A long lost horror classic resurrected
The story of "Lisa and the Devil" is the stuff of movie legends: riding high after the success of Baron Blood and A Bay of Blood, the iconic horror director Mario Bava was given free reign for his next project: the surreal "Lisa and the Devil". Sadly, "Lisa..." flopped at the box office in Bava's native Italy and desperate to sell it overseas, the film's producer basically butchered the film in an act of cinematic murder. The film's ending was removed, new footage of lead actress Elke Sommer was shot with actor Robert Alda, that basically turned the film into bastardized rip-off of the Exorcist, with the remaining footage recast as an extended flashback sequence about Sommer's characters being possessed.
For decades, the removed footage was considered destroyed until they resurfaced late in the 1990s, at which point the restored "Lisa and the Devil" was resurrected. The film's reputation, having grown over the years due to the butchery done to it in the name of making it...
My favorite Bava
Mario Bava's Lisa and the Devil is, out of the 7 or 8 Bava films I've seen, my favorite. It casts Elke Sommer as a young American tourist who is visiting a busy Spanish town with a friend. After encountering a mysterious man in a shop, who it is suggested is the devil, she suddenly finds the town practically uninhabited. After she hitches a ride with a rich couple and their chauffeur, the car breaks down outside a mansion. After this point, the film becomes increasingly enigmatic; however, it is mysterious in a way I find fascinating and not frustrating. In addition, the film's considerable visual beauty, haunting ending and the charismatic presence of Telly Savalas (as the devil) add to its appeal for me. The Blu-ray looks very good overall, with some speckles I noticed occasionally being the one negative. I haven't watched The House of Exorcism (also on the Blu-ray), which is reportedly a butchering of Lisa and the Devil made to capitalize on the success of the then-popular...
An Amazing Cross Between Satanic Horror and Commedia d'el Arte
I originally got this on a PD version from Cheezy Films - and knew, immediately, that I had to own a good print of it! One of Mario Bava's (BLACK SUNDAY, DANGER: DIABOLIK, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES) most surreal movies, LISA AND THE DEVIL tells the story of Elke Summer's Lisa, on a guided tour in Italy, who sees a portrait of Satan on the wall of a church - then meets a man who looks just like the portrait (Telly Savalas, a year or two before KOJAK) carrying a man tucked under his arm - or is it a mannequin that looks like that man? Lisa misses her tour bus, and accepts a ride from the aristocratic Lehar couple in a decrepit touring car which breaks down in front of an old, seemingly deserted mansion - and runs into the Satanic man again! He introduces himself as Leandro, the butler to the Countess and her son Maximillian who live there, and invites her and her companions inside. Once inside, it seems everybody mistakes Lisa for Elena - a woman it turns out the Countess's late husband...
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