Lisa and the Devil (1976)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Absolutely Fantastic

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Intriguing prologue--with tourist Elke Sommer lost on the deserted streets of Spain after locking eyes with a dead ringer for the Devil himself--is then canceled out by reincarnation/house of horrors plot that goes around in circles (many defenders of the movie say that is precisely the point). Director and co-screenwriter Mario Bava, who may have been inspired by the 1962 American film "Carnival of Souls", can't come up with any coherent shocks, so instead turns the atmosphere into a surreal dream-state (the picture is madness personified--only it's the viewer who is driven batty). Telly Savalas is the lollipop-sucking, chain-smoking butler of the manor where Sommer and three others take refuge for the night; inside the brightly-lit rooms, Sommer is hounded by the murdered lover from her previous life. Coy nudity, cartoon-red blood and a ridiculous "romantic" flashback pad out the excruciating 95-minute running time, while someone in the estate is sneaking around with a mallet, conking people on the head. Bava should have been their next target. U.S. audiences were initially shown a different version in 1975, "The House of Exorcism", with newly-shot scenes. *1/2 from ****

If you are of a certain age, you may remember Telly Savalas as the hugely popular, lollipop sucking detective from the 70s/80s series 'Kojak'. If you happen to be from the UK, you may also remember Elke Sommer from 1975's 'Carry On Behind' as the genuinely funny Anna Vrooshka. It is no spoiler to say they star as this film's title characters, for, five minutes in, Lisa sees the image of Savalas' Landro as 'the Devil' on a wall mural in Tuledo and keeps running into him, often as he is carrying a suspiciously lifelike mannequin. Suave and charming (he's even sucking a lollipop here too – a contractual clause?), he nonetheless exudes a palpable sense of threat.Lisa, and the audience, then meet a succession of suspicious characters. Not quite grotesques, but a menagerie of people flawed in one way or another, so that a collection of them helps to sustain the feelings of unease. One such character is the ostensibly fey Max (Alessio Orano), who expresses feelings for Lisa. All kinds of horrors are thrown at Lisa, and it seems for a time that Elke Sommers' is merely required to look as terrified as possible as the weird and the apparently dead line up to shock her.Savalas is excellent as Landro. Occasionally carrying scenes alone and talking to himself, a lesser actor would not be able to make such a natural job of it. With Savalas, talking to himself seems simply an extension of his eccentric oddness. His scenes with the many mannequins creates pleasingly perverse overtones.Whilst this a good, unusual horror, the actual scares are pretty tame, despite Sommer's enthusiastic reactions. Methodical, solid and weird, with the overall effect although playful, is sadly lacking in genuine tension.

This spellbinding shocker from the man dubbed the "Italian Hitchcock", Mario Bava, shows the director's uncanny ability to manipulate the boundaries of conventional film-making, creating in doing so a totally unique, atmospheric piece of work. Like the other Italian directors, Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, visual imagery and beautiful photography are favoured over any semblance of a 'normal' plot; indeed, the viewer must pay attention to every minute that goes by in order to understand all the events which occur. This alone is enough to put off a lot of potential audiences, but perseverance in this case leads to a reward: an atypical, challenging, and powerful film, where nothing is necessarily what it seems and even the most gentle, friendly character may turn out to be the devil in disguise! You can tell by the opening credits that this is going to be something special: a cleverly, partially animated sequence of Telly Savalas turning over tarot cards to reveal the names of the cast and crew. Soon we are in familiar territory for fans of Bava and Argento, where the heroine finds herself trapped in claustrophobic avenues in a seemingly empty city, the high walls imposing and threatening to suffocate her. Lurking around in the shadows is the sinister figure of Telly Savalas himself, usually assigned to playing tough generals in all those Roger Moore war films of the '70s, plus his scene-chewing performance in HORROR EXPRESS, of course. Here he is complete with lollipop (left over from KOJAK, no doubt) and a mannequin under his arm, a symbolical allusion to a mural that Lisa has seen where the devil carries around those doomed to eternal torment.After this intriguing opening which opens up a dozen questions, we move into the familiar 'haunted house' territory, where an assembled group of characters are menaced by bizarre events; things smashing in empty rooms, doors shutting, footsteps, you name it. Also lurking about is a middle-aged moustached man who mistakes Lisa for his wife, even after getting thrown down a flight of steps he still persists. Ignoring his affections, Lisa begins a torrid affair with the youngest son of the family, much to the chagrin of his blind mother. By now we know that this isn't your average suburban family and that plenty of hideous secrets are waiting to be revealed. Sure enough, it's soon revealed that the son has the skeletal body of his previous wife tucked up in bed (THE TOMB OF LIGEIA tackled similar situations), leaving the viewer in no doubt that some disturbing kind of behaviour is going on, perhaps even necrophilia.To make matters even more surreal, Savalas is still going about his business, carrying mannequins into chapels and shoving bodies into coffins by cracking their rigor-mortised ankles (a delightful scene). Now we're about halfway into the film and some long-awaited bloody murders occur, in one seen a cheating woman repeatedly runs over her husband in his own car, the chauffeur has his neck slashed with scissors, others are beaten with candlesticks. These deaths are similar to the intensity that Bava brought to his slasher drama A BAY OF BLOOD, although not quite as graphic. By the end of the film, just about everybody is dead, and there's even a twist in which Lisa boards a plane to escape, but finds it is deserted, with Savalas at the controls! Rarely did Bava get such creative control over a project like this, but he does a great job of making a fascinating film. Elke Sommer is a capable lead, actually being more than just a pretty face, while Savalas puts in an impeccably charismatic performance as a man who might just be the devil, just witness some of his scenes where he moans about having to work all the time, drinks, and talks to himself. He effectively steals every moment he's on film. The rest of the Italian actors are all good too, especially the son, who at one we like and are yet terrified of. The beautiful camera work is complimented by a great score to round things off. LISA AND THE DEVIL might turn out to be just too much hard work for the casual viewer, and I agree that it is a difficult film to watch. Underneath though is a film which contains sometimes startling themes of death and decay, given a stylish appearance by Bava.

While touring a medieval European village, Lisa Reiner (Elke Sommer) gets separated from her tour group and ends up needing transportation out of town. As luck would have it, a car breaks down nearby which has a chauffeur named "George" (Gabriele Tinti) and two occupants, "Francis Lehar" (Eduardo Farjardo) and his wife "Sophia Lehar" (Sylva Koscina) who offer to give her a lift. Unfortunately, the car breaks down again and all four are compelled to accept accommodation in a large house out in the countryside. It doesn't take long for them to realize that the residents are very strange. Especially the butler, "Leandro" (Telly Savalas). At any rate, rather than spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this is a rather macabre film which I found to be both slow and confusing. And while I enjoyed the performances of Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, and Telly Savalas, the disjointed plot noticeably hampered what could have been an outstanding movie. As a result, I give it an average rating.