''The Antichrist'' ( it, L'anticristo), also released as ''The Tempter'', is a 1974 Italian

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...

directed by

Alberto De Martino Alberto De Martino (12 June 1929 – 2 June 2015) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, De Martino started as a child actor and later returned to the cinema where worked as a screenwriter, director and dubbing supervis ...

and starring

Carla Gravina Carla Gravina (born 5 August 1941) is an Italian actress and politician. She received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her role in '' La terrazza'' (1980). Her other notable roles were in ''Love and Chatter'' (1957), '' Esterina ...

Mel Ferrer Melchor Gastón Ferrer (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ''Scaramouche'', ''Lili'' and ''Knights of the Round ...

Arthur Kennedy John Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the origi ...

Umberto Orsini Umberto Orsini (born 2 April 1934, in Novara) is an Italian stage, television and film actor. Born in Novara, Orsini gave up his career as notary to attend the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico. In the late 1950s, he emerged ...

Alida Valli Alida Maria Laura, ''Freiin'' Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg (31 May 1921 – 22 April 2006), better known by her stage name Alida Valli (or simply Valli), was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, s ...

Remo Girone Remo Girone (born 1948 in Asmara, Eritrea) is an Italian film and stage actor. He is best known for the role of Tano Cariddi in the epic TV mini-series '' La piovra'' (''The Octopus''). He appeared as an Italian-American mob boss in ''Live by Ni ...

Anita Strindberg Anita Strindberg (born 19 June 1937) is a Swedish former actress who appeared in numerous Italian ''giallo'' films in the 1970s. Strindberg appeared as Anita Edberg in two Swedish films in the late 1950s. She started her career in gialli with Luc ...

, and

George Coulouris George Alexander Coulouris (1 October 1903 – 25 April 1989) was an English film and stage actor. Early life Coulouris was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Abigail (née Redfern) anNicholas Coulouris a merchant of Greek o ...

. The musical score was composed by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

and

Bruno Nicolai Bruno Nicolai (20 May 1926 – 16 August 1991) was an Italian film music composer, orchestra director and musical editor most active in the 1960s through the 1980s. While studying piano and composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, ...

. It is widely regarded as a cash-in on ''The Exorcist'', a similarly-themed and widely-successful American film released the previous year. It is considered a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

Plot

Ippolita, the adult daughter of wealthy

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

aristocrat Massimo Oderisi, has been

paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural ...

since a car accident at age 12 that also killed her mother. Doctors have diagnosed the paralysis as

psychosomatic A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

, for help. He tells her there's little he can do, but recommends a secular parapsychologist named Marcello Sinibaldi. Dr. Sinibaldi determines that Ippolita has strong

extrasensory perception Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universi ...

and believes that her disorder is caused by unconscious memories of

past lives Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or physical body, body after ...

. Using

hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

, Sinibaldi causes her to relive the suppressed memories of her namesake ancestor, a witch who was tried by the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

and burned at the stake. The memory of her past life causes Ippolita to be possessed by the spirit of her ancestor, who entered a covenant with

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

before her death. Ippolita regains the ability to walk, but the possession causes her to

dissociate Dissociation in chemistry is a general process in which molecules (or ionic compounds such as salts, or complexes) separate or split into other things such as atoms, ions, or radicals, usually in a reversible manner. For instance, when an acid ...

, during which time she seduces and murders a tourist, and has incestuous sex with her brother. Eventually, Ippolita is fully possessed during a celebratory dinner with her family. She displays incredible

telekinetic Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...

powers, and is only subdued by the sound of

church bells A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and t ...

. Dr. Sinibaldi dismisses the notion of demonic possession, believing the phenomena is entirely scientific, but Massimo maintains there's no other explanation. He goes to his brother for help, but Ascanio insists there's nothing he can do without permission from higher-ups in the Church. The family maid, Irene, hires a local mystic to attempt an exorcism, but the possessed Ippolita exposes him as a

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

and expels him from her room. Ascanio’s own exorcism likewise fails, as the demon rebukes the Cardinal for turning Ippolita away when she asked for help It reveals that Ippolita’s ancestor renounced him in her dying moments, preventing him from taking her soul, and now intends to finish its original goal through Ippolita’s body. The Vatican authorizes Father Mittner (implied to be the reincarnation of the original Ippolita’s executioner) to carry out a formal exorcism. The demon tries to stop him through all manner of psychic manifestations and telepathy, revealing that the incestuous child of Ippolita and her brother will be his son; the

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form) 1 John ; . 2 John . ...

. Mittner prevails and Ippolita flees the house, her father and brother in pursuit. She reaches the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

, but is felled by the sound of church bells, allowing Massimo to force her hands against an iron cross and finally expelling the demon and its child from her body. Restored, Ippolita’s helps her brother up and walks off with her father as the sun rises.

Cast

Release

''The Antichrist'' was released on November 22, 1974 in Italy. It was released in the United States in 1978 by

AVCO Embassy Pictures Embassy Pictures Corporation (also and later known as Avco Embassy Pictures as well as Embassy Films Associates) was an American independent film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution studio responsible for such fil ...

under the title ''The Tempter''.

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Geoff Brown (''

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'') stated that "admirers of carbon-copy cinema—if any exist—will be well pleased with Alberto De Martino's ''The Antichrist''" noting that it managed to emulate ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...

'' more closely than the Italian film '' The Devil Within Her''. In retrospective reviews,

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

gave the film a negative review, noting that "long stretches of not a lot happening are supposed to create suspense, but all they do is delay the inevitable finale, which was the original audience's entire reason for being there since they knew it was going to include elements of ''

''." The review concluded that ''The Antichrist'' "probably was intense, but that intensity has diminished over the years" and that the film was "for Italian horror collectors only."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antichrist, The 1974 films 1974 horror films Italian horror films Italian supernatural horror films 1970s Italian-language films English-language Italian films Films about exorcism Films about Catholicism Films shot in Rome Films directed by Alberto De Martino Films scored by Ennio Morricone 1970s Italian films