I have no idea why so many rate this so poorly, I enjoyed it on video when it lacked the satanic orgy, and love it even more now. The support acting may be lacklustre but Carla Gravina more than compensates in a towering performance as the wheelchair bound possessed one. And what possession, no half hearted measures here - full tilt, in your face, on your chin, verbal and physical, screaming and spewing, hard hitting stuff. It is true the film is a bit slow at first but there is the magnificent and horrifying opening scenes that take some recovering from. It has of course to be acknowledged that this would never have been made were it not for The Exorcist but let that take nothing from this super exploitation gem.

A bitter and sexually frustrated crippled young woman (superbly played with absolutely fearless abandon by Carla Gravina) renounces her faith in God. Since said lovely young lady was in a previous life a witch who got burned at the stake as a heretic 400 years ago, this makes it doubly easy for Satan to take possession of her body. (The scene where Gravina gives herself to Lucifer is a total doozy: a blue-painted man wearing a ram's head mask forces her to eat a severed toad's head and Gravina gleefully copulates with a goat.) Pretty soon Gravina is making unseemly incestuous advances on her brother, cruising the streets for young men to seduce, using foul language at the diner table, frothing at the mouth, and levitating around the house. Father Mel ("Nightmare City") Ferror and stepmother Alida ("Suspiria") Valli are understandably perturbed. It's up to bishop Arthur ("Let Sleeping Corpses Lie") Kennedy and priest George ("Tower of Evil") Coulouris to save Gravina's soul before it's too late. Capably directed by Alberto De Martino (who also co-wrote the bold script),with sharp photography by notorious celluloid sleazemeister Joe D'Amato, a typically fine, haunting and stirring score by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, a creepy, uneasy atmosphere, plenty of hilariously excessive profanity ("You stinking pots of s**t!"),some lovably chintzy optical effects, solid acting from a uniformly excellent cast, and a rousing climactic exorcism, this enjoyably trashy Italian exploitation horror outing really delivers the satisfyingly junky demonic possession goods.

This filthy and spooky movie , a wildly popular ¨Exorcist¨ imitation , concerns about Hipolita (Carla Gravina),she's a invalid young with unsettling problems from his mother died for a car crash in an accident along with her father (Mel Ferrer) and then she resulted paralyzed . She only has understanding for his brother (Remo Girone) . Her mental problems and intervention a doctor (Umberto Orsini) lead to an act of possession by an ancestor framed as a witch by the Inquisition . Eventually she's deeply possessed and starts seducing a young and other local men only to murder them . Hipolita becomes possessed and a strange exorcism seems to be the only solution to stop the craziness and heal the young invalid . An exorcism carried out by a Father exorcist (George Colouris) results to be the mean to save her but the events go awry .

This exploitation picture displays eerie horror , witchcraft , grisly killings , bestiality , satanism and lots of blood and gore . Most often films made to cash in on another hugely box-office ¨The Exorcist¨ tend to be inferior to the template but I have to say, as far as rip-offs of the Freidkin's classic go, ¨The Antichrist¨ is on the better end of the spectrum . Large cast with American actors working in Italy , such as Arthur Kennedy , Mel Ferrer , and George Colouris . Revolting , scary scenes and nasty images take place on orgy scenes with goat included . Packs luxurious scenarios with a lush corridor plenty of sculptures and careful cinematography showing glamorous sets by known Joe DÁmato , though cheesy special effects on the levitation scenes . Creepy and adequate to terror musical score composed by Ennio Morricone and conducted by Bruno Nicolai . The motion picture was regularly directed by Alberto De Martino . He's an Italian craftsman , working from the 60s in all kind of genres and B movies . As he directed Peplum (Secret seven , Spartan gladiators , Invincible gladiator , Valley of stone men) , Spaghetti Western (Django shoots first , Providence , Charge of seven cavalry) , Warlike (Dirty heroes) , European spy genre (OK Connery , Operation Lady Chaplin) , and Terror (Miami Golem , Horror , Holocaust 2000) , among others. Rating : acceptable and passable , though sometimes embarrassing .