Today is October 6th, and as many horror film fans undoubtedly know, The Exorcist: Believer, the first in a planned trilogy of new films in the Exorcist franchise, is scheduled for theatrical release today. Much like the recent trilogy continuation of the Halloween film series, the release of these films has caused a great deal of excitement for a large portion of the horror community, while others may show indifference to the project for a number of reasons. Let’s not forget that the original 1973 classic has already seen a few sequels and prequels of varying success.

Whichever your viewpoint, it’s somewhat undeniable that just the media coverage and talk surrounding the project is sure to inspire the creation of a vast number of low-budget copycats and rip-offs, all looking to cash in on the film’s popularity. Just look at the horror sections on basically any streaming site, and for every popular horror film of the last 10 years, you’re sure to find a minimum of five films that are shameless clones. This phenomena isn’t exactly a new thing as The Exorcist inspired its own share of rip-offs and copycats upon its initial release.

In the first of two films in this year’s Halloween Horrors series dealing with the subjects of possession and exorcism, returning contributor Jennifer Upton discusses one particular film that some might consider to be a copycat of The Exorcist, but may have had its seeds planted before that film’s release. This one also stars Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy in a role that doesn’t involve lycanthropy, which in itself is a rarity.

Jennifer makes her fourth appearance as a contributor to the Halloween Horrors series. However, she has also frequently appeared as both a contributor to BAndSAboutMovies.com and a guest host on the Drive-In Asylum Double Feature. Jennifer is also the author of the recently published book, “Japanese Cult Cinema: Films from the Second Golden Age”, which is available in fine bookstores and on Amazon.

Exorcismo (1975)

 

Exorcismo (1975) was made in the post-Exorcist era when possession movies were all the rage. Movies like Beyond the Door (1974) fared well at the Italian box office and it wasn’t long until Spain’s horror icon Paul Naschy entered the ring. Naschy (born Jacinto Molina) claims he had the idea for this film before the release of William Friedkin’s classic. This is likely true. The resulting film makes it obvious he read William Peter Blatty’s novel, which came out in 1971 and enjoyed robust sales around the globe. Regardless, Exorcismo remains unique in several interesting ways.

The story centers on the Gibsons; a rich family whose patriarch they confined to a mental institution just prior to his death. Since then, his widow Patricia (Maria Perschy) and three grown children have been living a privileged life on their vast English estate. Setting the film in England was a move likely made to avoid the ire of Spanish censors as was making the film’s religious hero an Anglican Reverend rather than a Catholic priest.

The Gibsons are not a happy bunch. The elder two siblings, Deborah and John, are not Patricia’s biological children, although she raised all three. It’s quite clear that it’s her own daughter, Leila, who is Patricia’s pride and joy. This provides an interesting distinction from the original film and novel given that much of the psychological horror in The Exorcist comes from Regan’s isolation as an only child whose parents are divorced.

There’s backbiting, jealousy, and allusions of incestuous yearnings by eldest sibling John (Juan Llaneras) towards his younger half-sister Leila. John largely ignores the middle daughter, Deborah (Maria Kosti), who plays tennis and frolics by the pool, but he’s a habitual line-stepper where Leila’s private life is concerned.  He spends an inordinate amount of time brooding about Leila’s dating choices from inside his greenhouse, where he also bangs Sandra, the maid (Marta Alvilés.) John seriously hates Leila’s moustached hippie boyfriend Richard (Roger Leveder).

Enter Paul Naschy as “Reverend Adrian Dunning”. The most uncomplicated hero he ever played, called upon by Patricia to help smooth over her family’s tensions. It doesn’t work.

Patricia and Dunning don’t know that John’s reservations about Richard are correct. Richard studied abroad the previous year, returning home with an appetite for psychedelics and the occult. Richard takes Leila to a Satanic ceremony, which opens her up to the possession she experiences later.

Leila goes from sassy to downright nasty, throwing curses and insults around like holy water. The family doctor (Jordi Torras) is stumped. A few days later, both John and Richard turn up murdered with their heads turned completely around on their bodies and Sandra the maid disappears.

The focus on the murder mystery aspect of the story and the ongoing investigation by the police commissioner (Juan Velilla) parallels closely the investigation of the film director “Burke” in Blatty’s novel, a sub-plot largely ignored by Friedkin. It has always remained an elusive point why Friedkin didn’t show that Burke’s head was twisted around on his body in the film version following his death as it would have made Regan’s first head-spin, where she adopts Burke’s voice and spews the famous “cunting daughter” line, more horrifying. The budget for Exorcismo was only a fraction of the Warner Brother’s classic, so we’re never treated to a Leila head spin.

Although there are no head spins, Exorcismo boasts a few twists and turns in the murder mystery department, even if they are slow in their pacing.

It turns out Udo (Luis Induni) the family’s extra-large lovelorn chauffer has a thing for Leila. He killed Richard and John because they were mean to her and the family pet Bork, the German Shepherd (Gero.) The police investigation scenes offer some very entertaining dialogue. Udo’s confession to the killing of Richard and John offers the biggest laugh:

Inspector: “What was your motive?“
Udo: “Because I love her. YES! I love her! And I wouldn’t permit that dirty type to put his filthy, dirty hands on her body! I had to murder them! I had to do it!”
Inspector (to another cop): “Take him away. We’ll continue with him later.”
Udo: “Don’t hold your breath! You won’t drag another word out of me!”

What more is there to tell at this point? He just confessed to everything and presented a clear motive. A moot point once Udo throws himself out the window.

In another scene, the inspector recalls to Reverend Dunning an overlong story about a local girl’s father who ran streaking through his daughter’s school to protest the lack of education she was receiving. Naschy’s deadpan expression paired with Jack Taylor’s dubbing makes for one of the film’s most hilarious moments. “Yes…But I’m sure you didn’t come to hear talk about streaking.” Well, why not? Streaking was all the rage in the ‘70s!

The final act gives audiences what they came looking for. A standoff between the Reverend and the angry spirit of Leila’s dead father possessing her. But first, we get a nod to Naschy’s legendary werewolf pictures as he follows the mysterious sound of a wolf baying somewhere within the large empty house that turns out to be Bork the dog, who alerts Dunning to Sandra’s body buried in coal. With Udo dead, the only one capable would have been Leila.

 

After a few hallucinations of snakes and eels, Dunning squares off against the spirit inside Leila, now fully covered with the green gashes of possession. She writhes, spits, and growls while Dunning reads passages and splashes holy water around throughout the room. He drives the spirit out of Leila only to have it inhabit Bork.

In the film’s climax, Naschy’s hero kills the dog offscreen in an act that works both within the film itself and metaphorically within Naschy’s greater body of work with his new “good guy” image killing off his most famous werewolf character with Bork as a stand-in for Waldemar Daninsky.

Overall, it’s an entertaining film and my favorite of The Exorcist rip-offs, mostly because of the dysfunctional family dynamics, the setting (which is clearly not England), and the way it unapologetically refuses to tie up loose ends. Good triumphs over evil. That’s all that matters. Whether the streaking-obsessed inspector will arrest Leila for the maid’s murder is not important, nor is how Dunning will explain Bork’s body to the police inspector.

Poor Bork. He was a good boy all day, every day until the demon went inside him. Rest in peace, Bork.