MALABIMBA

During a séance at the Caroli family castle, a medium (Elisa Mainardi) accidentally evokes the spirit of Lucrezia, an evil and dissolute woman. Lucrezia possesses the body of Bimba (Katell Laennec), the teenage daughter of Andrea Caroli (Enzo Fisichella), causing the young girl to behave strangely and attempt to seduce various family members. Bimba is watched over by Sister Sofia (Mariangela Giordano), the religious woman who serves as a nurse to Adolfo, Andrea's paralyzed brother. In the background, the petty squabbles of the Caroli family involve the cynical mother of the two brothers (Pupita Lea) and Nais (Patrizia Webley), Adolfo's beautiful wife. Directed by Andrea Bianchi, known for other crimes against cinema such as "Massacre" and "Le Notti del Terrore" (as well as a couple of porn films including "Morbosamente Vostra", Karin Schubert's hard debut). It's unclear what kind of film Bianchi (or rather Andrew White, as he fantasizes signing) wanted to make; but from a horror cinema perspective, "Malabimba" is a true Rossini crescendo of nonsense. Truly hilarious is the séance at the beginning, where a ghost starts playing dirty tricks by groping Andrea's family jewels and making Nais' blouse fly away, leaving her breast exposed (quite impressive in size, by the way). No less is Sister Sofia's failed possession, who in erotic white socks touches herself furiously while being possessed by the evil spirit, but manages to expel it by appealing to faith and forming a cross with her arms. Bimba sexually harassing her teddy bear is priceless, and even more extraordinary is the way she kills the old paralyzed uncle: a unique form of euthanasia, see for yourself. The film also offers an involuntary lesbian exorcism and ends beautifully with a finale that pays homage (or rather, offends) "The Exorcist" by Friedkin. This film is available in various versions, a soft one and one with hardcore inserts, in order to expand the audience base including the large onanistic public. These additional sequences were shot by real porn film performers and through editing were harmonized with the parts acted by the real actors. In the role of female porn stuntmen, the famous Marina Lothar was apparently used, the male equipment is unknown who provided it, but given the modest dimensions, John Holmes can certainly be excluded (hopefully one day some historian of hard will shed light on this fascinating enigma). From a directorial perspective, it is fair to assume some ambition on the part of Bianchi, given the use of wide-angle lenses, subjective shots, or bizarre camera movements, as in the séance sequence, in which at one point the camera spins wildly in a vain attempt to create some effect. These pathetic virtuosos can only leave the poor spectator even more stunned and are only the icing on the cake of a film that calling "lysergic" is an euphemism. Lovers of trash, devotees of the ugly, exegetes of the trucidume, it is to you that we address. Prepare to erect an altar: "Malabimba" will become your creed, and you, its prophets!