel in the title "La Verita Secondo Satana" was instantly accused of blasphemy and its distribution was very limited.Once considered a lost title Polselli's film was broadcast on the smallest Italian television networks during the early 80s.To bypass censorship and distribution hassles Polselli shot three different versions and although the movie was released five times during the 70s the director added new footage to each print,while deleted certain scenes.The hardest print of "La Verita Secondo Satana" features a close-up of the female orgasm.To achieve this Polselli filmed the actress's face,body and pubic region in extreme detail as the female orgasm is less evident than the male.I'd love to see Polselli's "Delitto al Luna Park" from 1952,because it's considered the first Italian giallo ever made.

Considering the very varied state of my 'composite' print of this and the fact that most of it takes place between the same four walls and for the most part a two hander, it is pretty remarkable I saw this through. The fact is that despite the degraded print and the limited storyline still the servant enthusiasm of the notorious Renato Polselli shines through. This is, indeed, no Delirium or Black Magic Rites but Rita Caldroni is great in the central role and with and without clothes helps to keep this delirious little oddity together. Polselli aficionados will not be surprised at the sight of goldfish bowls, coloured lights flashing and near naked hippies with body paint swaying irrelevantly after about the one hour mark. There is some attempt at humour that passed me by, some political swipes at the 'capitalist system' and more surprising an extended poke at the church with a cannibal rant with obvious catholic references. I'm not sure quite who I would recommend this to but I enjoyed it and am confident it will slip into my own personal 'Acid Erotica' film genre.

I love Porselli's Delirio Caldo - and the gorgeous Rita - but this film is truly awful. The two male leads, Isarco Ravaioli and Sergio Ammirata, are extremely irritating - one a self-obsessed manic narcissist (in other words, an onscreen bore), the other an unfunny fool with a mental age of two - both make it one of the worst films I've ever seen.