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While watching The Antichrist, I was wondering for what reason people had claimed the film was a copy of The Exorcist, which came out a year before. One hour into the film, I was able to spot some references to Friedkin’s classic, but not enough for me to say it was, “The Exorcist, Italian style” (like the back of this Blu-Ray sleeve articulates). At that moment the film moved to the second part and things began to make sense. Green vomit, rudeness (and lewdness) included, while a guy hurls down the stairs, and a man whose head is twisted turns the wrong way and dies isn’t so far off from the realm of possibility these days after all.
While I can’t know for sure, I’m going to guess that this is what went down. The Antichrist seems to have its roots as a giallo-horror film with family drama and occult themes very much like, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972, dir. Emilio Miraglia) or Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972, dir. Lucio Fulci and written by Antichrist screenwriter Gianfranco Clerici). Even though most of those later gialli used the occult for misdirection, there were plenty of Italian supernatural horror from the sixties. After all of that brilliant marketing for The Exorcist, the fastest way to make money would be to grant the concept of the original script and change the bare minimum. So for the first instalment of Antichrist, very little was done, whereas the second half of the film was filled with the Exorcist parallelisms.
In the case of the show, the tone is severely affected due to unexplained adjustments, but, to be fair, after watching the first half, I am pretty assured that it is good. The show begins as a family affair before morphing into something more occult-inspired. Ippolita (Gravini) is the daughter of an Italian prince (Ferrer) who is confined to a wheelchair. Ippolita lost her legs in an accident that also took the life of her mother. Now, as a young adult, she seeks to escape her family’s religion-driven and praying-obsessed palace life. Her uncle, Bishop Ascanio Oderisi (Kennedy), sets up an appointment with paranormal psychologist Dr. Sinibaldi (Umberto Orsini), who attempts to use hypnosis for Ippolita’s (alleged) psychosomatic paralysis.
Here’s where it all begins to get strange. In later flashbacks (which struck me as being low-budget imitations of Russell’s The Devils), Ippolita relives the life of an accused witch from her trial to an orgy where she is ultimately impregnated by a goat-masked figure. The orgy has a few distasteful scenes but for the most part, the film remains a lot of fun with odd juxtapositions and absurdly vivid scenes that gialli and Italian horror fans have grown to expect.
This film is stunning and beautifully captures its visuals. The use of vibrant colours is especially noticeable in the reds, a signature of Mario Bava style, however, the best part of the film is how cinematographer Aristide Massaccesi, Joe D’Amato, captured the lavish interiors. The palazzos where the filming took place speak for themselves and are true works of art. Even so, the way they were incorporated into the film adds a delicate touch to the moodiness and mystery. The film employs many wide and medium shots, even in scenes with only two or three characters that allow the audience to appreciate the grandeur of the rooms. This also means that every close-up is incredibly impactful.
Like many others, this one isn’t free from the trap of losing its originality in the second half of the movie i.e. Exorcist. You are correct if you feel that Exorcism is on the level of a stunt. It earns over a quarter of the dollar denomination that Exorcist 3 had Supernatural encounters require set shooting as opposed to actual location shooting. That does not mean everything is destructive. It is destroyable, but the areas of ancient Rome are wonderful. Amazing does not do the phrase justice. The Roman Colosseum is nothing but a set that does poorly while location sets always shine.
In the second part of Exorcist III there are snippets of information that are strange. The main focus follows the generational family drama storyline. This is revealed during the final act. Unfortunately, every man in the family, including the boys, seems to have information about the chilling witch myth, but chose to hide this from Ippolita. All this time, Doctor Sinibaldi has nothing to do with Ippolita’s memory surgery and unnervingly leaves right before the climax. While Ascanio, who happens to be a bishop, Cannot exorcise, a family member must do it and fails. To such an extent that it now has to be done by non relatives.
All these loose ends are left unattended, and the second half isn’t nearly as enjoyable or compelling as the first. But it did not spoil the film for me. I loved it. I’m a big admirer of 70s Italian horror, and my watching of The Antichrist was a very nice surprise. If you have an inclination that way too, this is surely a must-see.
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