Exorcismo

While I certainly consider The Exorcist to be a horror classic, I have to admit that I don't hold it in quite as high regard as many other horror fans do. As a consequence of that, I haven't seen many of The Exorcist rip-offs, and if Exorcismo is anything to go by, I'll have to say that's a good thing as this film is boring as hell and certainly not worth spending ninety minutes on it! In fairness to the other Exorcist rip-offs, this is often considered one of the worst, and so maybe it wasn't the best place for me to start. It's not hard to guess what the plot will be: basically it's the same as the one in The Exorcist and sees a girl get possessed by a demonic spirit (which happens to be the spirit of her dead father). The village priest is then called in to perform the exorcism. Like many Spanish horror films, this one stars Paul Naschy, who is pretty much the best thing about the film. Exorcismo was directed by Juan Bosch, who previously directed the derivative Spanish Giallo 'The Killer Wore Gloves'. I haven't seen any of his other films, but on the basis of these two: I believe that originality wasn't one of his strong points. There's not a lot of good things I can say about the film itself; it mostly just plods along and the exorcism scene isn't worth waiting for. I certainly don't recommend it!

A young woman participates (unknowingly) in a satanic ceremony and gets possessed by the spirit of her late father.

The big issue with this film is whether or not it ripped off "The Exorcist". Some say it did, and can point to such scenes as the "reverse head" murder as evidence. Writer (and star) Paul Naschy claimed he had written the script earlier and it just was not filmed at the time.

Troy Howarth sees something of a middle ground, and suspects that Naschy had read the book but not seen the movie. As such, certain elements would have been lifted. Now, not having read the novel, I do not know hoe much it differs from the film, but assuming there is a great deal of overlap, it does make sense that uncredited source material might result in a similar movie.

The truth of the matter, though, is that it makes no difference. Whether it is a ripoff or just a similar theme, the movie is a lot of fun. A priest acting as a detective, a 1970s possession, and lots of good, clean European cinematography.

Sure, this is not the classic "The Exorcist" is, but it might just be more fun. We never get anything nearly as scary, and the Satanic elements make it in many ways more interesting than a simple possession.

Paul Naschy is a kindly priest in this psycho-demonic thriller, with plenty of nods to THE EXORCIST without being a complete clone thereof. One obvious difference is that the girl in EXORCISM (aka: EXORCISMO) is possessed by her eeevil, dead father instead of the devil.

This movie is on par with other European possession epics of the era.

BEST BITS: #1- The possessed girl's hideously transformed eyes! #2- The devil dog attack! #3- The naked devil women running around during the Satanic ritual sequence! #4- The all-too-short grand finale!

Another triumph for Mr. Naschy...

Something is wrong with Leila (Grace Mills) and Father Adrian Dunning (Paul Naschy) is called in to evaluate the situation.

Some may call this a ripoff of The Exorcist with Linda Blair, but I'd rather see the flesh displayed here than some special effects. The fact is that The Exorcist was not seen in Spain before this film came out.

Anyway, it's a Paul Naschy film, and I am a completest.

You won't see amazing special effects, because they didn't exist. So it looks fake at times, but it was a good story and an interesting film.

Paul Naschy stole the show. I wasn't his finest hour, but he was head and shoulders above the rest. The makeup was good, and one could ignore how the film seemed to go all over the place just to see Naschy.

Maybe I am biased, because I am a great fan of the late Spanish Horror/Cult icon Paul Naschy, but I do not understand how this film is so widely hated. Even my fellow Eurohorror enthusiasts seem to agree that "Exorcismo" (1975) is awful; while this is doubtlessly an incredibly cheesy, silly and trashy slice of Eurosleaze, and furthermore probably the most shameless and obvious of the many European rip-offs of "The Exorcist", I personally still found it to be entertaining enough. I'll be the last one to deny that it lacks suspense and creepiness or that the plot is illogical and stupid, or that the film overall could have used a lot more gore and exploitative elements, and that it has some lengthy parts; personally, I still didn't get bored.

After a car accident, the pretty young Leila (Maria Perschy) changes her behavior drastically. When her brother approaches Father Dunning (Paul Naschy) for help, telling him that it is the bad influence of his sister's boyfriend that has changed her behavior, the priest does not believe him at first. When a person close to Leila turns up dead with the head twisted by 180 degrees, things are getting suspicious...

As mentioned above, the film is probably the most shamelessly obvious rip-off of "The Exorcist" there is, so there is no need to discuss how the plot line lacks originality. There are many elements in this film which may be seen as crappy by some, and as amusing by others. I tend to the second category. The characters are eccentric and their actions often make little to no sense. A Woman who is in her 30s has a son who is in his 30s. Leila's brother and her boyfriend both look extremely weird; the latter lives in a room with silly-looking masks hanging down from strings attached to the ceiling and cupboards on which quotes like "All you need is to f***" are painted. The investigating police-officer is a superstitious freak who thinks the fact that a murder victim was drugged at the time of death is proof that the crime was a ritual murder. The role of a priest is probably not the first one that one might think of as fitting for Paul Naschy, but it actually fits him kinda well (though I tend to like the guy in any role he plays). Naschy is, of course, the main reason to watch this film. Furthermore, there is a lot of stylish sleaze and (as usual for Naschy flicks) tons of gratuitous female nudity. The female cast members are nice to look at: Lovely Grace Mills plays the possessed girl; her mother is played by Maria Perschy, who had previously worked with Naschy in "El Jorobado de la Morgue" ("The Hunchback of the Morgue", 1973) which is probably my personal favorite Naschy-flick, and "Los Ojos Azules de la Muñeca Rota" ("Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll", also 1973), which is also very good. The female cast furthermore includes María Kosty, whose face (as well as her body) is known for her roles in a variety of Spanish Horror and Exploitation features. Everybody keeps complaining about how awful the makeup in this film is, but I actually found it to be decent.

Overall, I can fully understand anyone who calls this film pure crap. It is, without a doubt, cheap and incredibly silly trash; but, personally I still found it entertaining and even enjoyable. This sure isn't for everyone, and apparently not even for all fellow Naschy fans. However, elements such as possession, gratuitous female nudity, satanic orgies, amusing cheesiness and Paul Naschy as a priest are enough to make a film entertaining in my book. 5/10