TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Witchfinder General 666 *This is a review of the version with the international aka. title "EXORCISM".Does the plot of this movie serve mainly as an excuse to show tons of sleaze, gratuitous female nudity, sadomasochistic perversions and violence? Yes, it does, and if you have a problem with that you better stay away from this film, as from any other film made by the prolific Spanish Exploitation-deity Jess Franco after the mid-70s. To my fellow fans of the man, however, L'ÉVENTREUR DE NOTRE-DAME aka. EXORCISME aka. EXORCIM of 1979 is highly recommendable, as it combines Franco's passions for sleaze, elegance and controversy in a highly entertaining manner. Franco had cameos and supporting roles in many of his 190+ films, but he plays the main psychopath here.Mathis Vogel (Franco), an author who writes sadomasochistic stories for a sleaze magazine, is really a religious fanatic who kidnaps, tortures and murders sexually promiscuous young women in order to save their souls. The hot girls working for the sleaze-magazine, who also appear in sadomasochistic fake black masses in front of decadent audiences, soon begin to disappear...EXORCISM is interesting for a variety of reasons. Jess Franco, who was once labeled "The most dangerous film-maker alive" by the Vatican has been one of the most active adversaries (and victims) of censorship throughout his career; some decades ago, censorship in the name of morality still came partly from the influence of the church. While evil devil-worshipers were very popular villains in 70s cinema, Franco actually gives us an evil Christian who is out to murder promiscuous girls and innocent leisure-time-Satanists. The sleaze-level is high in this one, and anybody disgusted by the combination of sexuality and violence in a movie should stay away from this as from most other Franco-flicks. The young Lina Romay (Franco's real-life wife) is the most beautiful member of the entirely exhibitionist female cast. The story is often ridiculous but fun to follow, even though some clichéd elements like super-idiotic police might make viewers roll their eyes. As in the majority of Franco's films, the set-pieces, cinematography and score are great. As it is the case with many other Franco-movies, there are (hardcore-pornographic) alternate cuts of this movie available, this is a review of the non-porn 'Horror' version. Sleazy Franco-typical nastiness, recommended to my fellow fans of the man.

HumanoidOfFlesh A sadistic priest Paul Vogel played by Jesus Franco himself makes his living by writing pornography for a S&M magazine.His publisher Franval praises Vogel's work for its authenticity unaware that the mad priest draws inspiration from the exorcisms and inquisitions he undertakes in order to save sinners' souls.Vogel discovers that Franval and his cohorts indulge in satanic games and embarks upon a new series of divinely inspired murder.Of course there is a team of investigators hot on the trail of this sadistic sex murderer.I saw this film under the title "Exorcism".It's a typical Franco's chock full of sleaze and misogynistic violence.There isn't much gore to speak of,but plenty of whipping,rough sex and knife play.The killing scenes look very cheap and the story is paper-thin.However if you are a fan of depraved smut give this one a look.

haildevilman I saw a Japanese video called 'The Sadist of Notre Dame.' Which is a GREAT title.Tio Jess' zoom happy style of film-making was a little more subdued here and the film itself benefits from it.This was a combo of Jekyll/Hyde and The Excorcist with a dash of Argento. Franco definitely knows how to film outdoor scenes to maximize their effect. Despite the slow pace, I never got bored.Most of the characters seemed like throwaways, but he still allowed them to develop as much as possible. And unlike a lot of films of this nature, they seemed normal.Lina Romay is no Goddess Gemser, but she does hold her own in the Beauty sweepstakes.The orgy scene was heavily pixelated in the Japanese video (as most xxx scenes usually are here.) Another example of incredibly wealthy people having out of control perversions. Rumor has it Franco himself took part. I guess there's an uncut version out there.

Pierre-Alexandre Buisson That's what happens when you launch Jess Franco (who's just out of the mental hospital due to religious fanatism) in Paris. He discovers some horny gals, learns they're planning a black mass, and invites himself to the festivities between two sexual murders. "Demoniac" is full of those nice little scenes where Franco films fetishism and other various sex practices, just to make his hero (himself, here) kill everybody a few minutes later. A real bad image and a not-so-interesting story about this inquisition fanatic just make it worse, and I've watched the whole movie only two months after buying it... Beware : this movie's really not appealing unless you're a cult fan.