La casa del exorcismo

THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM is what happened when the original, truly surreal horror film from Director Mario Bava, LISA AND THE DEVIL failed to turn a big profit. It was reworked, with extra scenes added / insinuated into the film. These scenes, starring Robert Alda as Father Michael, are about Lisa's (Elke Sommer) being possessed by a demon.

Of course, this had nothing whatsoever to do with the original movie, so new scenes of Lisa spouting obscenities, going bug-eyed, foaming at the mouth, spewing the obligatory green stuff, and contorting her body are inter-cut with the genuine footage from Bava's classic. The result is... bizarre.

Fans of LATD will watch agog, as their beloved film is edited, annihilated, and continually interrupted by what amounts to an unintentional parody of THE EXORCIST. This was obviously due to the huge popularity of that movie in the early 1970's. It's sort of like what might have happened if someone had decided to turn Hitchcock's PSYCHO into a comedy about motel management!

THE BURNING QUESTION: How was Ms. Sommer lured into trashing her own film, and making such a spectacle of herself in the process?...

This is an Italian/Spanish co-production , resulting to be an Exorcist's rip-off in which our starring suffers a demonic entity within her , and paced in two different time lines by means of a disconcerting mix here and there . Lisa Reiner (Elke Sommer) is a young woman travelling as a tourist in the Spanish old city named Toledo . Lisa faints on the street and carried at a Hospital , there she shows astonishing signs to be really possessed , so a priest , Father Michael (Robert Alda) , is brought in to perform an exorcism . However, he first attempts to investigate how she became possessed by the devil in the first place . It is blended with the horrific experiences when she's lost and taken by a marriage (Sylva Koscina and Eduardo Fajardo) and their chauffeur (Gabriele Tinti) . When the car is broken down , they find shelter into a luxurious mansion where inhabits a twisted Spanish aristocratic family formed by strange characters , a countess (Alida Valli) , his son (Alessio Orano) and the butler (Telly Savalas) . Every Corner of the Soul is Lost to the Icy Clutch of the Supernatural! Her body helpless! Her soul no longer her own! Warning ! The theater management cannot be held responsible for persons who faint or go berserk while viewing the House of Exorcism ! First, there was "The Exorcist". Then came "The Omen". And now, a sensational new film that dares to go one step beyond... "THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM".

There is a peculiar version from ¨Bava's Lisa and the Devil¨ called ¨House of Exorcism¨ for the American market adding some images about a priest -Robert Alda- , rip off from ¨The exorcist¨ , while making spells , enchantment , exorcisms which result to be embarrassment and absurd . A Sui Generis mingling in which American tourist Lisa is taken to hospital and subsequently she shows disturbing signs of demonic possession, along the way, a troubled priest attempts to exorcise her soul who has been possessed by the Devil after witnessing supernatural events at a Spanish villa where lives a weird family with dark secrets . Despite the fact that her personality has now completely blended together with devil possession , the film fais to deliver interest enough and turning to be embarrasing and really ridiculous.

This is a re-edit of Lisa e il diavolo made by producer Alfred Leone who financed various sub-genres and exploitation movies such as : Fire in the Flesh , Gold of the Amazon Women, Rabid Dogs , How Many Times... That Night , The Torture Chamber of Baron Blood , Holiday Hookers and Joko . While the original film was directed by Mario Bava and belongs to Italian horror genre . Mario Bava along Riccardo Freda (Secret of Dr Hitchcock , Vampires , The spectre) and subsequently Dario Argento (Deep red , Suspira , Inferno) are the fundamental creators of Latin terror genre . Mario Bava directed excellent horror movies (Mask of demon , Black Sunday , Black lace , Planet of vampires) and mediocre (Baron of blood , Bay of Blood , Shock) horror films . These movies are characterized by slick edition , usual zooms , special overblown use of colour in a glimmer red blood and utilization of shock-images . The film gets an attractive and enjoyable casting , a gorgeous Elke Sommer (The prize) , an enticing Sylva Koscina (Miguel Strogoff) , a veteran Alida Valli (The Paradine trial) and a sympathetic devil with lollipop included played by Telly Savalas (Kojak) . Magnificent and colorful cinematography by Cecilio Paniagua with intervention by the same Bava like is habitual in all his movies , as he's usually cameraman . The musical background was composed by Joaquin Rodrigo with his famous 'Concert of Aranjuez' and the score by Carlo Savina . The motion picture will appeal to Exorcist copycats fans .

Mario Bava is my personal favorite director of all times. And not just via photo-finish, but literally with miles ahead of my second favorite director, which is Lucio Fulci. Back when I started to develop an interest for Bava's work, in 2004 or so, I vividly remember that "Lisa and the Devil" was difficult to find, while "The House of Exorcism" was the more easily available version for purchase. Via an obscure French label, however, I found Bava's original masterpiece (in an awesome boxset together with "Baron Blood" and "Hatchet for the Honeymoon"), so I never bothered to search for the much hacked-up version that the great Bava dissociated himself from.

Now, since it's more than 15 years later and time for an urgent re-watch, I figured to give "The House of Exorcism" a shot. The story behind both film versions is actually a very sad and tragic one, especially if you're an avid admirer of Italy's most visionary director. With "Lisa and the Devil", Mario Bava finally received complete freedom - artistically as well as financially - to make the film he wanted to make, but for some incomprehensible reason, the critics and audiences weren't enthusiast. Shame, because the film truly remains a superbly atmospheric and fascinating piece of gothic horror. Producer, and former friend, Alfredo Leone understandably wanted to recuperate a part of his unsuccessful investment, and since "The Exorcist" rip-offs were trending massively at the time, Leone directed some additional footage and re-released the film. Suddenly, as a result of her encounters in the strange mansion, Lisa is possessed with the devil (who may or not be Telly Savalas in the flesh) and Robert Alda joins the cast as the priest charged with the exorcism.

"The House of Exorcism" is a rehash, pure and simple. The original footage of "Lisa and the Devil" is still brilliant, but less powerful and a lot more incoherent. The additional footage represents everything what Bava despises: unoriginal plot, stolen ideas, gratuitous nudity and unnecessary profanity. A clash of styles is what this is.

Okay, so I saw 'House Of Exorcism' the re-edited version of Mario Bava's 'Lisa And The Devil' with the added cash in footage. I've heard great things about the original version, but I haven't yet had an opportunity to view it so I'm sticking with this, the "unauthorized" cut. Bava must have had mixed feelings about it seeing as his name has been removed as director. I can understand why, because I'm a little ambivalent about it myself. This is in many ways a confusing mess of a movie, but overall enjoyable enough and holds the interest until the end. Elke Sommer, who had previously worked with Bava on the uneven 'Baron Blood', plays an American tourist apparently possessed by the Devil. While being exorcised by a priest (Robert Alda), we cut to a series of events involving her being picked up hitch hiking and taken to a mysterious mansion populated by various nuts, not least of which is Leandro, the mysterious lollipop sucking butler (yep, you guessed it, Telly Savalas). This footage (recycled from the original 'Lisa And The Devil') is either hallucination or flashbacks or both, and Leandro may or may not be the Devil. It's all very hard to tell. Frankly, you won't even care. Even so, I enjoyed this movie even if it was incoherent most of the time. It may not be genuine Bava but it's a lot of fun, and I must admit I preferred it to 'Baron Blood'. Take from that what you will.

"Lisa and the Devil" is one of director Mario Bava's best films. It's extremely atmospheric, very scary and has an amazing artistry about it that you just don't expect from a horror film. Sadly, however, some dirt-bags decided to take Bava's excellent film and re-edit it into a new movie! So, they sloppily filmed some new scenes (complete with LOTS of nudity) and pasted it and the original picture together to make it an incoherent mess of a movie. It's terrible in most every way and I am pretty sure Bava must have been ticked about this.

Fortunately, while this movie truly is terrible, it IS available on the DVD with "Lisa and the Devil" so you can compare the two and appreciate the original film. It's really an interesting experience and one you can do (at least in the USA) by streaming both versions of the movie.