Il sesso della strega

Sex of the Witch opens in standard murder/mystery mode at the home of Thomas Hilton, where a bunch of his relatives have convened to say their last goodbyes. After the old guy pops his clogs, there's the reading of the will, the estate divided equally, with the stipulation that if any of the beneficiaries should die, then their share will be split between the others. It's the perfect set up for a Giallo - except that the film doesn't play out as one might expect...

Although a couple of people do get murdered by a mysterious unseen figure (one victim gets his head bashed in with a mace, and another has his throat slashed with a straight razor; both deaths are frustratingly tame), director Angelo Pannacciò seems more intent on delivering nudity than horror, the 'thrust' of his film being the soft-core couplings of various characters. While attractive ladies in the altogether are all well and good, the lack of a comprehensible plot and Pannacciò's torpid direction make this a total snooze-fest.

Try as I might, I soon lost track of what was happening, and who was doing who, and longed for the whole sorry mess to come to an end. We get a long, colour-tinted scene in which seventies swingers party to a crappy song (which I'll hazard a guess is called 'Yes, I Know'), some nonsense involving a pair of metal Javanese nails (the relevance of which completely evades me), goldfish fondling, Camille 'I Spit On Your Grave' Keaton looking bored (but not as bored as me), an abundance of strange bird noises, and an ending that makes very little sense: a man transforms into a woman after being shot and all of the beneficiaries are revealed to be dead.

To be honest, apart from the good-looking ladies in the buff, the only worthy thing about this film is its cool painted poster depicting a beautiful, topless red-head about to be throttled by a killer wearing black leather gloves.

*An hour after posting this review, I discover that the poster for Sex of the Witch uses the same painting as the poster for Byleth, Il demone dell'incesto, which came out the year before. Hence, I'm reducing my original rating of 2/10 by a point.

I would probably not recommend this movie to anyone not already familiar with 1970's Italian genre films in general because even by the deranged standards of those films, this film is very deranged. It's kind a combination of a giallo, an erotic sex flick, and supernatural Gothic horror film. The closest thing I can compare it to is Emilio Miraglia's "The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave" or Joe D'Amato's "Death Smiles at Murder". The director, Elio Panaccio, would go on to direct the more widely available "Exorcist" knock-off "Cry in the Darkness" (aka "The Possessor"), but this is probably the better of the two films. It's definitely the weirder.

The almost completely non-sensical plot involves the death of an old man, who narrates the beginning of the film (up until he dies at least, at which point he is never heard from again). His heirs go to a mansion to hear the reading of the will where they are picked off one by one. The killer is a handsome stranger who seems to be connected to a mysterious "aunt", who is not one of the heirs, but is obviously related to the old man, and babbles something about a "family curse". The creepy male and female servants of the mansion also seem to be in on the plot, as does one female cousin who is close to the "aunt". There is a lot of space between the first murder and all the others, which all occur pretty much in closing minutes of the film. In the meantime though, there is A LOT of sex to keep the viewers occupied, and no real character development or dialogue to distract anybody.

If you can deal with the random non-linearity of the plot, the movie does kind of capture some of the flavor of something like "Fall of the House of Usher" or "The Cat and the Canary", but it's mostly typical 1970's Italian nonsense. The only recognizable actor is American Camille Keaton. The lovely Keaton, quite regrettably, is the only actress who doesn't spend the majority of her screen time having butt-naked sex. She has only a brief nude scene where she meets a bizarre fate--the killer cuts her breast with a knife and sucks out some of her blood, which somehow results in her falling into a catatonic state for the rest of the movie (pretty much the SAME catatonic state she was in in her most famous Italian film "What Have You Done to Solange?"). I'd recommend this to hardcore Italian genre fans (and maybe to Camille Keaton fans), but it may not really appeal to anyone else.

Who can resist a flick whose title, translated into English, is "The Sex Of The Witch?" From the first scene you know you're in for a slippery but solid ride. The aged patriarch lies on his deathbed, surrounded by his family. As he receives last rites, the camera cuts to another part of the house, where the servants are having sex astride the old man's coffin. Nothing like a bit of the old Thanatos-Eros touch to keep the workers happy.

To eliminate any possible confusion, I'll mention that the plot outline as listed on the IMDb page is incorrect: this is not about an archeology student, and there is no medallion. There is a witch, however, casting spells with the aid of potions. Here's where the trick of the film's title comes in: the witch, Ingrid, casts a spell over a young man, who becomes possessed by Ingrid's evil will, and thereby, her tool of revenge.

This film has everything the fan of Eurotrash looks for: abundant nudity and sexual situations, hallucinatory sequences accompanied by bad early 70's rock music, nonsensical supernatural storyline, tasty splash of blood & gore, moodily lit baroque settings, with the whole gorgeous package punctuated by a distinct odor of perversity. The actors & actresses are good-looking, with ultra-groovy mod wardrobe, and hooker-heavy make-up on the women. Annamaria Tornello alone is adorned with sufficient eye makeup to cover the eyelids of every actress in Italy in 1973. Acting is capable all around. We are in exceptionally good hands with director Angelo Pannacciò, whose entire career was an impressive edifice of horror, filth & exploitation. Journeyman film composer Daniele Patucchi contributes a simple yet effective harpsichord based score. Cinematographers Maurizio Centini and Girolamo La Rosa both made Eurosleaze their exclusive focus, and handle their task with stylish expertise. In all, a satisfying viewing experience for lovers of trash, Italian style! Recommended.

Sir Thomas Hilton is ready to die.Around his death bed all the nephews gather as they want to attended the funeral and hear his will.The assets will be shared equally except for his daughter Evelyn,who is out.During the night one of the nephews named Johnny is violently murdered with an old medieval mace and there are many suspects.Angelo Pannacio's "The Sex of the Witch" is very sleazy and features plenty of sex.The plot deals with incest,drug fueled sexual orgies and various other perversions.The soundtrack by Danielle Patucci is beautifully melancholic and the use of yellow and orange colors certainly enhance the atmosphere.Camille Keaton of "I Spit on Your Grave" fame has a significant role as one of the nephews.7 out of 10.

Have you ever watched Zombie Creeping Flesh and wondered what it would be like to see the guy playing Zantaro recite pervy poetry to two naked woman while one of them erotically dips her hands into a goldfish bowl? Must be just me then.

The plot of this one is all over the place to the extent that about two thirds into the film I realised that one red headed character was actually two separate red headed characters, which shows you how well I was following this one. At it's core this is a 'reading of the will' giallo type film where an old codger dies (and we hear his passing thoughts about his relatives - they aint compliments!) and leaves his estate to be shared out amongst his benefactors, if they all live to be a certain age yadda yadda. There's also some sort of family curse, a witch in town who is part of the family but hates everyone else, and two servants who have sex everywhere at the drop of a hat. One of them is played by Zantoro himself - Franco Garofalo, and in this film he looks like some made Klaus Kinski wear David Hemmings' hair. It's not a pretty sight.

So all these young people are scheming and bedding each other and it was hard to keep track really. One of them eventually gets his brains knocked out and finally Donald O'Brien turns up as the local cop. He knows someone did it, but not who. Could be the witch who is up to something with some daughter called Ingrid. Could be Ingrid's sister who is scheming with some other guy. Could be the black clad stranger who turns up and claws the chest of Camille Keaton with some weird steel claws. It's doubtful that it's the servants as they are at it like knives the entire film.

It's low on gore, high on sleaze and scheming, and kind of hard to keep track off. Either Donald O'Brien was really tall or everyone else in the film was tiny, and he doesn't really have too much to do in this one either which is a shame. Whether or not you like this film depends on whether or not you like this film.