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

If the box indicated non stop naked female sacrifice, who would believe it? Well, there is, from the opening credits to the closing title. In between such scenes there is the odd bit of vampirism, some Italian style Gothic horror, psychedelic moments with coloured lights and mini skirts and even time for comedic moments, not forgetting the non consensual threesome and other odd sexual antics. Total nonsense of course and seemingly two or more films stuck together judging by the jumps from misty castles to crystal clear soft core. But, who cares? It looks good most of the time, at no moment does everyone have their clothes on and the soundtrack although appalling is varied. Not much horror but some stunning images, some great faces, and lots of lovely Italian girls happy to show that they are lovely all over.

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.

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.

A group of people are having a party in a castle one of them (Mickey Hargitay) has just bought. The castle is haunted by the malignant presence of a witch who was burned 500 years earlier and who, not surprisingly, looks just like one of the guests (Rita Calderoni). Yet another rip-off of Mario Bava's "Black Sunday"?--of course, but this movie is much, much more than that. All the male guests are either reincarnations of the earlier historical figures or vampires who have been living for centuries waiting for the opportunity to reincarnate the witch, Isabel. The women meanwhile are all virgins because, not only are virgins necessary for the ceremony, but as one character eloquently puts it, "Vampires need blood uncontaminated by human semen." (This leads one dumb girl in a particularly hilarious scene to give up her virginity to her nymphomaniac friend and a fat, ugly guy with a severe facial twitch).

Obviously, the main appeal of this movie is sex and nudity, but anyone watching it SOLELY for that purpose might be a little frustrated as this a Renato Polselli film, a man whose directorial style can best be described as completely deranged. While there are acres of flesh on display here, Polselli often seems more interested in the bizarro camera angles, the staccato editing sequences, and the pulse-pounding score than he is in lingering on the action like some of his hack contemporaries (or more modern-day "erotic" filmmakers) would have done. All the actors and actresses from Polselli's more famous film "Delerio Caldo" show up again here, and while the latter are even more naked than they were in "Delerio Caldo", some of them turn out to be pretty untalented as thespians(and Polselli doesn't have the good sense to kill them off quickly like he did in the other film). Meanwhile, the stronger actors like Hargitay, Calderoni, and Krysta Barrymore are pretty much wasted in the incomprehensible chaos the film quickly descends into.

Regardless of whether you like this film or not, however, I GUARANTEE you'll never see anything else like it.

This movie makes no sense (like most Italian horror films I've seen), but has enough sleazy nudity, blood and weirdness going on that it doesn't really matter. What made the film work for me was the haunting, erotic soundtrack! I liked this about as much as the similarly ridiculous NUDE FOR SATAN (also from Redemption/Image). Worth a rental if you enjoy this type of nonsense, but I can't see anyone buying the disk and watching it more than once.