After one failing attempt approximately a year ago, I really wanted to give this movie another chance, if it were only to struggle beyond those confusing and headache-inducing opening five minutes this time. If you consider watching "The Antichrist", bear in mind that the intro is extremely hectic and unappealing but the movie quickly improves after that. We open at some sort of pilgrimage location where a Holy Mary statue supposedly cures crippled people and where a man possessed by demons jumps off a cliff. This introduction is overlong and the photography is really ugly. After that, however, we're more properly introduced to the female lead character. Ippolita is bound to a wheelchair since a car accident at the age of twelve and her lonely existence causes her to lose all faith in God. She becomes an easy target for Satan to possess her body & soul, especially when she also turns out to be the reincarnation of a 16th Century witch that was burned at the stake (hypnosis brought that up). Overnight, Ippolita transforms into a Satan-puppet who seduces young schoolboys and dreams about wild sex with a guy in a goat mask who feeds her toad heads! Her loving father, brother and priest uncle do whatever they can to save poor Ippolita's soul, but the Devil within her is strong and not at all planning to leave without a 'good vs. evil' battle.
Another reviewer righteously pointed out already that it's way too easy to label "The Antichrist" as being just another Italian "The Exorcist" rip off. It only turns into a shameless imitation halfway through the story, when Ippolita moves furniture with her mind and says naughty things similar to the lines Linda Blair driveled in "The Exorcist". The least we can do is refer to this exploitation gem as a "Rip-Off DeLuxe", as Alberto De Martino really bothered to add new ideas and even a couple of very interesting sub plots, such as the incestuous relationship between Ippolita and her brother and the alternative voodoo-treatment by a sleazy-looking religion guru. There are quite a few redundant sequences and the slow pacing often gets on your nerves but "The Antichrist" really isn't such a bad film overall. The only truly embarrassing moments occur when the film tries to look EXACTLY like "The Exorcist", with green vomit and rotating heads etc Compensating for these flaws are a cool soundtrack, fairly adequate performances and a handful of stylish scenes near the middle of the film. Particularly the orgy-hallucination is hauntingly beautiful and more fascinating than any random sequence in William Friendkin's "The Exorcist".
Another reviewer righteously pointed out already that it's way too easy to label "The Antichrist" as being just another Italian "The Exorcist" rip off. It only turns into a shameless imitation halfway through the story, when Ippolita moves furniture with her mind and says naughty things similar to the lines Linda Blair driveled in "The Exorcist". The least we can do is refer to this exploitation gem as a "Rip-Off DeLuxe", as Alberto De Martino really bothered to add new ideas and even a couple of very interesting sub plots, such as the incestuous relationship between Ippolita and her brother and the alternative voodoo-treatment by a sleazy-looking religion guru. There are quite a few redundant sequences and the slow pacing often gets on your nerves but "The Antichrist" really isn't such a bad film overall. The only truly embarrassing moments occur when the film tries to look EXACTLY like "The Exorcist", with green vomit and rotating heads etc Compensating for these flaws are a cool soundtrack, fairly adequate performances and a handful of stylish scenes near the middle of the film. Particularly the orgy-hallucination is hauntingly beautiful and more fascinating than any random sequence in William Friendkin's "The Exorcist".