Exorcismo

A young woman participates (unknowingly) in a satanic ceremony and gets possessed by the spirit of her late father.

The big issue with this film is whether or not it ripped off "The Exorcist". Some say it did, and can point to such scenes as the "reverse head" murder as evidence. Writer (and star) Paul Naschy claimed he had written the script earlier and it just was not filmed at the time.

Troy Howarth sees something of a middle ground, and suspects that Naschy had read the book but not seen the movie. As such, certain elements would have been lifted. Now, not having read the novel, I do not know hoe much it differs from the film, but assuming there is a great deal of overlap, it does make sense that uncredited source material might result in a similar movie.

The truth of the matter, though, is that it makes no difference. Whether it is a ripoff or just a similar theme, the movie is a lot of fun. A priest acting as a detective, a 1970s possession, and lots of good, clean European cinematography.

Sure, this is not the classic "The Exorcist" is, but it might just be more fun. We never get anything nearly as scary, and the Satanic elements make it in many ways more interesting than a simple possession.