Lisa and the Devil

1976 "Every corner of the soul is lost to the icy clutch of the supernatural!"
6.3| 1h35m| R| en| More Info
Released: 09 July 1976 Released
Producted By: Roxy Film
Country: Spain
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Lisa is a tourist in an ancient city. When she gets lost, she finds an old mansion in which to shelter. Soon she is sucked into a vortex of deception, debauchery and evil presided over by housekeeper Leandre.

Genre

Horror

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Director

Mario Bava

Production Companies

Roxy Film

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Lisa and the Devil Audience Reviews

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
sunznc Lisa and the Devil makes me think of Susperia. In fact, I think those sheer curtains with the appliqués that hang around the 4 poster bed were later used in Susperia. I've seen that film so many times I recognize those.Anyway, Lisa and the Devil is very low on dialog and big on atmosphere. Much like Susperia, we have the strange lighting, gaudy set pieces, beautiful sets and props, many rooms with fancy wainscoting and molding, and acting that is just slightly off. Dubbing that doesn't quite match up in a subtle way and eerie, dreamy music while the actors stare off into the distance or right into the lens of the camera. Dialog? Striped down to minimum. Story? Simple enough with a woman straying from her tourist group in a foreign city, wandering alone because she has heard some chimes. But what happens to her? She becomes ensconced in a surreal setting with people living in an old, Gothic mansion. But is it all real? Or is it all in her head? Are the murders really happening or did they happen many years ago? It's up to you to decide what the ending means. You'll probably enjoy the ride but don't expect anything too, too intense or deep here.
Thorsten-Krings The film doesn't quite add up to a movie which is mainly because it is actually Bava's Lisa and the devil and additional scenes shot by the producer. Lisa and the Devil had found critical acclaim but no distributor so after the success of The Exorcist the producer, Alfredo Leone, wanted to re-cut the film into a rip off of The Exorcist. For this additional scenes were shot. These were pretty strong and blasphemous so both Bava and Sommer did not participate which clearly shows in the film. The original had interesting elements such as the use of the puppets as symbols but due to the cuts in the original version this adds more the the confusion of the viewer than anything else. The Bava parts of the film were pretty stylish and well made (and yes, we get to see both Elke sommer's and Sylvia Kscina's boobs) but all in all the script has the inherent silliness of most bava movies. Savallas is having a field day reprising Blofeld and introducing us to the lollipop munching Savallas we know from TV. Nice over the tops performances all around which fit with the somewhat baroque style odd the original film. The exorcism scenes in the hospital are pretty over the top with green vomit and frogs, nude temptation and an actress who so very obviously is not Elke Sommer.
Witchfinder General 666 This film is credited as "La Casa dell'exorcismo"/"The House Of Exorcism" here, but Mario Bava's original version is the one called "Lisa e il diavolo"/"Lisa And The Devil". Mario Bava, arguably the greatest Horror director of all-time, created his most bizarre work in 1972 with "Lisa And The Devil". In order to attract a wider audience in the United States, the film was only released in a re-edited form, as "The House Of Exorcism", which added some elements and did not even give full credit to master Bava. Sadly enough, the original Bava cut was not released until after his death. Fortunately enough, it is available now. This is a review of Bava's original version, "Lisa And The Devil".While not one of my absolute favorites by the great Mario Bava, "Lisa And The Devil" is arguably one of his most underrated films. The film does not quite reach the brilliance of earlier Bava masterpieces like "Black Sunday" ("La Maschera Del Demonio", 1960), "The Whip And The Body" ("La Frusta E Il Corpo" (1963), "Blood And Black Lace"("Sei Donne Per L'Assassino", 1964), or "Kill Baby... Kill" ("Operazione Paura", 1966), nor that of his latter day highlight, the stunning Crime Thriller "Rabid Dogs" ("Cani Arrabiati", 1974). Even so, "Lisa And The Devil" is an elegant and mesmerizing Horror film that is absolutely sublime in many aspects. The whole approach of "Lisa And The Devil" is more bizarre, surreal and merely psychological than in his other films, and furthermore uses the Satanic formula which was immensely popular around the time. While "Lisa and The Devil" is a bit slower than his other early 70s efforts, such as his last Gothic Horror film "Baron Blood" ("Gli Orrori Del Castello Di Norimberga", 1972), the film maintains a wonderful atmosphere of insanity and doom.Due to the film's bizarre nature, "Lisa And The Devil" is probably the Bava film that makes a proper plot synopsis most difficult. This is not a bad thing, though, as every Horror fan should experience this film for himself (or herself) anyway. The film begins when tourist Lisa Reiner (sexy Elke Sommer) leaves her tourist group, and is suddenly stuck in a beautiful but eerie city center of Toledo. Unable to find her tourist group, Lisa, as well as a bunch of other people find refuge in an eerie mansion, where an old countess (Alida Valli) lives with her son (Alessio Orano), and a very sinister housekeeper (Telly Salavas)... I do not want to give anything away, but I can assure that "Lisa And The Devil" is a film that creates a hypnotic and nightmarish atmosphere like hardly another. The incredibly sinister Telly Salavas gives this film a cult-status and there is a lot more. The cast includes several familiar faces for Italian Cult buffs. Elke Sommer and Silvya Koschina are lovely to look at and they also are also great in their roles. The great Alida Valli, best known for her roles in two Horror-masterpieces, Dario Argento's "Suspiria" (1977) and Georges Franju's "Eyes Without a Face" ("Les Yeux Sans Visage", 1960), is once again superb as the old countess. The cast also includes Eduardo Fajardo ("Django") and Italian Exploitation regular Gabriele Tinti. The absolute greatest performance (by far) in this film, however, remains that of Telly Salavas who is ghoulish and great beyond comparison. As all Bava films, "Lisa And The Devil" is wonderfully photographed in beautiful yet exceptionally eerie Gothic settings. The city of Toledo is a terrific setting for a film like this, and the eerie mansion is the most uncanny and melancholic setting imaginable. The score by Carlo Savina is great and very eerie, and perfectly emphasizes the mood of a nightmarish fever dream. Aditionally to the nightmarish atmosphere, the film also has several genuinely terrifying shock-moments. As stated above, "Lisa And The Devil" is not one of the absolute greatest films by Mario Bava, but it is definitely a great one. The film is a little more slow-paced than Bava's other work, but its nightmarish atmosphere is exceptional. A mesmerizing film that no Horror fan can afford to miss!
Michael_Elliott Lisa and the Devil (1973) ** (out of 4) A tourist (Elke Sommer) gets lost in an unknown European city but soon ends up at a strange mansion being run by a weird son, his even stranger mother and their lolly-pop sucking butler (Telly Savalas) who might just be the devil himself. Director Bava was offered by his producer the chance to make a film of his choosing and this is the one he picked. The film turned out to be a bust as it couldn't be sold, which resulted in the producer making a rip-off of The Exorcist but today many people see this movie as the director's masterpiece. Sadly, I'm not one of those people as I find this film technically thrilling but as far as entertainment goes this thing is pretty hard to get through. I love to see art mixed with horror but to me it just doesn't work here. I think you're either going to get into the film or you're not and for me I've never been caught up in its story, surreal nature or that what the hell atmosphere it has going for it. The early scene in the film has Sommer getting lost in what appears to be a maze. She's attacked by a man, it gets dark and she still hasn't found her way out. I believe this sequence is here to draw the viewer in but for me it took me out of the film. As I said, on a technical level this movie is near flawless but the story is also important to me and Bava never can drag me in and instead the entire film feels like one scene dragging after the next. Bava's camera-work is top-notch once again as is the beautiful lighting. The music score is also very well done and matches the look of the film perfectly. Sommer turns in a decent performance but I couldn't help but wish someone stronger was in the role. Savalas does a fine job and we see his lolly-pops a while before his famous TV show.