Rating: 
Summary: Unique
Review: Lisa and the Devil is wonderful. Unlike a good 90 percent of the horror movies out there, its refreshingly original and imaginative with some startling, inspired moments of black humor. Mario Bava was a great visual stylist, and this is probably his best film.
Rating: 
Summary: Lisa and the Devil
Review: Lisa and the DevilThis movie opens with Lisa and a tour group viewing an ancient fresco of the devil on a wall in a quaint little Italian town. Lisa wanders away from the group and sees a man who looks like the picture of the devil in the fresco. Everything goes to hell from that moment on. The cast consists of Italian actors mostly unknown to me, except Lisa is played by Elke Sommer and Liandro\Satan is played by Telly Savalas. The other characters are a young man who looks much like a satyr, his mother, a rich couple and their chauffer, and a mystery man. The bad part about this film is that Elke Sommer couldn't act her way out of a paper bag, but she is very beautiful and I suspect that was the merit on which she was cast because although she's in almost every scene, she really doesn't have that many lines. She's the beautiful victim, the screamer, a face-maker, and a sounding board for the rest of the cast. Fortunately the rest of the film is well-cast with actors who do a good job in presenting this tale. The good part is that this is the most successful attempt at filming a nightmare that I've ever seen. Although the plot is linear in progression, the logic behind each scene is dream logic. Strange and unusual events occur, but the characters seem to accept these events without hesitation and try to keep moving forward with what they're handed. Murder and mayhem abound, all in the context of surreal horror. I suspect if Fellini would have made horror films, it would have looked much like this. Toward the end, the audience is given something that looks like an explanation for events, but it's a sham and a ruse and the audience knows there will be no happy ending for these damned. Bava gives us beautifully filmed, fun to look at movies. It's not only the narrative that intrigues. I haven't seen everything Bava has done, but I've liked everything I've seen so far. I give it four and a half toe tags.
Rating: 
Summary: ordinary film, but some scenes are specific
Review: Mario Baba¡¯s works always have a specific atmosphere. This work also is one of his films, which is in his style. Furthermore, Telly Sallas who really looks like a devil played in this film. Actually, story of this film is not interesting, but other effects are good. People were killed in a mansion, which is with spirit of devil. Some scenes and ideas of this film are similar to ¡°Psycho¡±, first of all, the murderer who cannot forget the lover, he remain the body of his lover in the room in spite of she was already dead. Then he kills people. Frankly speaking, there are some unreasonable scenes, which are not necessary. Sometimes, it is absurd and is not connected with the plot; finally, it makes the film to be not thrilling. This is a vulnerable point of this film. Usually, Italian horror films have some splendid effects for vision and sound but the plot is weak and stubborn. This film also shows features of Italian horrors directly.
Rating:
Summary: yet another testimony to the genius of Mario Bava
Review: Mario Bava was one of the great filmmakers of his time. Revered and often imitated by illustrious contemporaries like Fellini and Visconti, his work has had long echoing reverberations through the films of David Lynch, Quentin Tarentino, and the entire body of hopelessly unimaginative slasher films that tried, and failed, to copy Bava's films. Yet he was largely dismissed and/or despised in his time. Lisa and the Devil is possibly his most brilliant, and easily his most personal film. It's also a sad example of the way this innovator was treated in his time. More a cinematic poem than traditional "movie", this is a surreal, stream of consciousness fantasy about a girl (Elke Sommer, who was never better) who may or may not be dead and a butler (Telly Savalas, sucking a lollipop) who may or may not be the devil. Lisa and the Devil is beautifully photographed in vibrant colour, violent, disturbing, and completely brilliant. Inventive sequences abound, encompassing concepts as broad as identity, memory vs. hallucination, necrophilia, past vs. present, reincarnation, etc...There's literally no limit to this film's depth and beauty. Unfortunately, its complete disregard for conventional narrative flow consigned it to a truly horrible fate, being butchered beyond recognition, having extra scenes added to make it seem like an Exorcist rip-off, it was finally released as House of Exorcism. If you see this version anywhere, you should not only avoid buying it, you should also destroy it. It's an atrocity and an insult to the memory of Mario Bava and this, possibly his greatest work.
Rating:
Summary: common misconception about this movie's lack of plot
Review: Often when reviewed by "professionals" this film is refered to as lacking in a comprehensible plot. This is probably a misconception passed on through reviewers who have not seen the complete film ( it has been chopped up and reconcieved into different versions ) or ( more likely ) are simply passing along information from other reviews made on these earlier versions.
This goes to show that most customer reviews will probably be supeior to the ones offered by these professional guides ( do we think for moment that Lenord Maltin, or even his assisstants, have seen a fourth of the movies in these "books" ).
The plot is pretty straight foward "ghost-dream-in-haunted-house." It is an excellent movie ( personally I don't think it is Mr. Bava's best, but in no way does that mean that it is not worth seeing ). Fans seeking "giallo" horror will probably be disapointed, it lacks the over the top gore and surrealism that are the staples of that genre. Fans of "Hammer studios" style horror will love it: it is beautifully shot, atmospheric, and for a horror film well acted: in general higher quality actors usually find themselves playing villians in horror films, they are usually the better roles and do not require the amount of "traditional good looks" that is required of the other actors, and european horror films most definately go for pretty faces ( why not it's probably going to be dubbed by bad actors anyway ).
Rating:
Summary: Good but not great Bava
Review: On tour in Italy, Lisa Reiner first sees a fresco of the devil carrying away the dead. "The face of Satan expresses a quality that reflects the pleasure in evil," says the tour guide. The local villagers also believe that "only the power of the devil keeps the fresco from ruin." Later, Lisa encounters a bald man in a shop who resembles Satan in the fresco. She later sees him carrying and talking to a dummy he was examining in the shop. It gets weirder. Lisa then encounters a living likeness of the dummy, a guy who kind of looks like Omar Sharif, who calls her Elena! She is very freaked out and flees. However, she is unable to find the main square. She fortunately gets a ride from Francis and Sophia Lehar in a nice classic car resembling a Model A or T. The car makes its way to a large desolate country mansion, where the butler is none other than the dummy-carrying stranger! Not only that, a sensitive young man sees her and also calls her Elena! What is going on here? "The entire setting is right for a tall tale with a setting of gloom and tradition," says Sophia while at dinner. We have the right ingredients, a dark night, this house, it's all so spooky!" That about sums up the atmosphere for this movie, where things go from weird to weirder, with a murder that starts the ball of madness rolling. Lisa And The Devil underwent quite a butchering under American hands, where much of the original was cut, with extra scenes with Robert Alda as Father Michael were added to become House Of Exorcism, which was the original title of Bava's film. Never fear--this is the original uncut version. Also included after the movie are three scenes cut as they were thought to be too explicit for a "mainstream horror film": an explicit sex scene, the more gory parts of a murder, and a bedroom scene. Including these things in the final cut might have spiced things up just a wee bit. If the love theme to the movie is familiar, it is Rodrigo's "Concierto of Aranjuez," the tune forming the highlight of Miles Davis's Sketches Of Spain. Of the performers, Telly Savalas comes off best as the lollipop-sucking Leandro the butler. Was this a prelude to Kojak, I wonder? This is his show all the way. Alessio Orani portrays Maximilian as a tortured soul, a sensitive young man living under the thrall of death. And yet another sinister role for Alida Valli (the Contessa), best known for coming out in Dario Argento's Suspiria and Inferno. Despite being pretty, neither Elke Sommer (Lisa) nor Sylvia Koscina (Sophia) shine bright, displaying a hollow, antiseptic beauty. More a psychological, atmospheric thriller like Black Sunday, but not as good despite being in colour. It will take at least two or three viewings for the movie to make sense, and given time, one may like this better, but what a twist ending!
Rating:
Summary: Good but not great Bava
Review: On tour in Italy, Lisa Reiner first sees a fresco of the devil carrying away the dead. "The face of Satan expresses a quality that reflects the pleasure in evil," says the tour guide. The local villagers also believe that "only the power of the devil keeps the fresco from ruin." Later, Lisa encounters a bald man in a shop who resembles Satan in the fresco. She later sees him carrying and talking to a dummy he was examining in the shop. It gets weirder. Lisa then encounters a living likeness of the dummy, a guy who kind of looks like Omar Sharif, who calls her Elena! She is very freaked out and flees. However, she is unable to find the main square. She fortunately gets a ride from Francis and Sophia Lehar in a nice classic car resembling a Model A or T. The car makes its way to a large desolate country mansion, where the butler is none other than the dummy-carrying stranger! Not only that, a sensitive young man sees her and also calls her Elena! What is going on here? "The entire setting is right for a tall tale with a setting of gloom and tradition," says Sophia while at dinner. We have the right ingredients, a dark night, this house, it's all so spooky!" That about sums up the atmosphere for this movie, where things go from weird to weirder, with a murder that starts the ball of madness rolling. Lisa And The Devil underwent quite a butchering under American hands, where much of the original was cut, with extra scenes with Robert Alda as Father Michael were added to become House Of Exorcism, which was the original title of Bava's film. Never fear--this is the original uncut version. Also included after the movie are three scenes cut as they were thought to be too explicit for a "mainstream horror film": an explicit sex scene, the more gory parts of a murder, and a bedroom scene. Including these things in the final cut might have spiced things up just a wee bit. If the love theme to the movie is familiar, it is Rodrigo's "Concierto of Aranjuez," the tune forming the highlight of Miles Davis's Sketches Of Spain. Of the performers, Telly Savalas comes off best as the lollipop-sucking Leandro the butler. Was this a prelude to Kojak, I wonder? This is his show all the way. Alessio Orani portrays Maximilian as a tortured soul, a sensitive young man living under the thrall of death. And yet another sinister role for Alida Valli (the Contessa), best known for coming out in Dario Argento's Suspiria and Inferno. Despite being pretty, neither Elke Sommer (Lisa) nor Sylvia Koscina (Sophia) shine bright, displaying a hollow, antiseptic beauty. More a psychological, atmospheric thriller like Black Sunday, but not as good despite being in colour. It will take at least two or three viewings for the movie to make sense, and given time, one may like this better, but what a twist ending!
Rating:
Summary: EERILY ENCHANTING HORROR MASTERPIECE.....
Review: One of Mario Bava's most hypnotic and weird horror films begins with Lisa, a tourist, becoming lost and disoriented after strange encounters with a man who resembles a mural of the devil she has seen with her group. The man is handling a lifesize mannequin of another man she had a weird encounter with who claimed he knew her. She accepts a ride with some odd people in an antique car that breaks down outside a mansion with even odder people inside including the butler who is the man she saw with the mannequin that resembles the devil in the mural. Once agreeing to spend the night she is subjected to madness, murder, necrophilia and nameless terror that propels her to flee the next morning only to encounter a group of children who say she is a ghost. Finally boarding the plane for home, she finds the other passengers to be the people she just encountered in her bizarre adventure only they are all now mannequins. The pilot is noneother than the butler/devil. Telly Savalas is perfect as this enigmatic stranger and Elke Sommer is fine as Lisa. Bava imbues this film with surreal atmosphere that plays out like a nightmare. His trademark flourishes with color and set design are vividly on display here. Truly strange story will keep you going from start to unbelievably weird finish. A truly unique film experience that demands repeat viewings. A cult classic by anyone's standards.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good DVD of Euro Horror Classic
Review: The new Double-DVD of Mario Bava's great LISA AND THE DEVIL and it's re-edited abomination version HOUSE OF EXORCISM is a must for euro-horror fans. Bava's original version of LISA is one of the best lyrical euro-horror films ever. The presentation here looks just like the old ELITE laserdisc which also suffered from some slight digital artifacting...nothing awful, but it isn't perfect. Everything about this move is great- the music, the style, just the general feel of it...it's also completely unconventional. Of course, than there's the re-edited HOUSE OF EXORCISM version which added new "exorcist" type scenes and rearranged the film to make it accessible to audiences in the mid-70's. It's bad, of course, but it's great to have both versions together to see exactly how the film was damaged by the re-edit....this DVD in a way is the euro-trash fan's version of the Criterion "Brazil" DVD! As far as extras go, the DVD unfortunately does not have 2 alternate scenes that were on the ELITE LD - one being an alternate extra gory scene of Silva Koscina's death and the other an alternate erotic scene between Elke and Orano. The DVD does contain the extra 'unfinished' softcore sex scene, though, so why the other 2 scenes were left off is strange and disappointing. Other extras include the uncompleted L&TD trailer (also on the LD) plus 2 trailers for HOE. There's a very minimal "photo/poster gallery" (lasts 23 seconds! ) and some minimal filmos and bios. The HOUSE OF EXORCISM has an audio track featuring Elke and producer Leone who explains how he butchered the film (although he doesn't word it that way!). All in all, it's a GREAT DVD from IMAGE - don't pass this one up!
Rating:
Summary: Bava's haunting masterpiece
Review: They say hell is repetition, and this may be what Bava had in mind when he crafted the story to this film, Lisa and The Devil. Haunting, erotic, at times violent, and almost completely hallucinatory, this indeed is the stuff-the modus operati if you will,from which the devil indeed works. The deeper into the movie the viewer is allowed to journey the more the discovery that, like the onion, there is no real center once all the layers have been stripped back.
First and foremost, this is Telly Savalas's film. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of his finest moments on screen the way he so suavely portrays refined evil. He gets all the good lines: "What does tradition mean to a poor devil like me? Work and fatigue!"
Trying to understand the film, however, is another matter. I've seen this film three times and I still am none the wiser. One way to look at it, since Savalas's character is blatently the devil and is very much in control the entire time, is that he works with the manequins out of boredom. He manipulates them like wind-up toys, gives them a little illusory feeling of freewill and then sits back and watches the particular scenario of the moment play itself out.
Having seen many of Bava's other films, I know well enough by now that many of his films are about the style, and that any substance is strictly up to the viewer to determine. But what style! Every successive shot after the opening credits is a fascinating excursion into funereal worlds of claustrophobia and flashback and altered states of consciousness. One of my favorite scenes is when Lisa is creeping closer to Leonardo's chaple/workshop. This is Bava at his finest, because it is not the seen with which he scares us so well, but the what we thought we almost saw that will stay in our minds long after that airplane has complete its journey.
The version I viewed was the Image release of 2000. There are no extras. The Anchor Bay video release I own had two deleted scenes. I'm not sure, but I believe the extended scene of violence is included. The sound quality is wretched. Even with my headphones on, I was hard put to hear well. The transfer itself is so-so. At times you can see the wear and tear on the film edges.
None of this should deter you,however, from enjoying the film for the masterpiece of Bava's it is.
|
