Shortly after William Friedkin’s The Exorcist went on
to become one of the most successful horror films of all time that still
generates money for Warner Brothers, it was inevitable other countries keen on
stealing some of the profits would generate their own knockoffs of the hit
Hollywood film.
Somehow or another, 1974
saw not one but four imitations including but not limited to William Girdler’s
banned blaxploitation flick Abby, Turkish cheapie Seytan and two
Italian rip-offs known for their wackiness, green vomit and levitations: Beyond the Door and today’s entry into Cult Cinema The Antichrist. Initially forgotten as another knockoff
before being reassessed as a minor Italian cult classic, The Antichrist (also
released under the title The Tempter) is precisely what you’d expect
with a few nifty surprises along the way.
To cope, she visits a parapsychologist named Dr.
Sinibaldi (Umberto Orsini) who through hypnosis determines she had an ancestor
who was burned at the stake as a witch.
Inexplicably, the hypnosis causes the spirit of her ancestor to possess
her, transforming the once crippled waif into a walking succubus who casually
murders strangers when she isn’t trying to seduce her own siblings.
While an out and out carbon copy of the Friedkin film,
premiering a mere three weeks after the Turkish knockoff Seytan hit
theaters, this Albert De Martino (Holocaust 2000) directed demonic
possession sleaze fest manages to be arguably the most respectable xerox of the
bunch. Sporting arresting cinematography
by eventual exploitation director Joe D’Amato and a pulsating dually written original
score by Bruno Nicolai and Ennio Morricone and razor sharp editing by Zombie
cutter Vincenzo Tomassi, The Antichrist is as overqualified of a cheap
knockoff picture of a renowned Hollywood hit as they come.
Debatably more violent than Friedkin’s film
though nowhere near as horrific, the film also features a spectacular Satanic
orgiastic rite which seems to transport you past Rosemary’s Baby into
the kaleidoscopic realm of Mario Bava. What it lacks in the makeup effects and monetary department it makes up for with inspired camera trickery and optical effects shots including an arresting nightmare where the victim's bedroom ceiling disappears into the clouds while she's sleeping.
Veteran actor Mel Ferrer is
generally solid if not a bit of a fish out of water here while Arthur Kennedy
as the film’s central Cardinal likely drank his way through the shoot. There are some real transgressive shocks sprinkled
here and there that will raise your eyebrows and there is a really
unintentionally funny moment of a man leaping off a cliff that’s clearly a shot
of him standing up with the camera zooming in to give the illusion of a fall.
--Andrew Kotwicki