Exorcismo (1975)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Leila (Grace Mills) goes to a "love in" with her boyfriend and soon afterwards she begins acting strange towards her family. Over time her attitude grows more aggressive and before long her family asks Father Dunning (Paul Naschy) to look at her. Before long he realizes that she fell into a Satanic sect and has become possessed.
EXORCISMO is a Spanish horror film that's yet another cash-in on the success of THE EXORCIST. Naschy, who co-wrote the screenplay, says this was written before he saw that film but who knows what the truth is. Either way, for the most part this here is a mildly entertaining horror film that starts off well enough and ends on a good note but there are some questionable moments stuck in the middle.
If you've seen enough of these EXORCIST-rips then you know that all of them add a few touches of their own. The screenplay here pretty basic stuff, although the love in is something new and there are a few other new things including something involving a dog. I thought the film actually worked quite well in a sleazy type of way and especially early on with all of the nudity. The ending of the picture is also quite good as the possession aspect goes full steam and we get a pretty good exorcism sequence.
As I said, the biggest flaw with the movie is the middle section. For some reason the sleaze factor pretty much dries up and we've got around forty-five minutes worth of bland footage where not much is going on except for characters talking to one another. I do feel that Naschy gave a good performance and it was nice getting to see him in a straight role that didn't require make-up or messing around with women. Molina was also attractive in her role and added some fun.
EXORCISMO isn't the greatest film that you're going to see but it does offer up some mild entertainment that makes it worth watching if you're a fan of Naschy or the genre.
