EXORCISM (1974) ** ½
The beautiful Lina Romay passed away a couple months back and I wanted to belatedly pay tribute to her by reviewing one of the many films she made with her husband, Jess Franco. If you are a fan of Romay, you’ll definitely want to check this one out. Not only does she give a great performance, but she’s also naked in it more often than not.
A theatrical group gets their kicks by performing S & M heavy black mass rituals in front of a horny paying audience. Jess Franco (who also directed) stars as a defrocked priest who happens to be off his rocker. He thinks the rituals are real and he sets out to murder the participants after they engage in a bunch of dirty sex.
Exorcism starts off with a great ten minute plus scene where Romay is tied up and whipped by another chick. In fact, throughout the 93 minute running time there are several more kinky S & M, sex, and orgy scenes. None of them are especially titillating, but because of the sheer amount of nudity and arty sleaze it’s pretty hard not to like Exorcism.
Despite the oodles of smuttiness in this movie, it does have a bad habit of getting bogged down whenever people start talking. The scenes involving the boring police investigation are particularly slow. But whenever Franco is delivering on the flesh, it’s not too shabby. And some of the dialogue is rather priceless. A sexy dominatrix gets the best line of the movie when she tells her wimpy slave, “You’re as disgusting as a leper’s sore!”