Review of The Antichrist (1974) by David J — 24 Jun 2010

Released theatrically in the United States in 1974 in an edited version titled THE TEMPTER (see poster below), the fine folks at Anchor Bay deliver this fully restored version as THE ANTICHRIST. And unlike nearly every-other film that was inspired by THE EXORCIST, Director Alberto De Martino took his version seriously, and the final result is a very well made possession epic that owes as much to HORROR HOTEL (1960) as it does to Linda Blair's pea-soup-spewing classic.

A wheel chair-bound woman (paralyzed since she was 12 due to a car accident) lives in Rome in an enormous mansion with her father, brother, and faithful housekeeper. But this wealthy family has a wicked skeleton in their closet; one of their ancestors (on the eve she became a nun) left the convent for unknown reasons and joined a satanic coven. Sentenced to burn at the stake by a group of Monks, she begs God for forgiveness as the flames take her.

Flash Forward 400 years. This same demon returns to possesses our protagonist, who begins to lose faith in God after a visit to a shrine of the Virgin Mary fails to work. In a seriously disturbing sequence (which was cut from the original American release), we see our paralyzed victim being raped by a demon as she is shown visions of her ancestor's induction into Satan's coven (complete with a mock communion and a goat-licking thing I'd rather forget!). While what follows is standard "Exorcist rip-off" fare, it's done quite effectively thanks to Martino's skillful direction and some great cinematography courtesy of (future) horror/sleaze legend Joe D'Amato.

While THE ANTICHRIST provides one or two unintentional laughs, the above average acting (especially on the part of Carla Gravina) helps the the film to work quite well as a serious horror outing.

This Anchor Bay edition features a short (but informative) interview with the director.