Product Details

• Actors: Telly Savalas, Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, Alessio Orano, Gabriele Tinti
• Directors: Alfredo Leone, Mario Bava
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: May 16, 2000
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305837244
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,284 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Cult Movies > Cult Directors > Bava, Mario

• For more information about "Lisa And The Devil" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Directed by giallo maven Mario Bava, House of Exorcism is a truly rare cinematic find: a completely insane film. Sure, there are plenty of movies that are a little quirky, and even more that start off reasonably and then go around the bend later on, but in House of Exorcism, at no time is anything even remotely comprehensible happening. (No, not even if you watch it a second time.) Elke Sommer stars as Lisa, a beautiful tourist who spies an ancient fresco of the devil and seconds later leaves her tour group to become hopelessly lost. Fresco look-alike Telly Savalas, tongue and lollipop firmly in cheek, shows up holding a life-size mannequin and we're off. What follows is a whirl of opulent sets, vaguely menacing Europeans, and plenty of blood. It's the kind of movie where mysterious and weighty significance is given to lines such as "I brought you some cake. It's your favorite... with chocolate sprinkles." Like all great art, House of Exorcism asks more questions than it answers: Aren't we all just mannequins? Is Telly's face supposed to be obscured by that candelabrum? If those ghosts are so powerful, why have they been seated in coach? All this and more awaits you in The House of Exorcism. --Ali Davis

Product Description
While visiting Toledo, Spain, American tourist Lisa Reiner (Elke Sommer) experiences a feeling of deja vu when she sees an ancient mural of the Devil carrying away the dead. Hearing a familiar melody, she wanders away from her companions into a series of encounters with men who inexplicably recognize her from a past life. Hopelessly lost as night falls, Lisa begs a ride from a passing Packard, which breaks down outside a mansion where a young man (Alessio Orano) lives with his blind mother (Alida Valli) and a charming butler (Telly Savalas), who just happens to resemble the Devil from the mural! After a night of murder, necrophilia and horrific revelations, Lisa comes face-to-face with the secrets of her past identity and her connection to the bizarre rituals she has witnessed. This is the original Mario Bava film later reworked and reshot for American release as "The House of Exorcism."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good DVD of Euro Horror Classic, May 16, 2000

By	frankenberry (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The House of Exorcism/Lisa and the Devil (DVD)

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!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mario Bava's Lisa And The Devil/ Leone's House Of Exorcism, April 16, 2001

By	John Peterson "bigtimemusiclover" (Marinette, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The House of Exorcism/Lisa and the Devil (DVD)

In the liner notes of Lisa And The Devil/The House Of Exorcism Alfredo Leone ask Mario Bava that if Mario had carte blanche (a blank check), what movie would he make? His answer was this movie, Lisa And The Devil, which is Bava's most personal film.

Lisa (Elke Sommer) is a foreigner in a tourist group (it's never explained what country she's from, or what country they're visiting). While admiring a fresco of the devil (which looks amazingly like Telly Savalas), she hears music and is drawn to it, abandoning the tourist group in the process. This leads her to a man(Telly Savalas) carrying a life-sized dummy. Lisa recognizes him as the devil from the painting and from this moment on the viewer is taken for a nightmarish journey that's hard to tell which is actually real or a hallucination. Not that the end result is a mess, far from it; it is remarkable how Bava holds such a non-linear plot together so well where other filmakers before and since failed and it's easy to see why this is Bava's favorite film. The cast ensemble is excellent and so is the direction. It's definitely one of his best.

Unfortunately Leone couldn't find a distributor for this film. Seeing the success of The Exorcist, Leone had Bava reshoot some scenes that had Lisa "posessed" (spouting profanities, spewing pea soup, and so on). Bava balked at filming material he felt was blasphemous, so he walked and Leone finished filming the scenes, edited them into Lisa And The Devil, and called it The House Of Exorcism. The end result is really pathetic and an insult to Mario Bava's movie. There is an audio commentary with Leone and Elke Sommer which is enjoyable and provides some of the information in making Lisa And The Devil but mostly tries to justify the filming of The House Of Exorcism. In my opinion he fails.

The DVD special features include beside the commentary, a Mario Bava biography, Bava's and the cast filmographies, a theatrical trailer for Lisa and the Devil, two theatrical trailers for House Of Exorcism (whoopee), a deleted softcore sex scene between Silva Koscina and Gabriele Tinti, a photo and poster gallery, and liner notes by Bava scholar Tim Lucas. Too bad there wasn't an audio commentary by Tim Lucas on Lisa And The Devil; his knowledge is incredible and he's always interesting to listen to.

As bad as House Of Exocism is, I still recommend getting this DVD not only for comparison's sake but for the Leone/Sommer commentary. Otherwise, get the Lisa And The Devil DVD which is available seperately.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EERILY ENCHANTING HORROR MASTERPIECE....., December 17, 2002

By	Mark Norvell (HOUSTON) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.