Abby (1974)

3.5 / 5 Jun '11
Tagline: The Devil took her for his lover! Her body is possessed, her soul is next!
Directed by: William Girdler
Written by: William Girdler, Gordon Cornell Layne
Actors include: Carol Speed, William Marshall, Terry Carter
Genre: Horror, Blaxploitation
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:

Friggin' hilarious over-the-top Blaxploitation take on The Exorcist courtesy of unusual movie maven Mr. William Girdler. The way this plays out is that Abby is a marriage councilor who is happily wed to a Preacher. Life is peachy keen, and although she's an overachiever (what with all of her singing in the choir and other cliched good girl activities) things are good. Abby's Father-In-Law accidentally conjures up an evil demon of sexuality that invades her body. Suddenly Abby's voice is much lower, her new hobbies include ripping off her clothes, kicking her Husband in the groin and seducing weirdos in bars. The dialog is really what makes this such an entertaining feature, I couldn't stop laughing through parts. The horror end of things is weak, barely anyone dies but that isn't really the reason to watch, it's all about the '70sisms. Abby's demon make-up looks hilariously like that of The Incredible Hulk, and she does the usual things like levitate and so forth and endure an exorcism in typical possession fashion. Truthfully this is my first Blaxploitation flick (unless you count the remake of Shaft which I don't) and I did really like it, oh it's not classically good but if you like camp then you should adore this.

Availability:  On DVD

L'Ossessa (1974) aka The Eerie Midnight Horror Show aka The Sexorcist, Enter The Devil, Sexorkistis, The Devil Obsession, The Tormented

2  / 5 May '11
Tagline:  Ravished! Violated! Possessed by Satan!
Directed by:  Mario Gariazzo
Written by:  Mario Gariazzo, Ambrogio Molteni
Actors include:  Stella Carnacina, Chris Avram, Lucretia Love
Genre:  Horror
Length:  92 minutes
Banned:  Nope

Review:  
My print has the title "The Eerie Midnight Horror Show" which certainly conjures up some imagery...like oh say expecting some transvestitism, perhaps a few song and dance numbers with monsters?  Turns out the alternate title The Sexorcist is far more appropriate as it is a cheap Italian clone of what else?  This one involves a realistic carving of a human out of wood that comes to life and rapes a student.  After the rape she can't help but masturbate every where she goes and hit on people like her Father and Priest.  I don't even think I need to bother explaining more since I'm sure you've seen the movie it's aping.  At any rate it's very very dry and there are long stretches with chatting and other dullery.  It seriously lacks blood, scares and really it isn't nearly as sleazy as anticipated all around.  Now if you are looking for some good Italian clones of The Exorcist there are a few decent ones like:  Beyond The Door, La Endemoniada, and L'Antichristo but this one comes last.

Availability:  On DVD

L'Antichristo (1974) aka The Antichrist aka The Tempter

3 / 5 Aug '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Alberto De Martino
Written by: Gianfranco Clerici, Alberto De Martino
Actors include: Carla Gravina, Mel Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy
Genre: Drama, Horror
Length: 112 minutes
Banned: Finland

Review:
Another Italian clone of The Exorcist, and heck it's not even one of the better imitations. It has some amusing things going on including loads of pea soup vomit, and one heck of a demonic performance from Carla Gravina as Ippolita a crippled Woman. Ippolita is given past life regression and of course discovers that she was a witch who was burned because she took in the devil as her lord. Once again she's tempted with the option as he offers her the ability to walk again. Before you know it she's freaking out, yelling things, using different voices and soon she's trying to bed and destroy Men! Oh and there is a goat scene that must be seen to be believed. The film is overly long and so much of it should have been condensed, and although it's not a happy film, it's not as dark as it should have been. It's not very satisfying on a horror front either, it's not even creepy at all and since it's all rehash it's not like it's surprising either. They did manage to pull a few nifty moments but for the most part it was pretty uninteresting unfortunately.

Availability:  On DVD