It's A Bresee

 

 (fangoria.com)

MAUSOLEUM-1983-A woman Susan (Bobbie Bresee) gets possessed by a demon that killed her mother. Her eyes turn green when she wants to cause mischief like making a drunk's car blow up and carving up the gardener after having sex with him. She turns into a full-fledged demon when she kills her aunt. Her husband (former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner) eventually realizes something is wrong and calls psychiatrist Dr. Andrews (Norman Burton). Their housekeeper Elsie (LaWanda Page from TV's “Sanford & Son”) tries to warn hubby and says, "there's some strange shit going on in this house". Although demon Susan kills hubby, Andrews uses a crown of thorns to send the demon back where it came from. The final scene seems to be making fun of the whole premise. 

Bobbie Bresee was known for taking off her clothes in the few movies she made around this time and for being promoted shamelessly by Forrest J. Ackerman in the pages of the magazine he edited after “Famous Monsters of Filmland'. 

Directed by Michael Dugan. Music by Jaime Mendoza-Nava.

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Karloff is Back!

 

 (imdb)

THE HAUNTED STRANGLER-1958-Dr. James Rankin (Boris Karloff) investigates the case of Edward Styles, hanged as a murderer years before. He seems to feel that Styles' assistant Tenet who was later confined to an asylum might be more involved than first suspected. His wife (Elizabeth Allen) wants him to drop it. He has an assistant Dr. McCall (Tim Turner) who's in love with Rankin's daughter Lily (Diane Aubrey). Rankin and McCall find out a lot about Tenet and Rankin wants to exhume his body but superintendent Burk (Anthony Dawson) won't allow it, so Rankin digs it up himself! He finds a missing surgical knife believed to be the murder weapon which transforms him into a scary one-armed killer seeking vengeance. 

Of course, it turns out Rankin is Tenet protected by his wife who was a nurse at the asylum. After he kills her, he admits he's the murderer but no one believes him and he's committed to an asylum. He turns into Tenet and escapes. He goes on a killing spree but is eventually shot after menacing his daughter. 

Cool old style horror film directed by Robert Day with Karloff using facial expressions instead of make-up. Day and Karloff worked together on CORRIDOR OF BLOOD the same year.

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Boy 2

 

 (imdb)

BRAHMS: THE BOY 2-2020-After a traumatic home invasion, a family decides to move to the country to help their son Jude (Christopher Convery) who's left mute. They are only in the countryside a little while when Jude finds a creepy doll buried in the forest. Later they meet Joe the caretaker (Ralph Ineson) who obviously knows more about the doll than he's telling. Jude names the doll Brahms and it becomes his constant companion. Strange things happen like their TV going on by itself and when no one is looking Brahms turns its head or moves its eyes. Slowly the creepy doll begins to take over Jude, planning on killing both parents (Katie Holmes & Owain Yeoman). 

This isn't bad thanks mainly to the subtle direction of William Brent Bell, who also made part one (which was called THE BOY and not part one since he probably didn't know if there was going to be a part 2 when he made the first one).

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Cohen Returns

 

 (imdb)

GOD TOLD ME TO-1976-This opens with a sniper on a water tower killing people in NYC. Police officer Peter Nichols (Tony Lo Bianco) tries to take him down but the sniper jumps to his death after saying “God told me to”. Later Nichols visits a guy in the hospital who randomly stabbed a bunch of people. When asked why, he replies “God told me to”. At the St. Patrick's Day parade, a cop (Andy Kaufman) goes crazy and shoots several people. Before getting fatally shot he yells “God told me to”. The religious cop has a hard time coping while investigating and is eventually suspended. People riot when it seems 'God's own hand” is driving the murders. A drug dealer kills a cop and this too is blame on God. Meanwhile a cartel of businessmen worships a “living” God. Actually, a glowing, sexless offspring of an alien (Richard Lynch) and an Earth woman (Sylvia Miles in the present). Later the alien seems to take over Nichols and he makes a pimp kill some other thugs then himself. The alien/God wants a kid of his own but Nichols causes its destruction in the freaked-out finale, ending with Nichols arrested for murder and committed to a mental hospital. Some of the plot also involves Nichols' ex-wife (Sandy Dennis) and his new girlfriend (Deborah Raffin). 

This quirky, even strange, story was the concoction of writer/director Larry Cohen (two years after IT'S ALIVE) and as usual features weird dialogue and characters but some of the scenes seem out of place, not part of the story.

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Party in Canada

 

 (imdb)

KILLER PARTY-1986-A woman who gets cremated alive turns out to be a drive-in movie being watched by two teens. When one of the teens is terrorized after buying popcorn at an empty concession stand, it turns out to be a music video by some girly man phony metal band which is playing on a TV. Then a female frat house is going to use an old abandoned dorm for a party. Their house mother has some connection to the house as she talks to a headstone and is then killed inside. After a lot of nonsense, a professor (Paul Bartel) is electrocuted. They finally have the party but still nothing really happens until they all get trapped in the house but that's only a prank set up by one of the girls. Then someone in a Diver Dan suit starts killing everyone. It seems Jennifer, one of the frat girls is possessed by the vengeful spirit of a frat boy accidentally killed in a prank years before. 

William Fruet (FUNERAL HOME) directed this Canadian production with an idiotic ending.

Hopefully They Stopped Walking By Now...

 

 (imdb)

GHOSTS THAT STILL WALK-1977-A nice kid named Mark (Matt Boston) is having trouble with his medulla oblongata. His grandma (Ann Nelson) takes him to see a psychiatrist. The shrink (Rita Crafts) believes Mark's trouble might stem from the fact that his mom (Caroline Howe), an author, has suffered a nervous breakdown. Mark hears voices and says he tried to kill grandma who agrees to undergo hypnotism to find some repressed memory. She remembers when she and hubby bought a motor home and went to the Calico ghost town then a horrifying experience when their vehicle went out of control. Then the old folks are attacked by boulders on a salt flat desert while the theme from SPIDER BABY plays. Then while grandpa is fixing the air-conditioning, their vehicle starts up by itself and takes him and granny on an unscheduled driver less ride.

 Back in the present, grandma and the shrink have a long pointless discussion. At night the shrink reads the notebook of Mark's mom which relates the story of 3 ancient mummies she has and astral projection. Later it seems that Mark is being possessed by an American shaman who died a long time ago but still exists in his Astral form. Grandma's prayer to God saves the day. 

This boring incoherent mess was the brainchild of director/writer James T. Flocker who was involved in several low budget productions and wrote the original story for the movie that became THE CURSE OF BIGFOOT.

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She's A Witch! Burn Her!

 

 (imdb)

MARK OF THE WITCH-1970-A woman condemned as a witch curses her accusers. Then she's hanged. 

In the present, a college professor Mac (Robert Elston), has a group of students who study witchcraft, mainly as a lark. Jill (Anitra Walsh), a student who works at a bookstore, finds an ancient book and the group decides to summon a witch. It doesn't seem to work but Jill seems affected. The witch has possessed her and wants revenge. 

The psychedelic finale with abrupt twist ending is the best part of this talky supernatural low budget junk with bad acting. Director Tom Moore later directed RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK for Charles Pierce and was producer on several other projects for Pierce.

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Bava's Last Bow

 SHOCK-1977-After leaving a mental hospital, Dora Baldini (Daria Nicolodi), still recovering from the suicide of her first husband returns to their old house with her new husband Bruno (John Steiner) and young son Marco (David Colin Jr.). At night while the couple have sex, Marco wakes up in his room and yells “pigs” several times. He asks mom “What is death?”. His hand turns ghoulish when he touches his sleeping mom. Bruno is a commercial pilot and is away a lot. As the story progresses Dora fears she is beginning to lose her sanity once again. Marco acts very weird and says thing like “I have to kill you,mama” and seems to be possessed by her late husband....or is it just in her mind? It's revealed later that Dora killed her late hubby in a drug fueled fury and Bruno hid the body in a wall. Dora kills Bruno with a pick and then after being attacked by furniture, slits her own throat. Marco has a tea party with his invisible dad.

 (imdb)

This Italian production (it played in the US under the title BEYOND THE DOOR PART 2) was the last film directed by the great Mario Bava with some help from his son Lamberto, who co-wrote the screenplay. Nice little possession/ghost horror movie that looks great (the elder Bava was also the uncredited cinematographer) and manages to tie up everything nicely (well kind of anyway...). Son Lamberto went on to make his own horror films. Lead actress Daria Nicolodi wrote the screenplay for the Dario Argento horror movie SUSPIRIA the same year (they were a couple for many years but never married). Italian horror vet Ivan Rassimov plays Dora's doctor.

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Hopping

 

 (imdb)

SHAOLIN VS EVIL DEAD-2004-Pak aka Brother White (Gordon Liu), a priest and his two apprentices, Yat (Jacy Woo) and a young kid fight zombies while taking some hopping dead men to their rest. The trio also encounter the priest's brother Hak aka Brother Black (Siu-Wong Fan) who's more violent than the priest. Things slow down a little when Yat tries to romance Hak's female apprentice Moon (Shannon Yoh). Later Hak creates a small army of possessed little kids who battle a bunch of Shaolin monk kids. After that a demon that was inside Pak's kid apprentice comes to life (he gets out when the kid takes a shit). He's a child they name Little Egg and keeps calling the kid "mamma". 

This crazy entertaining kung-fu zombie fantasy ends very abruptly but there was a sequel. Director Douglas Kung (UNDISCOVERED TOMB) was also a stunt choreographer and made a sequel SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD: ULTIMATE POWER.

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Homemade

 

 (imdb)

JESSICA'S ROOM-2013-A group investigates the death of their friend in a house that may be possessed by the spirit of a young girl who killed her family. Made for around 5 thou, it's fairly amateurish with bad acting and a WTF plot that adds nothing to the rapidly declining "found footage genre". It was the brainchild of producer/director/writer Erik J. Knight.

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The Last Poe

 

THE TOMB OF LIGEIA-1965-Local strange guy Verdon Fell (Vincent Price) mourns the passing of his young wife Ligeia (Elizabeth Sheppard). He develops an affliction toward sunlight and wears sunglasses a lot. After a fox hunt near Ligeia's tomb he meets Rowena (also Sheppard) who he eventually marries. The cloud of Ligeia's death hangs over their strange marriage. When Fell regresses Rowena to a child by hypnotism she begins to talk in Ligeia's voice. Then she has a weird dream where she's attacked by a cat and embraced by a dark figure. Fell acts weirder and weirder. Apparently though dead Ligeia (whose body was not buried but resides under the castle) still has a kind of necrophiliac spell on Fell. After Rowena seems to die from a cat attack, Fell burns Ligeia's body but she returns.... or does she?

This was the last of the Corman/Price Poe adaptations (written by Robert Towne). It was filmed in England and features more outdoors scenes than other projects. It's not bad but for me it's the weakest.

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Who's Invited?

 

DEATH BY INVITATION-1971-During the overlong credits a woman is accused of consorting with the devil by some insane villagers (some have pasty white faces). A weird looking fat guy sayS she's a witch. The whole crowd starts chanting “Witch, witch”. In the modern day a family (most of them lookalikes for the villagers) has dinner. Peter Vroot (Aaron Phillips), the head of the family, has his toast interrupted by the arrival of Lise (Shelby Lverington, who looks like the accused witch) who talks about giving her number to a cab driver. Peter says he doesn't want his kids with any “way-out people”. Then they all go outside and toss a football around. Later Peter's son Roger (Denver John Collins) visits a woman who turns out to be Lise. She sneers and talks about women-hunters and then kills Roger. When Peter contacts the police about his missing son the dumb cop asks “Was he a hippie?”. A stupid detective thinks Peter was a drug dealer. Then not much happens. 

A weird scene has Peter's son in law Jake (Norman Paige) meeting Peter in his office (it looks like somebody's living room) while loud music plays and they have to keep repeating themselves! Lise decapitates Peter's oldest daughter and makes the youngest fall down a flight of stairs and die. The family group gets smaller at the dinner table. Lise seduces Jake and he discovers her secret. She's the reincarnation of the vengeful witch (or she might just be possessed) and Peter's ancestor was her accuser. For some reason Peter shows up at Lise's and Jake kills him. Lise smiles. The End. 

Most of the actors appeared in a bit roles in other films or on TV. Denver John Collins who plays Roger was Judy Collins' brother (he died in 2016). This weird oddball horror revenge story was written and directed by Ken Friedman who later wrote screenplays for HEART LIKE A WHEEL, WHITE LINE FEVER and CADILLAC MAN.

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The Original

THE EVIL DEAD-1981-Ash (Bruce Campbell) and 4 jerky friends (1 guy, 3 girls) go to a secluded cabin. There's a lot of strange noises and there seems to be something in the woods. In the basement (where there's a THE HILLS HAVE EYES poster) they find some ancient books, artifacts and a tape recorder. The tape has a doctor talking about Sumeria, The Book of The Dead and resurrecting the deceased. The taped chanting of the doctor seems to bring up some force and a tree crashes through a window. At night one of the women Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) is attacked by tree branches then chased through the forest by an unseen force. On the tape the doctor says his wife is possessed. Cheryl becomes a ghoul and threatens the rest, stabbing Ash's girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker) with a pencil. They lock her in the basement. The third girl Shelly (Sarah York) becomes possessed and attacks Scott (Richard Manincor), the other guy. Shelly gets partially burned, has her hand cut off, then dies after being dismembered in a very gory scene. Then Linda becomes a giggling demon. Ash yells: “You bastards! Why are you torturing me like this?!”. When Scotty dies, Ash is left alone to fight the demons. 

There's a lot of bloody effects, decapitation, demon attacks and of course poor Ash is beaten, stabbed and generally terrorized but manages to destroy the demon and survive....or does he? 

This was director Sam Raimi's first feature film (he'd only made short films before this) and seems to be influenced the low budget horror film EQUINOX (1970). It still packs a wallop today. Followed by two sequels and a cable TV show many years later.

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Karnsteins Curse

TERROR IN THE CRYPT-1964-At Castle Karnstein, Laura (Adriana Abesti) has a dream her cousin is killed (it's true). Count Karnstein (Christopher Lee) hires Baron Klauss (Jose' Campos) to do research on Carmilla of Karnstein, an ancient ancestor burned at the stake. While he’s working Laura and the housekeeper Rowena (Nela Conjiu) are in the basement performing a bizarre ritual involving a paper star and we learn Carmilla cursed the Karnsteins just before they killed her. Later a woman drops her daughter Ljuba (Ursula Davis) off at the castle. Then Annette (Vera Valmont) the maid and the count’s mistress tells the Baron that Laura is the spitting image of the infamous Carmilla. Laura and Ljuba seem on the verge of becoming more than friends. The Baron works hard but Karnstein seems to change his mind and doesn't want the Baron to do anymore research. It's become apparent that Laura is possessed by the spirit of the vengeful Carmilla and she's set her sights on Ljuba! Later at night Laura and Ljuba decide to investigate the mysterious bell ringing in the ruins where Carmilla was killed. They don't bother dressing, just run over there in their nightgowns! There they find an old hunchbacked peddler (Angel Midlin) hanging from the bell rope with his hand cut off.

Back at the castle, after Annette has pleasured her boss she spies Rowena wandering around using a hand (presumably the peddler’s) as a candle. It's a ceremony to find out who killed the peddler and it seems to point toward Laura’s room. But someone stabs the housekeeper. Annette runs in horror. Suddenly the whole story cuts to Rowena’s funeral. When the lights (candles) go out Laura sees Rowena sit up in her coffin and point. When Laura and Ljuba disappear, The Count and The Baron go looking for them. They find the Count’s cousin Franz (John Karlsen) bent on revenge (father of the girl killed in Laura’s dream). They also find Annette's dead body. It turns out Carmilla's actually possessing Ljuba. The trio bust into Carmilla’s tomb and put a stake through her. 

This black and white Italy/Spain co-production has it's moments but suffers a little from chopping editing. It was released in America through AIP. Lee made THE GORGON for Hammer the same year. It's based on a novel by Sheridan LeFanu but it isn't credited.

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More Found Footage

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY-2007-Did you ever see one of those obviously phony "paranormal" or "poltergeist" videos on YouTube? Well this "found footage" ghost/horror story is just like one except it's longer and more boring! A couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) believe their house is haunted and decide to film the goings on. Most of it is talking, false scares, lights going on and off and strange noises. The wife seems to be possessed at times. Can't see how this could get a major release and spawn sequels! But it did! 

Director Oren Peli also made the equally disappointing THE CHERNOBYL DIARIES.

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Lost and Found

THE ATTICUS INSTITUTE-2015-Mockumentary about a small institute founded by Dr. West (William Mapother) to test people with paranormal powers. After several setbacks they meet a woman named Judith (Rya Kihlstedt; on several TV shows at the time including HEROES REBORN) who seems to have incredible power. When she becomes uncontrollable the institute calls in the government. They discover she has an “evil” inside her and conduct some experiments that mostly end in disaster. She even seems capable of terrorizing the families of those involved. When it appears an actual entity is to blame the government tries to control it. It's more like torture. Later they get a priest (with a gas mask) to perform an exorcism. 

This type of “found footage” horror is getting old hat. I hope writer/director Chris Sparling remembers this when he makes his next movie.  

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American Actors In Italy

 

 

THE VISITOR-1979-At an Atlanta Hawks basketball game a little girl named Katy (Paige Connor) seems to make an opposing player lose the game. She's a snot-nosed brat and after having sex her mother Barbara (Joanne Nail) confesses to her boyfriend Raymond (Lance Henriksen who was in OMEN 2 the year before) that she's afraid of her daughter. It turns out Raymond actually works for a cabal led by Dr. Walker (Mel Ferrer) who says the mother carries the genes of “Sateen”. They want the boyfriend to impregnate mom so Katy will have a brother. For some reason Katy gets a revolver for a birthday present and she accidentally shoots mom who winds up paralyzed. A character who may be Jesus Christ (Franco Nero) sends a visitor (John Huston) to check up on Katy. And a weird housekeeper (Shelly Winters, no stranger to horror and exploitation) also hangs around. Meanwhile a detective (Glen Ford who had played Pa Kent in the SUPERMAN movie the year before) investigates until he is killed. Later after Raymond and Katy kill Barbara the visitor sends a flock of birds to kill Raymond and Katy is whisked away to a heavenly place where (now bald) she joins other hairless children under the protection of the Christ like figure.

This Italian/US co-production THE OMEN inspired tale was filmed in and around Rome by Guilio Paradisi (a former actor) under the more American sounding Michael J. Paradise. It's no paradise when viewing this disjointed, badly dubbed horror tale despite the name cast. It could be the US version was badly cut and dubbed making the story fairly incoherent. For example director Sam Peckinpah appears in one scene as a doctor named Collins (Katy and Barbara's last name). It seems in the uncut version it's explained that the doctor is actually Barbara's ex-husband but here it's reduced to a weird cameo by an American director (Peckinpah would make this last movie THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND a few years later). Actor/director Mel Ferrer was in several European horror films around this time and the same year as THE VISITOR was in added US scenes for an Italian horror film SCREAMERS.

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Rip-Off

THE DEVIL WITHIN HER-1975-Former exotic dancer Lucy Carlesi (Joan Collins) gives birth to a rather large and strong baby (at least that's what the doctor's say; it looks like any normal baby). Weird things happen almost immediately. Baby scratches mommy and later bites their housekeeper. Her Italian husband Geno (Ralph Bates with an accent) hires a nanny but the baby pushes her into a pond and she dies! Lucy reveals a strange story to her girlfriend (Caroline Munro) about the last time she danced and how a dwarf actor "cursed" her ("You will have a baby as big as I am small! A monster!"). She believes her baby is possessed and even sees the dwarf's face in place of her son's. Their doctor (Donald Pleasance) doesn't believe it but when he visits he's decapitated. Dad winds up dead by hanging and his body is stuffed in a drain pipe. Dad's sister, a nun (Elleen Atkins) suspects no good and eventually performs an exorcism but by then everyone is dead! John Steiner is also in it as a Cockney club owner. Much of it doesn't make sense and there's some unintentional humor and it all seems to be inspired by THE EXORCIST, IT'S ALIVE and ROSEMARY'S BABY. 

Director Peter Sasdy did better with previous efforts like TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, COUNTESS DRACULA and HANDS OF THE RIPPER. For some reason it has recently been re-titled SHARON'S BABY.

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More Al

THE POSSESSION OF NURSE SHERRY-1978-This is one of director Al Adamson's last efforts.

Out in the desert a cult leader named Reanhauer (Bill Roy) and his disparate group of followers chant over the body of a dead man (Reanhauer told him he didn't need to take his insulin and he died). They keep saying “Rise, William, Rise”. This goes on for 3 weeks and by now his right hand man Brother Stevens (JC Wells; also in Adamson's BLACK HEAT) has had enough. Just when the nutty leader thinks he has made the guy come back to life he suffers some kind of seizure and is rushed to the hospital.

Dr. Frank Desmond (Geoffrey Land, also in several other Adamson productions) tries to save him but would rather have sex with his girlfriend/nurse Sherri (Jill Jacobson). Her nurse friend Tara (Marilyn Joi; also in Adamson's BLAZING STEWARDESSES) gets excited when she hears a famous football player is a patient at the hospital but he's a bitter bigot because he was blinded in an accident. 

Later after Sherri and Frank have sex, a apparition invades Sherri's bedroom (and Sherri). It's a pretty bad special effect even for an Al Adamson movie! Sherri has weird visions (some are flash forwards scenes). Meanwhile another nurse named Beth (Mary Kay Pass) has sex with a patient. After Sherri visits a cemetery, Stevens is visited by Reanhauer's spirit which makes a mess of his apartment. Sherri acts very weird, kills a retired doctor with a pitchfork and talks with Reanhauer's voice. It seems Sherri is possessed by the whacky doctor's spirit. Stevens tells Frank that in order to stop the ghostly shenanigans he has to burn the doctor's corpse. He almost dies in a car crash when Reanhauer's laughing face shows up. 

Sherry kills another doctor and almost kills the blind football player. Stevens thinks he's found his former mentor's body and burns it. Surprise! He burns the wrong body and falls to his death. A psychiatrist wants Sherry sent to a sanitarium. The blind football (who's mom was a voodoo priestess) suggests Tara and Beth find Reanhauer's body and burn it. After several drawn out scenes the nurses find and burn the body just before a blood soaked Sherri tries to kill Frank. Despite this she winds up straight jacketed in a padded cell.

This is one of Adamson's worst and least fun movies. There are no “old” stars and the story is boring. There's a lots of talking and not much really happens. 

Even the “spiced up” alternative version isn't much better. According to the interesting commentary track by Sam Sherman, head of Independent International, he produced the film under the credited “Mark Sherman”.

The alternate version (also included on the Retro Shock a Rama DVD) adds some sex scenes and more nudity from lead actress Jacobson and different end credits.

The music sounds like the theme used in TV's ONE STEP BEYOND. 

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Exorsnore

EXORCISMUS-2010-In England Emma (Sophie Vavasseur from RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE), a teenage girl acts weirdly. She cuts herself, almost drowns her little brother and levitates in front of her mom and dad. When she goes to a psychiatrist he dies of a heart attack. She seems to be possessed so they bring in their uncle, a priest (Stephen Billington; also in RESIDENT EVIL) to perform an exorcism. He's haunted by flashbacks of botched one he once did. While tied to a chair she curses a lot (“fuckin' priest”), has spasms, her eyes turn white and she tries to strangle dad (with her legs). Her pin cushioned faced boyfriend tells her she's just being manipulated but she causes a car crash that nearly kills him (she sees his face covered with cockroaches). 

Later after killing her brother and driving mom crazy, she learns that things might not be what they seem. Despite it's twists in the finale (which goes on too long) this is just another EXORCIST take-off. This English language Spanish production filmed in England was directed by Manuel Carballo and written by David Munoz (THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE). 

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