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Exorcism
(also known as Exorcismo)
finds a young woman named Leila (Grace Mills from Horror Of The
Werewolf) participating in a Satanic ritual involving blood
drinking and drug use. Unbeknownst to her, she becomes possessed by the
spirit of long dead father.
Her family
understandably becomes alarmed when she starts to vomit and curse, and her
behavior only gets progressively stranger the more they try and help her.
Her brother fears that her no good boyfriend, who got her into the ritual
in the first place, may have something to do with it and orders him to
stay away from his sister. Sadly, this doesn’t do any good either and
Leila continues to get worse. Eventually, both Leila’s brother and her
boyfriend wind up dead, with their heads turned around an their necks
broken.
The family enlists the
help of Father Adrian Dunning (Paul Naschy), the local Catholic priest.
Dunning, an expert in all things evil, investigates the situation and
eventually concurs that yes, Leila is in need of an actual exorcism.
While certain elements
of Exorcism are certainly reminiscent of a similarly titled
William Friedkin film, the movie is more than a complete rip off of The
Exorcist. Granted, there are a few too many similarities to be
coincidental (the tumble down the stairs at the end, the make up effects,
the floating bed – you get the idea) but the film finds enough of its
own ground to stand on that despite the very obvious influence, it does
manage to stand out a bit from other clones made around the same time
frame.
Naschy makes for a
likeable priest though and it’s refreshing to see him cast against type
as the hero of the film rather than as the antagonistic (and often times
lycanthropic) types he is so commonly associated with. As Father Adrian he
is both believable and sympathetic, never going too over the top in his
role and always seemingly well grounded in his faith and his theology.
Grace Mills does a great job in the dual role of the
possessed/non-possessed Leila, lending her girlish features and good looks
to bringing a sense of childish innocence to her part, but appearing
sufficiently sinister when made up to look possessed.
If you're looking for
a remarkably original horror movie this one isn't going to cut the
proverbial mustard for you, but it's still an entertaining romp through
Naschy land with some truly bizarre imagery, a good performance from Paul,
and some solid make-up effects during the films climax.
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