Movie Review: The Antichrist (1974)

The Antichrist (1974) - Italy - Horror - Rated R

A.K.A. L'anticristo, Blasphemy, The Tempter

Directed by Alberto de Martino

Starring Carla Gravina, Mel Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, Anita Strindberg

A dull exorcism movie as incoherently babbling as the possessed character in it.

That is the nicer version of what I originally wrote.

A young woman with a father fixation has been paralyzed in her legs since the age of 12 stemming from a car accident in which her mother was killed. Seeking a cure for her paralysis she has sought help from doctors, occultists, and even the church, but to no avail. Introduced to a psychiatrist/parapsychologist, having found no organic cause of her paralysis he believes her paralysis stems from an earlier trauma, not in her life but in a previous life. Unfortunately in the process of dealing with the trauma a door is opened for a demon which previously possessed her ancestor to possess her.

Opening with a scene of a mob of zealots babbling incoherently while crowding around a religious effigy in a church seeking cures for various ailments, what follows in the rest of the movie is no more coherent. The plot is basic as can be. A woman with a trauma in her past becomes possessed by a demon when trying to release that trauma. Much of the movie is dull as it drags out a plot that wouldn't fill a half hour TV show into 112 minutes. I found myself checking the remaining time left on the movie hoping...hoping...and hoping even more this torture of innocent film stock and me would be over soon.

The Antichrist is a showcase of overacting hell. If anybody in this movie needs to be exorcised of anything, that would be bad acting. Arthur Kennedy plays against type as a priest; Arthur Kennedy was not meant to play a priest. Mel Ferrer plays a caring father...I will leave it at that or else it would be cruel what I would say. Carla Gravina screams a lot, very probably wanting the hell out of this mess. Anita Strindberg at least gets naked but it is too little to save this movie.

From poor special effects that make silent movies seem like a technological improvement to confusion in characters, and filled with jumps and scenes that just don't fit with the rest of the movie and are never explained, there is enough torture to be had watching this movie to justify giving a prisoner a reprieve. As for the confusion in characters, or perhaps I missed it, there is a male character I presumed was the boyfriend of the main character because of their affection toward each other. It turns out it's her brother. Holy creepies, Batman!

Even if you like bad movies this doesn't have anything to offer as you may go into a coma waiting for something to happen.

My Rating: I give it a finger!

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Movie Review: Zombie Holocaust (1980)

Zombie Holocaust (1980) - Italy - Horror - Rated R

Directed by Frank Martin (Marino Girolami)

Stars Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli, Donald O'Brien, Sherry Buchanan, Dakar

A mixed bag of zombie, cannibal and mad doctor movies adds gore, nudity and production goofs to make for a fun b-movie experience.

A hospital orderly is discovered to be practicing cannibalism using bodies in the hospital morgue. It is further discovered there is an outbreak of cannibalism in New York City and the cannibals all hailed from a group of islands in the East Indies. A team of doctors and a journalist, with the aid of a doctor who treats natives in the islands, puts together an expedition to discover the reason for the outbreak of cannibalism. Their expedition will lead them to the heart of a mystery involving cannibals, a crazed doctor and his human and inhuman experiments.

Zombie Holocaust is like taking the basic plot of an old Boris Karloff, or similar actor, mad doctor on an isolated island movie and updating it with cannibals, gore and nudity, and it works! This movie is not going to win any awards. It has occasional goofs such as a suicide jumper falling to the sidewalk below and an obvious mannequin breaking apart when it hits the ground, but those goofs add to the fun of the movie. It also has a story that works, it you don't try to dissect it, and keeps a pace which rarely takes a time-out except to get Alexandra Delli Colli naked, and that's a good reason for a time-out in my book. It is a little slow in the beginning, but once it moves beyond the city the pace picks up.

My Rating: 3 Fingers. If I were to rate this for my enjoyment of it I would give it 5 fingers, but realistically not everybody is going to enjoy it. It does have its gaping flaws and it is far from Shakespeare, but the fun meter if you enjoy this kind of movie is very high.

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