L'éventreur de Notre-Dame (1975) User Reviews

Nasty Sleaze as only Jess Franco can do with Style

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 6/10 · 5 May 2011]

*This is a review of the version with the international aka. Title "EXORCISM".

Does the plot of this movie serve mainly as an excuse to show tons of sleaze, gratuitous female nudity, sadomasochistic perversions and violence? Yes, it does, and if you have a problem with that you better stay away from this film, as from any other film made by the prolific Spanish Exploitation-deity Jess Franco after the mid-70s. To my fellow fans of the man, however, L'ÉVENTREUR DE NOTRE-DAME aka. EXORCISME aka. EXORCISM of 1979 is highly recommendable, as it combines Franco's passions for sleaze, elegance and controversy in a highly entertaining manner. Franco had cameos and supporting roles in many of his 190+ films, but he plays the main psychopath here.

Mathis Vogel (Franco), an author who writes sadomasochistic stories for a sleaze magazine, is really a religious fanatic who kidnaps, tortures and murders sexually promiscuous young women in order to save their souls. The hot girls working for the sleaze-magazine, who also appear in sadomasochistic fake black masses in front of decadent audiences, soon begin to disappear...

EXORCISM is interesting for a variety of reasons. Jess Franco, who was once labeled "The most dangerous film-maker alive" by the Vatican has been one of the most active adversaries (and victims) of censorship throughout his career; some decades ago, censorship in the name of morality still came partly from the influence of the church. While evil devil-worshipers were very popular villains in 70s cinema, Franco actually gives us an evil Christian who is out to murder promiscuous girls and innocent leisure-time-Satanists. The sleaze-level is high in this one, and anybody disgusted by the combination of sexuality and violence in a movie should stay away from this as from most other Franco-flicks. The young Lina Romay (Franco's real-life wife) is the most beautiful member of the entirely exhibitionist female cast. The story is often ridiculous but fun to follow, even though some clichéd elements like super-idiotic police might make viewers roll their eyes. As in the majority of Franco's films, the set-pieces, cinematography and score are great. As it is the case with many other Franco-movies, there are (hardcore-pornographic) alternate cuts of this movie available, this is a review of the non-porn 'Horror' version. Sleazy Franco-typical nastiness, recommended to my fellow fans of the man.

Why can't he just finish his movies?

[AS-69 · 6/10 · 29 November 2001]

There are reportedly at least three very different versions of "Exorcism" around. I am reporting here on Eurocine's original version as recently released by Anchor Bay.

Jess Franco surely is a gifted director. Although most of the few movies I know from his immense production are below average, they often include some ingenious scenes and a good soundtrack which largely saves the movie. Nevertheless, I start to get disappointed when the movie does not develop its potential because the director just didn't take the pain to think a little about constructing some tension and a climax.

This applies, e.g., to "Female Vampire" and to "Exorcism". The first part of the movie brings us to a strange world. People are visiting phony black masses featuring the slaughter of a pidgeon and sadomasochistic rituals in order to get sexually aroused. Jess Franco plays an ex-priest who writes S/M-stories for a magazine "based on true experience" stating that "you have to know evil in order to fight it". He is attracted to the lesbian S/M-performer Anna and on the other hand pursues the participators of the black masses with bloody and deadly exocirsm rituals. There are nice interiors which were shot in a beautifully decorated "day time hotel" near Paris.Unfortunately, after having introduced all this material, the movie gets completly stuck. Instead of developing, e.g., the character of the priest, his madness (as he did for example in "Jack the Ripper"), Franco just repeats the shots of black masses and exorcism over and over again or fills the movie with extended sex scenes. This leads utterly to boredom and the ending lacks any interest to justify the waiting.

As usual, Franco has trouble to keep his camera in focus and the editing is crude. Take for instance the ending. Franco brings Anna to his castle outside of Paris. Then, Anna phones somehow her friend to tell her that she is alright. A few seconds later, we see Franco back in his Paris appartment and then driving back to the castle (so that his pursuers have the chance to follow him). Although the timing might be possible, I found this unnecessarily confusing.

So the movie is just another unfulfilled promise by the director. It is without technical merits and doesn't deserve much attention.

Another Eurotrash by Jess Franco

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 10 July 2012]

In Paris, the former priest Mathis Vogel (Jesus Franco) writes pornography for a magazine. When the deranged priest watches an erotic show based on a Black Mass, he believes that the cast and audience are possessed and he goes on a murder spree to exorcise the demons of his victims.

"L'Éventreur de Notre-Dame" is another Eurotrash by Jess Franco, who is also the lead actor. His trademark is present in every scene, with sexploitation, violence, nudity, bad acting and gore, but for fans of this genre it is funny to watch this trash. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Exorcista Diabólico" ("The Devilish Exorcist")

Three Versions

[Michael_Elliott · 13 March 2008]

**A quick note but I watched all three of these at different points over the years so the reviews are a little out of place with one another. I'm posting them in order of the Synapse version, the XXX version and then the 1979 re-edit.

Exorcism (1974)

*** (out of 4)

This was one of the first Franco titles that I actually watched and I hated it with a passion. Over the next year I started to check out a few other Franco films and I guess you could say I finally "got" what he was all about so I went back to watch this one again and ended up really enjoying it. I think the film gets better with each new viewing, although I think the film plays best as pure camp. In the film Franco plays a deranged writer who witnesses a fake devil worshiping and is certain that he must kill the people to save their souls. This film has a lot of trademark Franco items from countless sex, nudity and violence all the way to the erotic nature of the story. This is a very strange little film that manages to be quite surreal in its black mass scenes and the movie just contains a weird vibe throughout. The film also have some hilarious moments, which I'm sure was unintentional. I also get a huge laugh at of Franco's acting during the orgy scene. When Franco hides his face in shame, it's just downright hilarious. Another funny moment happens when Romay is leaving a restaurant and she opens the door the wrong way and ends up running into it. This certainly isn't Franco's best film but it is one of his most enjoyable.

Sexorcismes (1974)

** (out of 4)

Once upon a time (1974 to be exact) in a country far, far away (Spain to be exact) there lived a director named Jess Franco who made a movie called Exorcism. The film dealt with a looney writer (played by Franco) who stumbled upon a sex show with witches and demons. To make them pure, the writer goes on a killing spree. Then, in 1979 Franco decided to remake the film but didn't have enough cash for a full movie so he edited out forty or so minutes of Exorcism and mixed it with about forty-minutes worth of "new" footage. This disasterpiece was called The Sadist of Notre Dame. However, back to 1974's film Exorcism. The French producer's weren't happy that Franco didn't make the film extreme enough so they offered him a tad bit more money to go back and shoot hardcore scenes so that the film could be released into French porn theaters. That end result was released as Sexorcismes and that's the version I watched here.

The Sadist of Notre Dame was a horrible film in my opinion and one (of several) that I gave a BOMB rating to. Exorcism on the other hand is a film I always enjoyed for its surreal and bizarre sexual nature. That film was a straight horror flick with your typical amount of Euro nudity but there wasn't anything hardcore. Several of Franco's films during this period were shot "soft" and "hard" but usually the hardcore versions were nothing more than cheap inserts that really hurt the original film. I had been interested in this French version of Exorcism for quite sometime and it finally arrived and as I suspected the hardcore scenes add nothing to the film but they do take away quite a bit.

The most shocking thing about these new shots is that doubles weren't used, which was normally the case. Most of the original cast are involved in these new scenes and that includes Franco himself! I remember the first time I saw Romay in hardcore scenes I was rather shocked because I always considered her an "actress". Seeing Franco in these scenes just made me laugh my ass off because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Having seen Franco in countless interviews and other films, to see this here was simply shocking. Either way, none of this stuff is shot too well and it's clear they were filmed differently than the rest of the film. It's also worth noting that the producer's didn't bother to change the soundtrack, which leads to some pretty silly moments. In the "horror" version there are several scenes were women are stabbed and we hear their screams. This soundtrack of screams is also used in this hardcore version, which makes for a few funny moments since these screams don't match up with what's going on in the film.

Sadist of Notre Dame, The (1979)

BOMB (out of 4)

Jess Franco at his laziest. The film might be worth one more star but I'm not going to give it to this. An ex-priest (Franco) escapes from a nut house and starts killing people in God's name. This film is a re-edited version of Franco's 1974 film Exorcism with newly shot scenes added. I enjoy the "original" film but this one here is just downright confusing and poorly made. The new scenes add nothing and the editing to them is the worst I've ever seen. The pacing is horrid and the re-editing even ruins scenes from the original film.

Big Hairy fannies

[Bezenby · 5/10 · 23 April 2013]

My wife bought me this by mistake! Some company called Boulevard entertainment had somehow mixed this up with another film called Exorcism (and American religious film or something), but when Lina Romay's pubic hair appeared within 0.001% of a second of the film starting, I thought "We're back in the land of Jess Franco!"

That's bad news for most of us, by the way. There is a small fraction of the populace that rather enjoys a Franco film, but if you've sat through any of his films you know what to expect here: Endless scenes, much nudity and little sex, plenty of misogyny, and zoom shots.

Truth be told, this is nowhere near as painful as Succubus or Oasis of the Zombies, but it's also nowhere near as funny as White Cannibal Queen or the Devil Hunter. It involves Franco himself as a crazy ex-priest running around Paris carving up women that are involved in some sort of half-arsed black mass ceremony, with his prize being Lina Romay, who, surprisingly, spends most of the film naked or tied up and naked.

That's your plot, and reading that back over I realised that I've made Exorcism sound a bit exciting, which it's not. "Crazy ex-priest running around Paris" doesn't sound right. How about 'slowly moping around Paris, usually hiding behind things, staring"? Instead of 'carving up women' I'll say 'very slowly tormenting women and gibbering on about how they've got the devil in them for endless minutes'? I'll stick by the 'half-arsed black mass' though. Plus there's an orgy scene which seems to involve nothing but naked people writhing around and not doing much (and this is the early seventies – all them naked bodies must have reeked!). Additionally, there's this old guy who has a hilarious blue rinse, so watch out for that.

I loved how, when the dust settled and the film was over, the police just got back into their car and drove off, leaving all the bodies/victims behind. Hurrah for realism! Also, hurrah for nepotism as Franco himself gets to run his gnarled hands over quite a few naked actresses!This film gets an extra point for the sadly departed Lina Romay, who is the only good thing about this film. Do they have pubes in heaven?

I've just noticed Jess has now gone off to the soft-core film in the sky too. Shame - I know I rag on most of his films but still, he'll be missed.

of EXORCISM (1974) non-hardcore version available on DVD

[tensaip · 5/10 · 24 August 2008]

EXORCISME (1974) was ORIGINALLY a hardcore XXX film. From it TWO distinct movies were edited together utilizing the footage: EXORCISM, itself, and SADIST OF NOTRE DAME (1979). The latter film is less sexploitative and is more of a serious serial killer drama. It is much longer with additional scenes featuring Jesus Franco (looking noticeably heavier than in the EXORCISME scenes). The Franco and Romay in the XXX version are definitely their 1974 and not 1979 incarnations.

EXORCISM, however, is a poor soft core sister of the original cut of EXORCISME. It has all the odd story loopholes and illogic of the XXX version but without the added attraction of the explicit anatomical exertions/insertions (including Franco, himself, in a rape scene of Lina Romay's "Anne" character). SADIST made the best artistic use of the footage. EXORCISME made the most exciting use of the footage. At least we have decent picture clarity in this one.

Below average Spanish/French co-production lousily directed by Jesús Franco or Jess Frank or ¨Uncle Jess¨

[ma-cortes · 3/10 · 6 June 2022]

Ordinary Jesus Franco film , set n Paris , with lots of murders committed by a sadistic , mature ex-priest to exorcise demons by conducting a private inquisition against unfortunate women . The peculiar psycho-killer converces schizophrenically with himself via executing grisly killings by means of a knife and other criminal methods . When the deranged priest watches an erotic spectacle based on a Black Mass, he believes that the spectators are practitioners of gruesome satanic rites and are really possessed and then he goes on a bloody massacre .

Eerie and creepy terror movie with full of killings , loathsome and lots of blood and gore , sexual violence , nudism , and abominable murders executed by an ominous psychopath by torturing women to death. A typical Jess Frank butcher's tableau with plenty of explicit scenes of wicked violence , nudism , sheer sensationalism , grisly commerciality and no for squeamish . Jesús Franco writes , produces , directs and acts as an extreme madman , a former priest called Mathis Voge who executes a criminal spree to exorcise the demons of his victims. Here Franco directs in his usual style filled with flaws , failures and gaps . It has disconcerting imagery , graphic gore , sleaziness and moody atmospherics . Co-Stars unknown actors exception for some Franco's regulars as Nadine Pascal, Monica Swinn , Oliver Mathot , and, of course , secondary acting by Lina Romay , wife and muse of Jess . It displays an anticlimatic and anappropriate musical score by Daniel white , as well as atmospheric photography by Rosenfeld and Julián Soler , being necessary a perfect remastering.

The motion picture was lousily performed, written, edited, produced and directed by Jesús, Jess, Franco. Jess was a Stajanovist, restless writer, producer, director who realized over 200 pictures. His career spans over 50 years with a few successes and lots of flops, making all kind of genres : thrillers, adventures, action and with penchant for Terror and erotic genre . Jesus used to sigb under pseudonym, among the aliases he used apart from Jess Frank or Franco Manera, were the following ones : Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune, James P. Johnson, David Though, among others. Franco used to use ordinary trademarks, such as : zooms , nudism, foreground on objects , filmmaking in DIY style and managing to work extraordinarily quick in very low budget, as well as frequently releasing various titles at the same time. He was a prolific filmmaker, directing a lot of lousy movies. However, making some acceptable fiñms , such as : We are 18 years old , The awful Dr Orloff, The Bloody Judge , Count Dracula, 99 women , The Blood of Fumanchu , Faceless and a few others. And many of them were heavily cut and with double versions like this L'éventreur de Notre-Dame(1975) that has both , a softcore and hardcore rendition . Rating 3.5/10 . Inferior and below average Horror movie. Only for Jess Frank completists.

Cheap and nasty Eurotrash from Jesus Franco.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 22 November 2004]

Director Franco stars as Mathis Vogel. An ex Czech priest who was thrown out of the Church because his methods were to 'severe'. He is also an escapee from a mental asylum who is wanted by German police for crimes against minors. At the time the film takes place he is in Paris, writing sadomasochistic stories for 'The Garter and Dagger'. The editor Raymond Franvel (Pierre Taylou) and his rather sexy secretary Anne (Lina Romay) are involved in staging fake black masses and satanic rituals, it's a hobby I suppose. The loony Vogel is deeply in love with Anne, which I can understand. He rents an apartment across the road from Anne so he can spy on her and her lesbian lover roommate Rose (Lynn Monteil). Vogel overhears a conversation between Raymond and Anne talking about organizing another one of their satanic rituals and believes them to be serious. After torturing the address out of a nightclub prostitute Gina (Carole Riviere), he witnesses one of the rituals in which he believes a girl is murdered, he leaves before the girl reappears on stage unharmed. Vogel then goes around in the name of god torturing and killing the people involved, cleansing their souls in the process, and eventually kidnapping the sexy Anne, who he keeps tied up naked in his house so he can torture her whenever he wants. By this time the police, Inspector Tanner (Olivier Mathot) and his Deputy Malou (Roger Germanes) are hot on his tail, but will they be able to save Anne and put an end to Vogel's twisted ways? Directed, co written and starring Jesus Franco this is pure exploitation trash. Franco fills the screen with so much nudity and sex it becomes tiresome. Just about every female in the film is there just to take her clothes off. Regular sex, orgies, lesbianism, sexual assault and S&M, it's all in here somewhere! Not really much blood or violence, a dove has it's head cut off and Franco stabs and cuts a few people but that's about it. The story is silly and relies on a lot of coincidences and assumption, it doesn't quite work. I couldn't quite help but think that the story was just an excuse to get as many people naked as possible. The ending feels very rushed, almost as if Franco ran out of money or lost interest. The film looks OK, the photography is decent considering it's a Franco film, as are the locations. I liked the music, in particular the main theme. It's certainly better than most of the Franco films I've seen, it's nowhere near as weird, boring, inept or surreal as some. There's a cheap and sleazy feel to it as well. Difficult to recommend, and I didn't really think too much of it.

Boring as hell

[gaus · 1/10 · 27 October 1999]

I just saw the uncut softcore version, from 1974 of this "recommended" horror movie and was amazed how miserable it was. The acting was bad, the english dubbing was the worst I have seen, the gore was unrealistic, and the plot was stupid. The film was just boring from start to end.

If something should be called "Euro-trash" this must be it.

Barely for Franco-fans.

Mostly dull nunsploitation rubbish

[The_Void · 6/10 · 21 December 2007]

'Exorcism' is not Jess Franco's best film, but it's certainly not the worst either - which doesn't say much for much of the rest of his oeuvre! From the title, I was expecting this to be a rip-off of The Exorcist, but it's more like Ken Russell's classic nunsploitation flick 'The Devils'. As usual with films like this, there is little plot and the thin plot we do get is rather difficult to follow as most of the film is taken up by sex and torture sequences. Basically, the plot focuses on a priest who takes it upon himself to exorcise demons from a group of people he believes to be possessed. The film starts with a torture sequence involving a couple of naked women, which is well filmed and lead me to believe that this might be a halfway decent flick. However, most of the film is really quite boring; there are plenty of scenes that see naked women strung up, getting tortured but the lack of any real point does get in the way. The film stars the beautiful Lina Romay which is always sure to increase the watchability of any film; and we've also got a surprisingly decent performance from the man himself Jess Franco (under yet another moniker). All that aside, Exorcism isn't a good film, and therefore I don't recommend seeing it!

Yawn - English Dubbed

[hbeeinc · 4/10 · 11 June 2012]

If you like listening to badly dubbed faux sex and horribly translated phrases like "unfrocked" as opposed to "defrocked", this is your movie. The gore is as minimal as the vocal talent and what there is makes you giggle. And if you like movies with pretty much one theme that runs the length of it - Bingo.

Script-wise, my main complaint is that mid-way through the movie, the "college" cop busts in, telling his superior exactly the information needed to catch the Father Happy Knife. And then does it again. And then a third time. But the whole movie is filled with horrible moments like that.

The only thing that makes this movie worth watching is Jess Franco. He pulls of the creepy possibly because the vocal talent does a decent job.

One of Franco's Bizarre Best!

[dwaltz6969 · 10/10 · 5 February 2005]

I had to write a commentary having viewed the horribly skewed rating this film has received. This is a Franco masterpiece. His voyeuristic use of the camera coupled with the many versions of the film that exist. DEMONIAC is the watered down US version. EXORCISM is a pretty hard version but I prefer THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME where the main character of Vogel is more of a madman. There is even a hard core version of the film which I haven't seen and therefore will not comment on. This is a personal film that shows Franco's subtle acting ability and his fetishism that is so prevalent on the screen. Add to that the vivacious and incredibly gorgeous Lina Romay and you have what is a Euro Trash classic that must not be missed. Just be sure to catch the Synapse DVD for one of the more definitive versions of the film.

Sleazy,dirty and enjoyable trash.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 17 August 2008]

A sadistic priest Paul Vogel played by Jesus Franco himself makes his living by writing pornography for a S&M magazine.His publisher Franval praises Vogel's work for its authenticity unaware that the mad priest draws inspiration from the exorcisms and inquisitions he undertakes in order to save sinners' souls.Vogel discovers that Franval and his cohorts indulge in satanic games and embarks upon a new series of divinely inspired murder.Of course there is a team of investigators hot on the trail of this sadistic sex murderer.I saw this film under the title "Exorcism".It's a typical Franco's chock full of sleaze and misogynistic violence.There isn't much gore to speak of,but plenty of whipping,rough sex and knife play.The killing scenes look very cheap and the story is paper-thin.However if you are a fan of depraved smut give this one a look.

Not bad Jess Franco horror...

[MovieGuy01 · 4/10 · 6 October 2009]

I thought that this film from Jess Franco was not a bad film. it is about a man called Raymond Bordier the editor of a newspaper, who uses a castle of a count and countess to preform black masses that look and seem very real. Vogal who is a former priest, and a religious fanatic happens to walk in on one of their Black Masses. He believes that he has saw the real thing, so he decides to exorcize the people taking part. so that he can make them confess that they are under the influence of Satan. To get their confessions he tortures them to death using medieval rites. I though this was quite a good film to watch although i did not find a lot happening in the film.

A violent crusade of purification

[Coventry · 6/10 · 15 December 2004]

Slow, terrifically build up shock-tale that easily passes as one of Franco's finest achievements, almost on the same level as "The awful Dr. Orloff" or "Miss Muerte". The acting is weak but the film is well-scripted and versatile enough to appeal to wide cult-audiences…Throw in some rancid sleaze and eerie Parisian dark alleys and you've got yourself a truly undiscovered Euro-horror gem. Just make sure you watch an uncut version, preferably the one under the title "The Sadist of Notre Dame". The premise handles about the mentally unstable ex-priest Mathis Laforgue (played by maestro Jess Franco himself) who recently escaped from a psychiatric clinic and now dwells the streets of Paris. He sees himself as a redeemer, sent by God to wipe out all that is impure. Laforgue kills prostitutes; horny teenagers and erotic party-goers, claiming he's doing it to save their souls…Call it a revival of the Inquisition, set in present day Paris!

This is a cruel film with a cruel message. Even though it all sounds quite far-fetched, the film is brought with a strange sense of realism. "The Sadist of Notre Dame" makes up in cruelty what it lacks in budget possibilities. There are quite a few sequences that contain severe acts of torture and mutilation, interfered with the most perverted sexual undertones. Franco at his best, in other words. And I was quite surprised to see his acting capabilities are above average too! Franco, with a constant nihilistic glance in his eyes, outshines the rest of the cast. His regular actress – Lina Romey – was at her most ravishing during this era and she willingly shows this whenever she cans. You get the picture, this is a real must for the more demanding cult-collector.

non stop sex and violence

[christopher-underwood · 9/10 · 11 January 2007]

This non stop sex and violence epic consists of most of the 1974 'Exorcisme' which was also released in a hardcore version as, 'Sexorcisme'. I also recall seeing a version of this later film shorn of it's sex AND violence! Enough - Franco stars as the defrocked priest who spies on 'perverse' acts and theatrical black magic shows, only to then seek to, 'save' the naked young things from the Devil. All flesh and blood, with a decent orgy, the young and lovely, Lina Romay, whippings, dungeons, blood soaked naked girls chained up and squirming etc etc. Just about everything, even so it still limps then jumps in places but this is Franco and a fine example of the sleazy mixed up guy's movies/mind.

Spoilers follow ...

[parry_na · 6/10 · 15 April 2017]

Sometimes, watching a film by Spanish Director Jess Franco only covers half the experience. The other half is in tracking down the definitive version of the film, or even working out which the definitive version actually is. 'Demoniac' seems to be the name given to the dubbed version of X-rated 'Sexorcismes (1975)', and/or 'El sádico de Notre-Dame (1979)', which was expanded to give, as Franco puts it, 'greater character motivation'. Possibly then, this is the original version, before additional footage was added.

Lina Romay, nearly naked, star-shaped and chained to a rack, is being tortured by a similarly clad female. In a favourite Franco trick, her indignities are revealed as being part of a show. When it's over, an audience applauds politely. By day, she's Anna, secretary to Raymond (Pierre Taylou) at 'Garter and Dagger' magazine (together they stage sadomasochistic shows in a sleazy Parisian underworld). An occasional contributor to the publication is Mathis Vogel played by Franco. He is not a convincing actor. His decision to cast himself in many of his films is odd (although the characters he plays often interact with a bevy of half-naked females, which may well explain the choice). There are many things to enjoy about 'Demoniac' – most of them provided by Romay who doesn't remain troubled by clothing for any length of time.

Vogel is a defrocked Priest who also secretly tortures nude females in a nearby rented room. The 'justification' is, he is unhinged enough to convince himself he is 'purifying' these people, taking his victims from such rituals as the one that opened the story, believing them to be genuine black mass events. One couple is visited in their hotel directly after a protracted orgy scene, where the elderly husband is remonstrating with his young wife for enjoying herself too much. When she replies that anything else would be a bore, he replies, "I just don't like looking ridiculous," which must surely be irony, as he is sporting the most appalling silvery white wig.

This is far from my favourite Franco film, but like them all, it has merits. The camera-work is often ham-fisted, swooping in on …. nothing, and then pulling back again. There's no sense of drama or pace, and Franco injects no character into Vogel, so his motivation seems arbitrary. "I am the sword of the Lord," indeed! However, the sleazy underworld of a murky Paris is nicely conveyed, and those who enjoy the hirsute pleasures of 1970's pornography have plenty to enjoy here. However, the final light-hearted lines of banter between the cops at the end, seem to have been drafted in from another film.

The dubbed American cut as 'Demoniac' is a bit of a disappointment despite the gorgeous Lina Romay.

[Infofreak · 6 January 2004]

As much as I hate watching cut and dubbed versions of Euro horror movies I'll take any opportunity to watch a Jess Franco movie. So I haven't seen either the softcore or hardcore versions of this film but the butchered cut known as 'Demoniac'. Maybe anything I say about this version is worthless, but as it is it's far from Franco's best, yet still surprisingly watchable. Despite the lousy English dubbing I thought Franco's acting was more than adequate, in fact he easily gives the best performance in the picture. He plays Vogel, an intense and tortured defrocked priest who writes salacious stories for a racy magazine, the editor of which hangs with a swinging crowd who stage fake sadomasochistic performances for fun (shades of one of Franco's best 'Succubus', but don't get your hopes up). Vogel secretly witnesses a black mass, and not realizing it is fake, decides he must save the souls of the participants via exorcism, which in reality basically equates to murdering them. 'Demoniac' is presumably a lot less explicit than the other versions available. There is a fair bit of nudity including arguably the dullest orgy ever seen on screen. Franco's wife and frequent star Lina Romay is always a pleasure to look at, but if you want to see her at her best check out 'Female Vampire', the one where she kills via fellatio, remember? As I haven't seen the "real" version of this movie I can't honestly say whether it's good Franco or bad Franco, but if you're wanting to explore his work try and see 'Vampyros Lesbos', 'Eugenie De Sade', or 'Succubus' first.

Solid Eurotrash from one of the masters of the genre.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 9 August 2019]

Jess Franco is in fine form here with one of his typically idiosyncratic ventures into depravity. His longtime wife and muse, Lina Romay, stars as Anne, a performance artist who participates in bizarre exhibits that a defrocked priest turned writer (played by Franco himself) mistakes for actual black masses. So, of course, the priest, who has severe psycho-sexual issues, embarks on a quest to purify the world of sin - in his own debauched way.

Existing in various forms and under various titles, the two basic incarnations of "Exorcism" are a 99-minute film that stresses the sexual components, and a 70-minute film, "Demoniac", that is more horror-centric. "Exorcism" actually isn't wall-to-wall sex and nudity, which may disappoint some of Franco's fans, but he's to be commended for taking his time and taking the effort to tell a story, if a rather familiar one. That's not to say that the women present don't show the goods with a pleasing regularity. Romay, as could be expected, just throws herself into her role with abandon.

The presentation is stylish, with Franco accomplishing some good visuals, and the music, by Andre Benichou and Daniel White, can be haunting if also repetitive. One good thing is the sense of humour present; the chief inspector on the case (Olivier Mathot) is a stubborn dummy, while his supposedly naive young partner (Roger Germanes) is much more on the ball and astute when it comes to figuring Franco as a suspect when some people in Annes' circle are graphically murdered.

Overall, pretty entertaining as far as Jess Franco cinema goes, with the director giving an amusing performance as the unhinged antagonist.

Seven out of 10.

Jess Franco on the rampage again

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 17 January 2022]

Former Catholic priest turned porn writer Mathis Vogel(a nicely creepy portrayal by Jess Franco) conducts his own depraved personal inquisition in which he tortures women to death in an attempt to exorcise demons.

Franco relates the enjoyably sordid story at a reasonable pace, maintains an appropriately seamy tone throughout, and delivers more than enough tasty bare distaff skin, lurid sex, and nasty violence to satisfy exploitation aficionados. Naturally, we also get a kinky black mass act that's shown over and over again. Among the lovely ladies who bare their delicious wares are the ever-yummy Lina Romay, attractive Monica Swinn, and fetching Catherine Lafferiere. Worth a watch for Franco fans.

Erotic Gothic

[haildevilman · 6/10 · 13 August 2006]

I saw a Japanese video called 'The Sadist of Notre Dame.' Which is a GREAT title.

Tio Jess' zoom happy style of film-making was a little more subdued here and the film itself benefits from it.

This was a combo of Jekyll/Hyde and The Excorcist with a dash of Argento. Franco definitely knows how to film outdoor scenes to maximize their effect. Despite the slow pace, I never got bored.

Most of the characters seemed like throwaways, but he still allowed them to develop as much as possible. And unlike a lot of films of this nature, they seemed normal.

Lina Romay is no Goddess Gemser, but she does hold her own in the Beauty sweepstakes.

The orgy scene was heavily pixelated in the Japanese video (as most xxx scenes usually are here.) Another example of incredibly wealthy people having out of control perversions. Rumor has it Franco himself took part. I guess there's an uncut version out there.

Euro-trash porno/horror

[aschepler2 · 25 January 2004]

EXORCISME (1974) ** Jesus Franco, Lina Romay. Jesus Franco directs and stars in this story about a crazed ex-priest who witnesses a series of staged "Black Masses." Convinced the participants are possessed by Satan, he kills them in order to "exorcise" their demons. Although this storyline has a lot of promise, numbingly repetitive dialogue and Franco's amateurish acting keep the film from reaching its true potential. It's also padded with numerous sex scenes--featuring suggested autoerotism, bondage, sexualized torture, lesbianism and an orgy, among other things--none of which serve to advance the plot. The result is a film that tries to be both porno and horror film, but doesn't really succeed at either.

Franco, El Sadico.

[prohibited-name-1142 · 7/10 · 29 December 1998]

That's what happens when you launch Jess Franco (who's just out of the mental hospital due to religious fanatism) in Paris. He discovers some horny gals, learns they're planning a black mass, and invites himself to the festivities between two sexual murders. "Demoniac" is full of those nice little scenes where Franco films fetishism and other various sex practices, just to make his hero (himself, here) kill everybody a few minutes later. A real bad image and a not-so-interesting story about this inquisition fanatic just make it worse, and I've watched the whole movie only two months after buying it... Beware : this movie's really not appealing unless you're a cult fan.

One of the better of Franco's

[Groverdox · 6/10 · 25 November 2019]

"Exorcism" is one of the better Franco offerings, though I realise that might not be saying much. It benefits largely from the presence of Franco's wife-to-be, the beautiful Lina Romay, who was more than generous about showing off her assets.

Unfortunately, as is his wont, Franco casts himself, this time in a main role. He just has no presence at all, even as a bad guy.

It's strange to say that the movie doesn't really have a plot, because what is there is pretty cookie cutter: some ladies perform a kind of Satanic cabaret sex art show in a nightclub, getting naked, drinking blood and pretending to torture each other with fake knives. Elsewhere, a religious zealot starts killing women who do such things.

The movie isn't interested in even a basic crime thriller plot, though. It just wants to show nudity, and so it does. There's also a surprisingly gory (though unconvincing) disembowling, but the violence is toned down here in favour of sex.