The Antichrist (1974)
"L'anticristo" (original title)

Ippolita is a paralyzed young woman with serious mental problems stemming from the death of her mother. Her crisis of faith and the intervention of a well-meaning psychologist lead Ippolita... See full summary »

Director:

Alberto De Martino

Writers:

Gianfranco Clerici, Alberto De Martino,

Stars:

Carla Gravina, Mel Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy

Cast

Cast overview:
Carla Gravina	...	Ippolita Oderisi
Mel Ferrer	...	Massimo Oderisi
Arthur Kennedy	...	Bishop Ascanio Oderisi
George Coulouris	...	Father Mittner
Alida Valli	...	Irene
Mario Scaccia	...	Faith Healer
Umberto Orsini	...	Dr. Marcello Sinibaldi
Anita Strindberg	...	Greta
Remo Girone	...	Filippo Oderisi
Ernesto Colli	...	Possessed Man
Bruno Tocci	...	Possessed Man's Friend
Beatrice De Bono	...	Woman healed by statue
Vittorio Fanfoni	...	(credit only)
Luigi Antonio Guerra	...	(credit only)

Storyline

Ippolita is a paralyzed young woman with serious mental problems stemming from the death of her mother. Her crisis of faith and the intervention of a well-meaning psychologist lead Ippolita to remember her past life as a witch during the Inquisition. Eventually, Ippolita becomes possessed and starts seducing local men, only to kill them. An exorcism seems to be the only solution to stop the madness.

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Plot Keywords:

faith | inquisition | exorcism | witch | death | 

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Taglines:

Deliver her from evil.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

22 November 1974 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Blasphemy

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Capitolina Produzioni Cinematografiche

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Ippolita Oderisi: This time I'm going to win. You're all afraid, you stinking pots of shit!

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Connections

References The Exorcist (1973)

User Reviews

Italian rip-off of "The Exorcist"....pretty hard to endure.

Alberto de Martino is an Italian director who likes to rip-off big box office hits from America and England. He borrowed from the Bond movies for his spy flick Operation Kid Brother; he borrowed from The Omen for his dreadful Holocaust 2000. The Tempter (a.k.a The Antichrist or L'Anticristo) was made in between the other two movies I've just mentioned, and is Martino's inevitable plagiarism of The Exorcist. What's extraordinary is that good professional actors like Carla Gravani, Mel Ferrer, George Coulouris and Arthur Kennedy (yes, the Yankee reporter from Lawrence Of Arabia!) were persuaded to slum it in a shambolic production like this.

Gravani plays Ipolatta, a young wheelchair-bound woman who demonstrates psychic abilities. A psychiatrist persuades her to try out regressive hypnotism to cure her disability; she agrees to give it a try, but inadvertently unlocks memories from a previous life in which she was burnt at the stake for satanism. To make matters worse, she is also possessed by the devil and becomes a foul-mouthed, vomit spouting, sexually hungry bitch! An exorcist (Coulouris) is brought in to rid her of the demon within.

The Exorcist was one of the scariest films ever made, but this dismal clone is just tasteless and boring. The bouts of sex are purely there to give the film a degree of appeal to adolescents who get aroused by the possibility of a glimpse of tit. They certainly don't add to the atmosphere of the film. The so-called horror sequences are rendered hopelessly laughable by pitiful special effects. Still, the image of a toad having its head torn off and a woman performing oral sex on a goat's anus is enough to put you off your lunch for a day or two, and Gravani frequently lapses into revolting drooling which looks (intentionally?) like semen. If that's the kind of imagery which floats your boat, you might enjoy this. However, most viewers (myself among them) will be rightly repelled by this stupid potboiler and will find it a real challenge to sit through.