The Antichrist is Albert De Martino’s answer to The Exorcist which means there’s a lot of pea soup, inappropriate cursing, and sex but somehow manages to add a different look at trauma and religion. Kino Lorber has upgraded their edition to 4K UHD.
The Film
There was never a successful film that the Italian Genre directors didn’t love to rip off. The Exorcist was one of those films. There were multiple different riffs most of the terrible but none as notorious as The Antichrist. Albert De Martino’s film is the type of movie that loves to shock and often does with its sleazy take on possession.
The film charts the possession of a rich affluent disabled woman Ippolita Oderisi (Carla Gravina). This isn’t a slow winding nose that looks at the trauma of a young girl but a sort of dance with temptation. That temptation centers around a full-on nightmare orgy, that cements Ippolita’s fate. At first, her father, Massimo (Mel Ferrer) thinks it’s jealousy over his new wife. Quickly the family begins to realize it is nothing of the sort. Murder, abuse, levitation, telekinesis, and projectile pea soup are all weapons that possessed Ippolita against everyone in her wake. Only the Church in the form of Father Mittner (George Coulouris) can free the devil’s grip on the young woman’s soul.
The Antichrist is not a serious film. That does not mean it isn’t affecting. There is a sledgehammer approach to everything that director De Martino does throughout that both offends and amuses in equal measure. Because of this arched tone nothing that’s offensive can be taken as such. Even the centerpiece of the film the devil’s orgy is done in such a way that yes, it’s shocking but so over-the-top that it lands with a thud.
Even the exorcism itself is done with no regard for restraint so everything in it is just… deflated and unintentionally funny in moments. The Antichrist appears to really want to outdo the Friedkin classic. In that attempt to outdo all the film has done is created an arched tone that’s more bemusing than dangerous or horrifying.
The Transfer
Again, this is another example of a 4K that’s an all-around amazing upgrade to the last Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber. The image is sharp with a beautiful patina of active grain giving it the look of a freshly struck print. The color density, the grain structure, the contrast are leveled up here. There’s more refined detail in the blacks giving us a more lustery image that prior.
The Extras
They include the following;
Audio Commentary by Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Film Critic Sally Christie
Raising Hell: Featurette with Director/Co-Writer Alberto De Martino and Composer Ennio Morricone
TV Spot
THE TEMPTER Opening Credits
Trailers
The audio commentary by Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Film Critic Sally Christie begins with bonafides of Christie and Gambin. The duo begins with the opening credits and how they’re directly referencing The Exorcist. Some of the details include the lack of score on the opening title sequence of Ennio Morricone’s score; the opening sequences visual references to Christianity and Catholic imagery; a discussion of the personal history and films of actor Carla Gravina – including a scandal that caused her to lose work; the incest and how it is confrontational – and how it relates to Italian culture; the disability and how it relates to Italian culture; an interesting conversation about the Satanic panic in the US during the 1980s; a larger conversation about the woman’s sexuality and the male dominance over women within exorcism films; a larger discussion of the various exorcism films; the work of De Martino both here and within other films – and the themes he uses like disability, women’s trauma and more; a discussion of the various taboos in the center piece sequence of the orgy; a discussion of Joe D’Amato who was the cinematographer that eventually became a director in his own right; a larger discussion throughout the story points, characters, themes that the film takes from The Exorcist and how the film changes those for their own purposes; the various actors that appear in the film and their work; and much more. Christie and Gambin provide a thoughtfully arresting commentary track filled with cultural and political context for the film’s content elevating this work beyond its oftentimes compromised exploitative approach.
Raising Hell: Featurette with Director/Co-Writer Alberto De Martino and Composer Ennio Morricone (10:20) – director De Martino begins with heading off The Exorcist comparisons with what he thinks is different from his film – including the sexuality that plays a huge part of the film and causes the possession, the accuracy of his exorcism on screen and more. Morricone discusses how he became involved with the project, how he approached the music, and his collaboration with De Martino.
THE TEMPTER Opening Credits (1:10) – the opening credits appear to be pulled from a VHS rip.
TV Spot (0:32) – the spot is a literal copycat of the iconic The Exorcist TV spots from the 1970s. The spot doesn’t list it at The Antichrist but The Temper.
Rounding out the special features are The Mephisto Waltz (2:27); Phobia (1:52); Burnt Offerings (2:30); Zoltan … Hound of Dracula(3:21)
The Final Thought
Kino Cult continues to curate wildly fascinating films and presenting them fully restored in 4K with great special features. Recommended!
The Antichrist is Albert De Martino’s answer to The Exorcist which means there’s a lot of pea soup, inappropriate cursing, and sex but somehow manages to add a different look at trauma and religion. Kino Lorber has upgraded their edition to 4K UHD.
The Film
There was never a successful film that the Italian Genre directors didn’t love to rip off. The Exorcist was one of those films. There were multiple different riffs most of the terrible but none as notorious as The Antichrist. Albert De Martino’s film is the type of movie that loves to shock and often does with its sleazy take on possession.
The film charts the possession of a rich affluent disabled woman Ippolita Oderisi (Carla Gravina). This isn’t a slow winding nose that looks at the trauma of a young girl but a sort of dance with temptation. That temptation centers around a full-on nightmare orgy, that cements Ippolita’s fate. At first, her father, Massimo (Mel Ferrer) thinks it’s jealousy over his new wife. Quickly the family begins to realize it is nothing of the sort. Murder, abuse, levitation, telekinesis, and projectile pea soup are all weapons that possessed Ippolita against everyone in her wake. Only the Church in the form of Father Mittner (George Coulouris) can free the devil’s grip on the young woman’s soul.
The Antichrist is not a serious film. That does not mean it isn’t affecting. There is a sledgehammer approach to everything that director De Martino does throughout that both offends and amuses in equal measure. Because of this arched tone nothing that’s offensive can be taken as such. Even the centerpiece of the film the devil’s orgy is done in such a way that yes, it’s shocking but so over-the-top that it lands with a thud.
Even the exorcism itself is done with no regard for restraint so everything in it is just… deflated and unintentionally funny in moments. The Antichrist appears to really want to outdo the Friedkin classic. In that attempt to outdo all the film has done is created an arched tone that’s more bemusing than dangerous or horrifying.
The Transfer
Again, this is another example of a 4K that’s an all-around amazing upgrade to the last Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber. The image is sharp with a beautiful patina of active grain giving it the look of a freshly struck print. The color density, the grain structure, the contrast are leveled up here. There’s more refined detail in the blacks giving us a more lustery image that prior.
The Extras
They include the following;
The audio commentary by Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Film Critic Sally Christie begins with bonafides of Christie and Gambin. The duo begins with the opening credits and how they’re directly referencing The Exorcist. Some of the details include the lack of score on the opening title sequence of Ennio Morricone’s score; the opening sequences visual references to Christianity and Catholic imagery; a discussion of the personal history and films of actor Carla Gravina – including a scandal that caused her to lose work; the incest and how it is confrontational – and how it relates to Italian culture; the disability and how it relates to Italian culture; an interesting conversation about the Satanic panic in the US during the 1980s; a larger conversation about the woman’s sexuality and the male dominance over women within exorcism films; a larger discussion of the various exorcism films; the work of De Martino both here and within other films – and the themes he uses like disability, women’s trauma and more; a discussion of the various taboos in the center piece sequence of the orgy; a discussion of Joe D’Amato who was the cinematographer that eventually became a director in his own right; a larger discussion throughout the story points, characters, themes that the film takes from The Exorcist and how the film changes those for their own purposes; the various actors that appear in the film and their work; and much more. Christie and Gambin provide a thoughtfully arresting commentary track filled with cultural and political context for the film’s content elevating this work beyond its oftentimes compromised exploitative approach.
Raising Hell: Featurette with Director/Co-Writer Alberto De Martino and Composer Ennio Morricone (10:20) – director De Martino begins with heading off The Exorcist comparisons with what he thinks is different from his film – including the sexuality that plays a huge part of the film and causes the possession, the accuracy of his exorcism on screen and more. Morricone discusses how he became involved with the project, how he approached the music, and his collaboration with De Martino.
THE TEMPTER Opening Credits (1:10) – the opening credits appear to be pulled from a VHS rip.
TV Spot (0:32) – the spot is a literal copycat of the iconic The Exorcist TV spots from the 1970s. The spot doesn’t list it at The Antichrist but The Temper.
Rounding out the special features are The Mephisto Waltz (2:27); Phobia (1:52); Burnt Offerings (2:30); Zoltan … Hound of Dracula (3:21)
The Final Thought
Kino Cult continues to curate wildly fascinating films and presenting them fully restored in 4K with great special features. Recommended!
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD edition of The Antichrist is out now
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