Lisa And The Devil (Lisa e il diavolo) (The Devil in the House of Exorcism) (1975)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Tim S

  
  I won't sit here and pretend that Lisa and the Devil made a whole lot of sense as a story, even with the so-called "superior" version of the film. It often sends you in different directions and you can never quite get a firm foothold as you're watching it. I can… More
  I won't sit here and pretend that Lisa and the Devil made a whole lot of sense as a story, even with the so-called "superior" version of the film. It often sends you in different directions and you can never quite get a firm foothold as you're watching it. I can sort of see what Mario Bava was going for here, but unfortunately the actors he picked just aren't that interesting. The only one of note is Alida Valli, who is always mesmerizing when she's on-screen. Even Elke Sommer is usesless here. I can see why genre fans appreciate it, but I can also see why American distributors wanted to cut it up and try something different with it. I haven't seen the "House of Exorcism" cut, and I'm told it's awful, but it makes sense to me having seen the film why they felt the need to do that. I have a feeling that neither version of the film is really that good, but since it has Mario Bava's stamp on it and that he never saw the original cut released in the U.S. when he was alive, it's definitely worth checking out. Just don't expect to be wowed or anything.

• Robert C

  
  Was able to see the actual "Lisa & The Devil" version of the film. I found that amongst the horribly cheesy costumes (Elke excluded) and over dramatic acting...there were some really amazing (and at times BIZZARE) visuals. I felt like it would have been more… More
  Was able to see the actual "Lisa & The Devil" version of the film. I found that amongst the horribly cheesy costumes (Elke excluded) and over dramatic acting...there were some really amazing (and at times BIZZARE) visuals. I felt like it would have been more effective had it been about 30 minutes shorter. More substantial then a "pure cheese" film, but not great by any means. Though I think the bulk of my Flixster friends will appreciate it for what it is.

• Michael G

  
  Lisa and the Devil sucked in ways I can only hope to describe. If the haggard characters aren't mucking the whole thing up, Telly Savalas with his goddamned lollipops are. This movie has only the smallest possible fraction of charm and intensity that Bava's previous work… More
  Lisa and the Devil sucked in ways I can only hope to describe. If the haggard characters aren't mucking the whole thing up, Telly Savalas with his goddamned lollipops are. This movie has only the smallest possible fraction of charm and intensity that Bava's previous work does. A few of the things he does are interesting but for the most part, Bava hung the Gone Fishin' sign on the door after the first 5 minutes and never came back.

• Eric B

  
  This lurid horror film from a past-his-prime Mario Bava exists in two versions. Thankfully, I saw the superior cut, which apparently lacks some schlocky exorcism content inserted for the post-Linda Blair market in America. But even the original is more campy than frightening. The… More
  This lurid horror film from a past-his-prime Mario Bava exists in two versions. Thankfully, I saw the superior cut, which apparently lacks some schlocky exorcism content inserted for the post-Linda Blair market in America. But even the original is more campy than frightening. The story is built on a couple of standard genre clichà (C)s: the hapless traveler stranded in a spooky old house, and the beautiful woman who becomes an obsession because she resembles someone's dead sweetheart. These plots have been used countless times before. Oddly, the most unnerving sequence may be the unimportant exposition, where Lisa (Elke Sommer) wanders off from a central Italian square and gets lost amidst a snarl of narrow streets and villas which seems like a private, inescapable universe of its own. Though exaggerated for effect, it's a realistic nightmare which many of us have felt at some point or another. She finally hitches a ride with a wealthy couple passing through, and ends up at an ancient mansion populated by characters including handsome Max (Alessio Orano), his countess mother (veteran actress Alida Valli) and their butler Leandro (Telly Savalas, believe it or not). Leandro has a puzzling fixation on mannequins, and may have a supernatural -- dare we say satanic? -- ability to animate them. Though he's just a servant, he is clearly the one who's running the show. Unfortunately, Savalas insisted upon bringing along his signature lollipop from "Kojak," which totally punctures the film's gothic atmosphere. Another glitch is the score's inclusion of Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez," which inevitably recalls Ricardo Montalban's kitschy Cordoba commercials from the same era. Intense, clammy Max sees his departed lover in lookalike Lisa and, somewhat implausibly, she soon returns his ardor. But he is much more twisted than she knows. Meanwhile, her fellow guests are being sequentially murdered. Eventually, the tale develops hints of a surreal, unstuck-in-time paradox similar to what's found in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining." And of course, there's the obligatory "gotcha" ending. Director Bava's baroque set decoration is typically spectacular, though the lighting is not as brilliantly stylized as in some of his other films. There aren't any notable jolts, but there are a couple of good, sick laughs: Leandro breaking the ankles of a corpse to fit him into a short coffin, and a murderer ridiculously rolling a car back and forth over a body. I also noticed one fun continuity error: Savalas accidentally knocks over a mannequin head, and in the next shot, the head is upright again. Who loves ya, baby?

• Anthony V

  
  A confusing cut of the superior "Lisa And The Devil" mixed with some lame Exorcist clone footage. Skip this and see "Lisa and The Devil" instead.