HORROR

The Italians wasted no time ripping off the enormous success of The Exorcist, knocking out this dreadful demonic possession horror less than a year after Linda Blair blew green chunks all over Max von Sydow back in 1974. The Antichrist (aka The Tempter) ups the misogynistic fear and loathing of woman by having its devil’s plaything (Carla Gravina) possessed by an ugly, reincarnated, burned witch, shagged by Lucifer and then fellate a goat. Ewe! Or should that be ‘bah’?

More icky The Antichrist might be, but it boasts none of the horrible brilliance of William Friedkin’s classic. Shame on ageing American star Mel Ferrer (who made War and Peace for chrissakes!) for taking a paycheck and a free holiday in Rome to play the distraught father of the possessed girl in this derivative, badly dubbed nonsense. And his fellow ex-pat Arthur Kennedy, here playing a Bishop, should know better, too. Even the evil-groovy soundtrack by Ennio Morricone can’t save it. No extras.