Lisa and the Devil

We all know that the possession scenes used to narrate the film were tacked on to capitalize on the recent success of The Exorcist. That said the movie has two plots which do not merge well together. Quite frankly the exorcism material is an awful mess of puke on the walls and references to whores. Yes, the pea soup scene is duplicated as is the thrashing, floating, and demonic vocal styles. Still, horror fans might enjoy watching this crud just for kicks.

The other film, available as Lisa and the Devil - I was NOT lucky enough to find for four dollars in the video clearance bin. Too bad for me because it's spectacular. Each scene is intense due to Bava's direction. There is much use of reflected faces and close-ups of eyes. Emotions are caught by the camera without fail. I wish I could see this movie uncut so I could appreciate it on more than a scene by scene basis. The violence is more than memorable enough to please and most of the lines sound pretty cool. Even this messy version is worth watching if you have a taste for horror.

It becomes clear almost from the outset that with this film Bava is out to mess with our heads and narrative cohesion isn't a priority, so it's best just to sit back and enjoy the ride, knowing you're in good hands. While viewing a strange fresco in a town on holiday, Lisa becomes distracted by the sound of music and in a small shop off the beaten track finds a music box with some creepy figurines spinning on top. She tries to buy it but learns that it belongs to the shop's only other customer: Telly Savalas, who greatly resembles a figure on the fresco that was described as the devil! Telly for some reason is carrying a life-sized figure of a man and finds it highly amusing when Lisa runs off.

Lisa soon gets lost and after wandering around the strange streets, has to ask someone for directions, and that someone is Telly Savalas! This is where Bava starts really messing with us as the dummy in his hands is obviously actually played by an actor - but only in certain shots. Things get even more confusing when Lisa encounters a live version of the dummy who falls down a flight of stairs and dies. Eventually Lisa ends up getting a lift from a bickering couple (the wife of whom is having an affair with her chauffer) and they all end up at the usual huge mansion/castle inhabited by angry man Maximillian, his blind mother Alida Valli, and chirpy butler Telly Savalas, complete with Kojack lollipop. The house is full of Bava's favourite prop: creepy dolls, and things just get stranger and stranger for here on out.

There's no point in detailing any more of the plot, but it involves murder, mysterious characters locked in rooms surrounded by slices of cake, people becoming dummies and Telly Savalas breaking the ankles of a corpse in order to fit it into a coffin. I was never really sure what was going on at all due to all the mind games Bava was playing. He even has certain characters follow the exact same path through the house using the exact same camera angles which just adds to the surrealism, and through it all Telly Savalas acts like that whole thing is some bizarre comedy. It all works for me though!

He also has the light shine deliberately off of Savalas' head quite often too, films the action from above or below, and uses an awful lot of colour wherever he can. My favourite set was the mock-funeral that is later smashed to pieces by one of the characters. I wasn't expecting the film to be off the wall as much as it was and was nicely surprised.

Perhaps it was this film that Umberto Lenzi and Lucio Fulci had in mind when they directed the House of Doom series in the late Eighties? I was getting a severe House of Clocks vibe from this film.

Well I finally managed to get to see 'Lisa And The Devil' as Bava originally intended it, rather than the very dodgy 'House Of Exorcism' version I had previously seen, and the original is ten times better! Stripped of the tacked-on possession scenes and Robert Alda's priest role, the movie reveals itself to be a superior, atmospheric and stylish "nightmare on celluloid" movie. It reminded me a little bit of Jean Brismee's 'The Devil's Nightmare' in places, and at other times the work of Jean Rollin, without the overt eroticism. It's surreal touches and foreboding feel with probably appeal to fans of David Lynch or Herk Harvey's 'Carnival Of Souls' more than hardcore horror nuts. The cast are all good, but Telly Savalas gives a standout performance just on the right side of over the top, and Elke Sommer appears much more believable as the confused protagonist of this movie, rather than the unconvincing Linda Blair wanna-be of 'House Of Exorcism'. All in all one of Mario Bava's most original and interesting movies. Recommended.

Lisa (Elke Sommer) who is a tourist gets lost from her group in an ancient Spanish city, but she come across a couple Mr Frank Lehar, his wife Sofia and chauffeur and gets a lift off them. Though, its short-lived as the car breaks down near an old villa. So they are invited to spend the night in the old, dark villa. The mansion's occupants are acting all strange and the dreary atmosphere takes hold. One by one, they meet their doom and Leandro (Telly Savalas) the villa's butler seems to have something to do with it. Could he be the devil himself who's toying with these guests or is it all a nightmare?

Well, this was the first film I've seen of director/writer Mario Bava and I got to say I was truly amazed by it. Bava's "Lisa and the devil" is a slickly well-crafted surreal thriller that messes with our minds with its simply fetching details and a disquietingly grim atmosphere. It's one very picturesque film that holds superb composition and such flair in the lighting, backdrop, score and atmosphere. From the elegant scenery of the ancient city to the old fancy villa that holds such a morbid awe and to what builds on that is a strikingly eerie, but delicate score. While the brood atmosphere is sheer alienating and the fluid camera-work truly does capture that disorientating mood. The villa is covered with colourful artwork and luxurious furniture, which fills every room. The film is gracefully shot with plenty of zooms and also catching reflections and silhouettes. The location photography was excellent. These sublime images and score really built on the absorbing texture and peculiar state of the film. Plus under all that are an elegantly erotic undertone and a film that flows with pure originality.

Premise is incredibly absurd and there's hardly no characterisation. Maybe there was too much going on in the flawed story, as it was downright confusing at times to know what was actually happening because the story would lead to a dead end. Overall it just felt like a blur. Though, yet again maybe it was meant to be like that? You are definitely lost and put off-balance just like Lisa is to what's reality and what's not. It's a baffling mystery that you could say comes across as rich poetry and art and you also pick up on little subtle hints throughout the story. The dialogue is rather sparse, but interesting if a little cheesy at times. You could probably say not much is going on with Lisa just wandering around the villa and there's a fairly slow pace to it all to begin with, but this is an atmospheric and physiological builder. Some scenes did drag on for too long and sometimes it gets a bit too sappy, but these things didn't take away from the film. The horror isn't that horrific, but it plays more on the images, sounds and atmosphere. Definitely the second half of the film is when it starts to get exciting and even more unnerving. This is when Bava tightens the screws with some well-designed shocks and jolts. By achieving some haunting images and a heart-stopping finale, literally. As each one the characters give into jealousy, hatred, lust and finally into their own demise. The characters turn out to be nothing more than pawns in this story and you question who's pulling whose strings. Most of the acting does come across as rather one-note or melodramatic. Telly Savalas steals the film as a lollipop sucking butler, who seems to have some hidden agenda and playing with these people's souls. His performance is sinisterly impressive in a manipulative nature and his dialogue is always a play on words. The gorgeous Elke Sommer shines in her role. Her dialogue might be pretty limited but her presence is enough to fit the bill.

Incredibly lavish film-making that is particularly dreamlike and a marvel to look at. When it ends you'll be left scratching your head.

Lisa and the Devil features many of Bava's trademarks; a devilish atmosphere, superbly chilling use of lighting and a general foreboding feel to the movie that gives the impression that something bad will happen. However, the movie is also fairly messy; there are too many ideas in the film and all together it comes out more than a little confusingly. The version I saw was the Redemption release of "Lisa and the Devil", which is not to be confused with badly intercepted release, "The House of Exorcism". The plot follows the story of Lisa, a young lady that gets lost in an ancient city in Spain. She then hitches a ride with a couple and their chauffeur, but they end up breaking down and happening on a house inhabited by a blind woman, her strange son and a creepy housekeeper. What follows is a nightmarish and morbid ride that touches on themes such as love, lust and death.

Mario Bava is a master of the horror genre, many of his films have inspired whole areas of cinema, most notably "Bay of Blood", to which slashers owe their existence and "The Girl Who Knew Too much", which is often credited as the first Giallo. But I feel that this is one of his lesser efforts. That's not to say that this is a bad film by any means, it features a lot of nice elements, particularly the spooky sequences with main characters and their dead ex-lovers, which almost touches on necrophilia, and therefore gives the film a very morbid and nasty feel. The actors in the movie are also fairly accomplished; it features Elke Sommer, who also starred in Bava's atmospheric shocker, "Baron Blood", among other films and Telly Savalas, who gives a great turn as the creepy butler of the house. But it seems to have too many ideas going on, and a lot of them aren't really explained, which left me feeling confused.

Overall, Lisa and the Devil is a good horror movie with much to admire, most notably the superb creation of atmosphere from Mario Bava but I feel that if it had concentrated less on putting lots of ideas into it, and more on concentrating on the ones it already had; then it would have been a better film.