Le démon dans la chair

I have to admit that I have never watched someone throw a dead cat at someone else in a film before. I'm not sure if the dead cat was a metaphor for something or other, because The Demon struck me as one of those horror films that has one foot stuck in the Art-house, so everything may just represent something else.

What I gathered from the film is that the populace of rural Italy are a very superstitious bunch who are not very good at coping when one of their own exhibits the signs of severe mental illness. I'm guessing these days if someone had walked in on young Purif piercing her chest with a needle, gathering the blood in cotton, then burning it, then giving it to a young man to drink in some wine, they may have called in a Doctor rather than accuse her of being a witch.

The young man in question is Antonio (Wolff) and he is due to marry a more stable girl, much to Purif's dismay. Purif doesn't do herself any favours however by giving Antonio the wine, watches him drink it, then shouts something like "Ha! You're drinking my blood!" It may surprise you that Antonio goes ahead with the wedding anyway.

The director here goes out of his way to show that the people in this village have just as many strange routines as Purif, from hiding a blessed scythe under Antonio's wedding bed, or shouting at an oncoming storm to break and feed the crops with rain. Not a lot goes right for these folks and naturally they begin blaming the wild eyed girl who goes around saying she has a demon inside her.

I guess the question is: Does Purif have a demon in her? Antonio wakes up covered in boils, the candles in the church start burning low, a boy is found drowned and the last person to see him was Purif. I'd probably know the answer but the only word I understood during the final narrative was the word 'free'.

This is a good film that leaves it up to you to decide if it's a horror or not. There's plenty of scenes that must have shocked way back then (Purif's raped twice by dirty old men, she does a crazy spider walk while being exorcised, also tries to strangle a nun), so I'm not sure why this one is so obscure.

A tough and, at times, heartbreaking film about a witch who places a spell on the man she loves so he'll break up with his wife and be with her and all the horror and drama it causes her and the entire town. Filmed in stark black and white, The Demon still packs a punch and showcases a very different kind of horror - the horror of humanity, group think, and mob mentality.

"Il demonio" follows Puri, a young peasant woman in a small Italian villa who is obsessed with Antonio, a married man. Puri's sickly fixation on Antonio leads her to practice witchcraft in an attempt to direct him to her, but instead, she becomes subject of a witch-hunt when she becomes apparently possessed.

This obscure Italian shocker predates mainstream possession film such as "The Exorcist" (by ten years!), and, while it is not as gratuitous as that film or the others in its wake, "Il demonio" is no less a powerful, artful exploration of obsession, superstition, and evil. One of its most intriguing components is that it consistently toes the line between "is it real?" and fully committing to being outright supernatural--at times, it appears that perhaps Puri is being persecuted for her zany (though ostensibly harmless and ineffective) attempts at witchcraft--at others, however, the reality of the situation is not so clear.

In either case, the character of Puri is a tragic one, as her mental illness is either misunderstood, or, perhaps, leads her to fall prey to a demonic force. Daliah Lavi's performance as Puri glues the film together, as she is both tragic and pitiful--Lavi's acting never goes too far over the edge, but it comes tantalizingly close. The film is further bolstered by its gorgeous, expressionistic imagery, with stark black-and-white photography pinning the characters against vast landscapes, at times resembling something you might see in an Ingmar Bergman feature.

The screenplay does feel a tad clunky in its final act, but its resolution brings it full circle in a befitting (albeit downbeat) manner. All in all, "Il demonio" is a powerful film that consistently leaves the audience turning it over in their heads. Ambiguity is very well utilized, and Lavi's riveting lead performance is key--be it a case of the psychological or the spiritual, "Il demonio" is potent no matter how you read it. 9/10.

With stark but glorious chiaroscuro and solid performances, Il Demonio is a creepy trip through a world of ritual, magic, and superstition. Ms. Lavi drives the film with her terror and passion. I felt like I was peeking into a world in which logic was replaced by myth. What an experience.

Barely seen, underrated and overwhelming, this is an astonishing film anticipating The Exorcist by ten years yet having within it several key elements, not least the most incredible and prolonged spider walk - in a church! The black and white photography is wonderful, the soundtrack spot on, the dialogue excellent and the central performance of the possessed one, by Daliah Lavi, is hypnotic. After the opening sequence where we see her jerk her head at a sound within the house and pass her hair across her face I feel like applauding but consider it a little premature. No worry, there is not a scene in this film that does not astound or disturb. From the wondrous performance of the aforementioned Ms Lavi, the perfectly good support, or lack of, from Frank Wolff, to the fearful villagers and the daunting landscape, this is near perfect film making.