THE ANTICHRIST (1974) Reviews and Kino Lorber Blu-ray details

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The Antichrist – the 1974 Italian Exorcist rip-off – was released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber Studio Classics on February 8th 2022. Special features:

Audio commentary by film critics Lee Gambin and Sally Christie
Raising Hell – Interviews with director/co-writer Alberto De Martino and composer Ennio Morricone
The Tempter opening credits (standard definition)
TV spot
Trailers
English and Italian (with English subtitles) 2.0 audio
Reversible artwork with its alternate title, The Tempter

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‘Deliver her from evil.’

The Antichrist is a 1974 Italian horror film about a paralyzed young woman who becomes possessed by the Devil during a hypnosis session – intended to heal her disability – accidentally awakens memories of her past life as a witch.

Directed by Alberto De Martino (Formula for a MurderHolocaust 2000; The Blancheville Monster) from a screenplay co-written with Gianfranco Clerici (The New York Ripper; Cannibal Holocaust) and Vincenzo Mannino (Phantom of Death; House on the Edge of the Park).

Produced by Edmondo Amanti (Cannibal ApocalypseLet Sleeping Corpses Lie; A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin). Aristide Massaccesi (aka Joe D’Amato) was the cinematographer.

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The movie stars Carla Gravina, Mel Ferrer (Nightmare City; Blood and Roses), Arthur Kennedy (The Humanoid; Ricco; Let Sleeping Corpses Lie), George Coulouris Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb; Womaneater) and Alida Valli (The Killer Nun; Suspiria).

The soundtrack score was provided by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai.

In the United States, Avco Embassy released the film in an edited ‘R’-rated version as The Tempter.

Plot:

Rome: Having been wheelchair-bound since she was involved in a car crash as a child, Ippolita Oderisi, is deeply traumatised. Very fond of her father Massimo, she becomes jealous when she finds he has taken up with another woman, Greta.

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A psychologist, Doctor Sinibaldi, places Ippolita under hypnosis and deduces that has become possessed by her ancestor who was burned as a witch.

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Ippolita spouts obscenities, and regaining the use of her legs, begins attacking people. Massimo’s brother, a Catholic bishop named Ascanio, concludes that an exorcism is the only way to cure her…

Reviews:

“While some elements are stolen wholesale (like the exorcism sequence, which involves a priest who arrives covered in shadow, a door that’s about to be pounded off its hinges, and pea soup), it’s different enough to warrant a look. Instead of a young girl, the Devil takes over a 20ish woman, and since this is an Italian movie, you know what that means – gratuitous (and blasphemous!) nudity.” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

” …The Antichrist comes out of Italy, bares the breasts, eats the goat ass, and does everything that The Exorcist does but in European form, just not quite to the extent of being a better film or causing chills to the level that its American counterpart accomplished. Its visually rich, well acted, and different, plot-wise, for the most part from scene to scene.” John Marrone, Bloody Disgusting

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“Most cheap Italian rip-offs of expensive American blockbusters have the good sense to scale down the aspects of the production that cost money— the name actors, the sets, the special effects. Not this one. The Tempter has two Hollywood has-beens, rather than the standard one, and both of them went all-out to provide the kind of crazed performance that one expects from a washed-up star in a European exploitation flick.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

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“The cross-cutting, seventies styles and dated special effects will amuse as much as they convince. Sometimes it all evokes surreal dreams, other times just presents awful effects. The fake toad and snake anticipate similarly unsuccessful moments in Lucio Fulci horrors. The variable optical compositing often fails to convince, but a bold use of back (front?) projection is still effective, especially when all the colours are distorted.” Black Hole Reviews

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Buy Blu-ray (English audio option): Amazon.co.uk

” …girl becomes cripple, cripple becomes reincarnated burning witch, devil impregnates witch, witch does blow-job on goat. The cosmopolitan cast must have been selected from Spotlight with a pin, and the dubbing is evil.” Time Out (London)

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Main cast and characters:

Carla Gravina … Ippolita Oderisi
Mel Ferrer … Massimo Oderisi – Nightmare City; Blood and Roses
Arthur Kennedy … Ascanio Oderisi – The Humanoid; Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
George Coulouris … Father Mittner – Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb; Womaneater
Alida Valli … Irene – The Killer Nun; Suspiria
Mario Scaccia … the Charlatan
Umberto Orsini … Doctor Sinibaldi
Anita Strindberg … Greta
Remo Girone … Filippo Oderisi
Lea Lander … Mariangela

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Buy DVD: Amazon.com

Original title:

L’anticristo

Trailer: 

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