Exorcism (1975)

Sometimes, watching a film by Spanish Director Jess Franco only covers half the experience. The other half is in tracking down the definitive version of the film, or even working out which the definitive version actually is. 'Demoniac' seems to be the name given to the dubbed version of X-rated 'Sexorcismes (1975)', and/or 'El sádico de Notre-Dame (1979)', which was expanded to give, as Franco puts it, 'greater character motivation'. Possibly then, this is the original version, before additional footage was added.Lina Romay, nearly naked, star-shaped and chained to a rack, is being tortured by a similarly clad female. In a favourite Franco trick, her indignities are revealed as being part of a show. When it's over, an audience applauds politely. By day, she's Anna, secretary to Raymond (Pierre Taylou) at 'Garter and Dagger' magazine (together they stage sadomasochistic shows in a sleazy Parisian underworld). An occasional contributor to the publication is Mathis Vogel played by Franco. He is not a convincing actor. His decision to cast himself in many of his films is odd (although the characters he plays often interact with a bevy of half-naked females, which may well explain the choice). There are many things to enjoy about 'Demoniac' – most of them provided by Romay who doesn't remain troubled by clothing for any length of time.Vogel is a defrocked Priest who also secretly tortures nude females in a nearby rented room. The 'justification' is, he is unhinged enough to convince himself he is 'purifying' these people, taking his victims from such rituals as the one that opened the story, believing them to be genuine black mass events. One couple is visited in their hotel directly after a protracted orgy scene, where the elderly husband is remonstrating with his young wife for enjoying herself too much. When she replies that anything else would be a bore, he replies, "I just don't like looking ridiculous," which must surely be irony, as he is sporting the most appalling silvery white wig.This is far from my favourite Franco film, but like them all, it has merits. The camera-work is often ham-fisted, swooping in on …. nothing, and then pulling back again. There's no sense of drama or pace, and Franco injects no character into Vogel, so his motivation seems arbitrary. "I am the sword of the Lord," indeed! However, the sleazy underworld of a murky Paris is nicely conveyed, and those who enjoy the hirsute pleasures of 1970's pornography have plenty to enjoy here. However, the final light-hearted lines of banter between the cops at the end, seem to have been drafted in from another film.

**A quick note but I watched all three of these at different points over the years so the reviews are a little out of place with one another. I'm posting them in order of the Synapse version, the XXX version and then the 1979 re-edit.Exorcism (1974) *** (out of 4) This was one of the first Franco titles that I actually watched and I hated it with a passion. Over the next year I started to check out a few other Franco films and I guess you could say I finally "got" what he was all about so I went back to watch this one again and ended up really enjoying it. I think the film gets better with each new viewing, although I think the film plays best as pure camp. In the film Franco plays a deranged writer who witnesses a fake devil worshiping and is certain that he must kill the people to save their souls. This film has a lot of trademark Franco items from countless sex, nudity and violence all the way to the erotic nature of the story. This is a very strange little film that manages to be quite surreal in its black mass scenes and the movie just contains a weird vibe throughout. The film also have some hilarious moments, which I'm sure was unintentional. I also get a huge laugh at of Franco's acting during the orgy scene. When Franco hides his face in shame, it's just downright hilarious. Another funny moment happens when Romay is leaving a restaurant and she opens the door the wrong way and ends up running into it. This certainly isn't Franco's best film but it is one of his most enjoyable.Sexorcismes (1974) ** (out of 4) Once upon a time (1974 to be exact) in a country far, far away (Spain to be exact) there lived a director named Jess Franco who made a movie called Exorcism. The film dealt with a looney writer (played by Franco) who stumbled upon a sex show with witches and demons. To make them pure, the writer goes on a killing spree. Then, in 1979 Franco decided to remake the film but didn't have enough cash for a full movie so he edited out forty or so minutes of Exorcism and mixed it with about forty-minutes worth of "new" footage. This disasterpiece was called The Sadist of Notre Dame. However, back to 1974's film Exorcism. The French producer's weren't happy that Franco didn't make the film extreme enough so they offered him a tad bit more money to go back and shoot hardcore scenes so that the film could be released into French porn theaters. That end result was released as Sexorcismes and that's the version I watched here.The Sadist of Notre Dame was a horrible film in my opinion and one (of several) that I gave a BOMB rating to. Exorcism on the other hand is a film I always enjoyed for its surreal and bizarre sexual nature. That film was a straight horror flick with your typical amount of Euro nudity but there wasn't anything hardcore. Several of Franco's films during this period were shot "soft" and "hard" but usually the hardcore versions were nothing more than cheap inserts that really hurt the original film. I had been interested in this French version of Exorcism for quite sometime and it finally arrived and as I suspected the hardcore scenes add nothing to the film but they do take away quite a bit.The most shocking thing about these new shots is that doubles weren't used, which was normally the case. Most of the original cast are involved in these new scenes and that includes Franco himself! I remember the first time I saw Romay in hardcore scenes I was rather shocked because I always considered her an "actress". Seeing Franco in these scenes just made me laugh my ass off because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Having seen Franco in countless interviews and other films, to see this here was simply shocking. Either way, none of this stuff is shot too well and it's clear they were filmed differently than the rest of the film. It's also worth noting that the producer's didn't bother to change the soundtrack, which leads to some pretty silly moments. In the "horror" version there are several scenes were women are stabbed and we hear their screams. This soundtrack of screams is also used in this hardcore version, which makes for a few funny moments since these screams don't match up with what's going on in the film.Sadist of Notre Dame, The (1979) BOMB (out of 4)Jess Franco at his laziest. The film might be worth one more star but I'm not going to give it to this. An ex-priest (Franco) escapes from a nut house and starts killing people in God's name. This film is a re-edited version of Franco's 1974 film Exorcism with newly shot scenes added. I enjoy the "original" film but this one here is just downright confusing and poorly made. The new scenes add nothing and the editing to them is the worst I've ever seen. The pacing is horrid and the re-editing even ruins scenes from the original film.

Director Franco stars as Mathis Vogel. An ex Czech priest who was thrown out of the Church because his methods were to 'severe'. He is also an escapee from a mental asylum who is wanted by German police for crimes against minors. At the time the film takes place he is in Paris, writing sadomasochistic stories for 'The Garter and Dagger'. The editor Raymond Franvel (Pierre Taylou) and his rather sexy secretary Anne (Lina Romay) are involved in staging fake black masses and satanic rituals, it's a hobby I suppose. The loony Vogel is deeply in love with Anne, which I can understand. He rents an apartment across the road from Anne so he can spy on her and her lesbian lover roommate Rose (Lynn Monteil). Vogel overhears a conversation between Raymond and Anne talking about organizing another one of their satanic rituals and believes them to be serious. After torturing the address out of a nightclub prostitute Gina (Carole Riviere), he witnesses one of the rituals in which he believes a girl is murdered, he leaves before the girl reappears on stage unharmed. Vogel then goes around in the name of god torturing and killing the people involved, cleansing their souls in the process, and eventually kidnapping the sexy Anne, who he keeps tied up naked in his house so he can torture her whenever he wants. By this time the police, Inspector Tanner (Olivier Mathot) and his Deputy Malou (Roger Germanes) are hot on his tail, but will they be able to save Anne and put an end to Vogel's twisted ways? Directed, co written and starring Jesus Franco this is pure exploitation trash. Franco fills the screen with so much nudity and sex it becomes tiresome. Just about every female in the film is there just to take her clothes off. Regular sex, orgies, lesbianism, sexual assault and S&M, it's all in here somewhere! Not really much blood or violence, a dove has it's head cut off and Franco stabs and cuts a few people but that's about it. The story is silly and relies on a lot of coincidences and assumption, it doesn't quite work. I couldn't quite help but think that the story was just an excuse to get as many people naked as possible. The ending feels very rushed, almost as if Franco ran out of money or lost interest. The film looks OK, the photography is decent considering it's a Franco film, as are the locations. I liked the music, in particular the main theme. It's certainly better than most of the Franco films I've seen, it's nowhere near as weird, boring, inept or surreal as some. There's a cheap and sleazy feel to it as well. Difficult to recommend, and I didn't really think too much of it.

I just saw the uncut softcore version, from 1974 of this "recommended" horror movie and was amazed how miserable it was. The acting was bad, the english dubbing was the worst I have seen, the gore was unrealistic, and the plot was stupid. The film was just boring from start to end.If something should be called "Euro-trash" this must be it.Barely for Franco-fans.