D V D C R Y P T

EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW

Directed by Mario Gariazzo
Produced by Paolo Azzoni & Riccardo Romano
Written by Mario Gariazzo & Ambrogio Molteni
Director of Photograpy Carlo Carlini
Music by Marcello Giombini
Cast: Stella Carnacina, Lucretia Love, Chris Avran, Ivan Rassimov & Gabrielle Tinti

1974/86 mins/Color/Digital Mono
Full-frame/English/Italy/NTSC Region 0

Review from the Eclectic DVD

Following the runaway success of THE EXORCIST in 1973, a wave of imitators hit theaters soon after. Many of these wannabes came from Europe. The makers of these films hoped that by using clever titles and including a plot revolving around demonic possession, the masses would flock to see these knockoffs. But, the bulk of these movies were total junk, such as EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW aka THE SEXORCIST, which is making its way to DVD.

The following synopsis is going to seem ridiculously short, but trust me, this is what EERIE MIDNIGHT HOROR SHOW is about. Denila (Stella Carnacina) is a young art student who also works restoring paintings. After witnessing her mother engaging in adulterous S&M sex, she returns to the art studio. There, she has an hallucination in which a statuel, which is bound to a cross, comes to life and seduces her. Following that event, Denila begins to behave strangely, screaming uncontrollably and scratching herself. She then develops stigmata. When her doctor can't decide how to treat her, Denila's parents take her to a priest for an exorcism.

Yep, that's it. EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW is a total rip-off of THE EXORCIST, and a particularly bad one at that. EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW has the same basic plot-points as THE EXORCIST, but on a much more simplistic level. The one thing that differentiates the two films is that Denila is older than Regan from THE EXORCIST, and thus a sexual nature can be brought into the plot. But, this is never fully explored -- it's only implied that Denila sexual tension gave way to the "possession". Denila has visions of "Satan" and witnesses a very long (and dull) ritual. These visions are the only things in the film which are even remotely creepy, as their surreal presentation separates them from the rest of the movie. The movie makes no attempt to explain what is happening to Denila, and all of the characters in the film don't seem all that surprised that she's possessed. (Maybe it happens more in Europe...). The acting in the film is very bad (and isn't aided by the awful dubbing -- more on that in a moment), and Stella Carnacina is a true mouthbreather who honestly looks surprised by the sheer fact that she's in each scene. The film contains some mild nudity and one scene of H.G. Lewis style gore, but otherwise, it's a poorly-paced yawn-fest which contains so much padding that it could be used to train guard dogs. EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW is the worst kind of knock-off movie: It copies the original film and does nothing to make a name for itself. When the familiar green vomit arrives at the film's climax, you'll know that you've been had.

EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW is another entry in Glenn Danzig's "Sinema Diable" collection. The opening (post-credits) shot of the film is letterboxed at 1.78:1, but following that, the movie is presented full-frame... although a black bar does creep in from the bottom of the screen from time-to-time. There isn't any noticeable panning-and-scanning going on, but the image does look squeezed at times. The picture doesn't show much grain, but there is some noticeable pixellation. The image looks somewhat washed-out, and there are some minor defects from the source print. The audio on the DVD is laden with problems. The digital mono track unleashes an incredible wall of hiss which is very distracting. There are several spots of audio drop-out around the 3:20 mark. At the 12:09 point, the dubbing goes crazy, and a female's voice comes from a man's mouth! IMDB.com lists the film's running time at 92, but the version on this DVD is only 86 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this version is cut, as the editing is very haphazard, with scenes suddenly beginning and ending. The DVD contains no extras.

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