Italian diabolical possession films: their English language alternate titles, directors, and years of release

by Admin · April 29, 2022

Italian Title	English Title/s	Director/s	Theatrical Release Outside Italy? Y/N	Theatrical Release in How Many Countries[1]	Month of Domestic Release	Narrative Type[2]
1974
Chi sei?	The Devil Within Her; Beyond the Door; Behind the Door; A Demon Beyond the Door (US – promotional only)	Ovidio G Assonitis/Roberto D’Ettore Piazzolli	Y	8	October	UC
L’anticristo	The Antichrist; The Tempter; Blasphemy (poster only)	Alberto De Martino	Y	11	November	PY(F), UC
L’ossessa	The Eerie Midnight Horror Show; Enter the Devil; The Devil Obsession; The Sexorcist; The Tormented	Mario Gariazzo	Y	3	November	PY(F), DA

1975
L’esorciccio	The Exorcist: Italian Style	Ciccio Ingrassia	Y	2	?	PY(F), PC(M), DA
La casa dell’esorcismo	The House of Exorcism/Devil in the House of Exorcism	Mario Bava; Alfredo Leone (reshoots)	Y	5	April	(Adult Possession, Female), DA
Il medaglione insanguinato	The Cursed Medallion; The Night Child; Together Forever	Massimo Dallamano	Y	3	April	PC(F), DA
Un urlo dalle tenebre	The Exorcist III: Cries and Shadows; The Possessor; Naked Exorcism; Cries and Shadows; The Return of the Exorcist	Angelo Pannacciò; Luca Damiano (uncredited)	Y	4	August	PY(M), DA

1978
L’osceno desiderio – Le pene nel ventre	Obscene Desire	Giulio Petroni	Y	2/3	December	UC

1979
Malabimba	Possession of a Teenager; The Malicious Whore	Andrea Bianchi	Y	3	September	PY(F)
Un’ombra nell’ombra	Ring of Darkness; Circle of Fear; Satan’s Wife	Pier Carpi	Y	3	October	PC(F)

1980
Patrick vive ancora	Patrick Still Lives	Mario Landi	N		May	PY(M)

1982
La bimba di Satana	Satan’s Baby Doll; A Girl for Satan	Mario Bianchi	N		July	PY(F)
Manhattan Baby	Eye of the Evil Dead; Possessed	Lucio Fulci	Y	8	August

1988
La visione del sabba	The Witches’ Sabbath	Marco Bellocchio	Y	4	February	PY(F)
Il fantasma di Sodoma	Sodoma’s Ghost; The Ghosts of Sodom	Lucio Fulci	N		(TV Movie)
Aenigma		Lucio Fulci	Y	4	September

1990
La casa 5	Beyond Darkness; House 5 (video catalogue only)	Claudio Fragasso	Y	3	July
Demonia		Lucio Fulci	N		October (Video Only)

[1] NB. This is within five years of the original Italian theatrical release, thus excluding revival screenings or festival screenings much later.

[2] PY = Possession of a Young Person (M=Male; F=Female); PC = Possession of a Child (M=Male; F=Female); UC = Unholy Conception; DA=Diabolical Art

Notable films made outside Italy:

Spain

El Juego del Diablo (Jorge Darnell,1975), released in English as Devil’s Exorcist

Exorcismo (Juan Bosch, 1975), released in English as Exorcism

France

Les possédées du diable (Jess Franco, 1974), released in English as Lorna the Exorcist; and Linda

West Germany

Magdalena, vom Teufel besessen (Walter Boos, 1974), released in English as Magdalena, Possessed by the Devil; The Devil’s Female; and Beyond the Darkness

Die Liebesbriefe einer portugiesischen Nonne (Jess Franco, 1977), released in English as Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun

Turkey

Seytan (Metin Erksan, 1974), released in English as Seytan the Exorcism Incident; and Turkish Exorcist

Grief, love beyond the grave and the coastal Gothic in Neither the Sea Nor the Sand

by Admin · February 25, 2021 · leave a comment

Horrified Magazine has today published on their website a new article that I have written about Fred Burnley’s 1972 film Neither the Sea Nor the Sand: “‘We are an elemental people’: Grief, love beyond the grave and the liminality of the coast in Tigon’s Neither the Sea Nor the Sand”.

The penultimate film by Tigon British Film Productions, Neither the Sea Nor the Sand was based on the novel by (ITN newsreader) Gordon Honeycombe. Those of us of a certain age will remember him, no doubt. The book is at its heart a reworking of the premise of W W Jacobs’ iconic short story ‘The Monkey’s Paw’.

There’s little published material about either the film or the novel on which it is based, so this article by myself is breaking some new ground – particularly with regards Honeycombe’s references to the Fourteenth Century anti-clerical/reformist medieval poem Piers Plowman (by William Langland, a follower of John Wycliffe). Most of the material that has been written about the film (and the novel) assumes the veracity of the reference to the poet Ross Guyot, to whom the quote from which the novel’s title originates is credited – but as I say here, ‘Guyot’ was a concoction by Honeycombe to obscure his reference to the Langland poem – and in fact was most likely an allusion to the Thirteenth Century poet Guyot de Provins.

‘We are an elemental people’: Grief, love beyond the grave and the liminality of the coast in Tigon’s Neither the Sea Nor the Sand

Article – Andy Milligan’s British horror films

by Admin · January 21, 2021 · leave a comment

For anyone interested, here’s another article by yours truly, this time for Horrified Magazine’s online outlets.

Titled ‘”A tuppence where yer ‘eart should be”: Andy Milligan’s British horror films’, this piece (approx 9000 words) takes a look at fiercely independent cult American filmmaker Andy MIlligan’s quintet of films made in the UK between 1968 and 1970.

This was quite an interesting topic to dig into; there’s little published about Milligan’s work generally, and very little about these five films he made in the UK, so this article is breaking new ground in that regard.

The films discussed and analysed include Nightbirds (1970), The Body Beneath (1970), Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970), The Body Beneath (1980), The Rats are Coming! The Werewolves are Here! (1970) and The Man with Two Heads (1970).

Though made for UK producer Leslie Elliot, these films were never distributed in the UK owing to a disagreement between Leslie, his father Curtis Elliot (who held the purse strings of the production company for which these were made) and Milligan.

‘A tuppence where yer ’eart should be’: Andy Milligan’s British horror films

Late 80s/90s Neo-Noir – A List

by Admin · January 8, 2021 · leave a comment

Red Rock West

Kill Me Again

Delusion

Perfect Crimes/Fallen Angels

The Last Seduction

Gun Crazy (remake)

Detour (remake)

Bound

The Big Lebowski

Blood Simple

Barton Fink

Miller’s Crossing

The Terminator

After Dark, My Sweet

This World, Then the Fireworks

Palmetto

U-Turn

One False Move

Trouble Bound

New Podcast – Kill It With Fire

by Admin · December 20, 2020 · leave a comment

Myself and some learn’d colleagues have assembled – nay, thrown together the first episode of a new podcast, Kill It With Fire, focusing on cult movies and ‘cult-ure’.

This first instalment takes a look at Larry Cohen’s 1982 monster movie Q – The Winged Serpent.

Article – Pete Walker and David McGillivray’s ‘terror’ films of the 1970s

by Admin · December 16, 2020 · leave a comment

I’ve long been a fan of Pete Walker’s films, and particularly his collaborations with writer David McGillivray, so I was fortunate to get the opportunity to write a 8500 word piece about their films House of Whipcord, Frightmare and House of Mortal Sin for Horrified Magazine.

The article can be found here:

‘A Very Serious Relapse’: Pete Walker & David McGillivray’s House of Whipcord, Frightmare and House of Mortal Sin

Favourite Television Programmes

by Admin · December 14, 2020 · leave a comment

I’ve been thinking about English-language television programmes (dramatic – the comedic can wait for another time, as can non-English language productions) and have tried to come up with a ‘top ten’ list that excludes ‘one offs’ and single play strands.

Here we go…

Callan (ABC/Thames, 1967-7)
Public Eye (ABC/Thames, 1965-75)
Homicide – Life on the Street (NBC, 1993-9)
The Sweeney (Euston Films, 1974-8)
Gangsters (BBC, 1976-78)
Cracker (Granada, 1993-2006)
Southland (NBC/TNT, 2009-13)
Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990-1)
Law & Order (NBC, 1990-2010)

‘The Tractate Middoth’ (Mark Gatiss, 2013)

by Admin · December 14, 2020 · leave a comment

I wrote some words about Mark Gatiss’ 2013 television adaptation of M R James’ ghost story ‘The Tractate Middoth’ for Horrified Magazine’s lovingly curated Ghost Story for Christmas retrospective.

Those words can be found here.

The Tractate Middoth

New Review: Arrow Video’s Graveyards of Honor

by Admin · November 19, 2020 · leave a comment

… containing Fukasaku Kinji’s Graveyard of Honor (1974) and Miike Takashi’s Graveyard of Honor (2002). Both are excellent films.

The review, for DVDCompare/Rewind, is approx. 5000 words and contains large screengrabs from both films.

http://dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=6402

Local Shops for Local People #1: Club Barber (Interview and Photographs)

by Admin · September 17, 2020 · leave a comment

Club Barber, owned and operated by Brody and Emma, is a relatively new barber shop in Grimsby which caters to providing an experience beyond a simple hair cut – including video games in the waiting area and semi-regular events featuring music and input from a variety of businesses.

In February, I visited Club Barber and spoke with Brody, spending some time in the establishment and photographing Brody at work with a client.

Like many similar businesses, Club Barber was disrupted by the nationwide lockdown but has since reopened with an expansion of the team.

The text of my interview with Brody is as follows.

PL: ‘How old is your business? What are your long-term aims for the business?’

Brody: ‘We opened Club Barber at the start of December [2019]. We plan to offer a different experience that people have never seen or experienced before when coming to get a haircut. We offer hot and cold drinks, we have an XBox with a few different games, we have a dart board, we play up-to-date music and have the latest magazines. We will also be hosting events where we will be collaborating with other local companies. Keep a look out on our social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram. We will soon be launching an online booking system so our clients can book which barber they would like to cut their hair, on a certain day and at a certain time. In the not so distant future, we would like another shop in the local area, and eventually expand out of town to other towns and cities. We are chiefly using social media to get our name out there as much as possible and to showcase what services we have to offer’.

PL: ‘What challenges have you faced in terms of establishing the business: for example, in terms of local authority regulations, attitudes of local residents)?’

Brody: ‘The main challenge we faced was with the local authority and having to wait for long periods of time in order to find out things such as acceptance of planning permision, etcetera. Just for us to change the outside front of the shop we had to wait 12 weeks. We were not even allowed to touch the paint colour!’

PL: ‘What response have you had from the local community? How would you describe your relationship with the local market?’

Brody: ‘The local residents have been very supportive and have helped us out massively, spreading the word and becoming return customers. We have not had any issues with anyone in the local area; we have had nothing but support’.

PL: ‘How could businesses like yours be better supported? What could help you to thrive?’

Brody: ‘Free local advertisements from the local paper would be great for new local businesses; also shops in the local area letting us put a small poster up. Some of them do, but some of the bigger chains don’t’.