Lisa (Elke Sommer) is a tourist in an ancient city. When she gets lost, she finds an old mansion in which to shelter. Soon she is sucked into a vortex of deception, debauchery and evil presided over by housekeeper Leandre (Telly Savalas).
Luca Palmerini calls this an "underestimated Gothic masterpiece." Jim Harper is less praising, also identifying it as "an atmospheric and stately Gothic horror", but saying it "would never have been a box office success". Those words are odd, as I suspect very few great Italian films have become successful in terms of their profits.
There is another version of this film called "House of Exorcism", which was meant to cash in on the success of "The Exorcist". Some aspects seem more like ripping the original off than simply cashing in -- the puking of the pea soup, for example. Watching this version is like watching a completely different film -- so much was edited out of Bava's film and new stuff added in, I am surprised this was allowed to happen. Palmerini rightly says the changes "massacre the original film."
Luca Palmerini calls this an "underestimated Gothic masterpiece." Jim Harper is less praising, also identifying it as "an atmospheric and stately Gothic horror", but saying it "would never have been a box office success". Those words are odd, as I suspect very few great Italian films have become successful in terms of their profits.
There is another version of this film called "House of Exorcism", which was meant to cash in on the success of "The Exorcist". Some aspects seem more like ripping the original off than simply cashing in -- the puking of the pea soup, for example. Watching this version is like watching a completely different film -- so much was edited out of Bava's film and new stuff added in, I am surprised this was allowed to happen. Palmerini rightly says the changes "massacre the original film."