Enter the Devil

Enter the Devil aka The Sexorcist (1974) is directed by Mario Gariazzo. It was just one of the many European films to ride on the success of Friedkin’s possession classic. It was later renamed The Eerie Midnight Horror Show. What were they thinking when they came up with that?

Stella Carnacina stars as Danila, a respected art student who is invited by her college professor to visit an unconsecrated church to examine and purchase a life-size statue of Christ on the cross, made from a single tree. When Danila witnesses her mother Luisa in a kinky tryst with her lover, being whipped with thorny rose stems, she takes solace in the restoration studio where the crucifix is stored. The Christ figure comes to life, but he is no Messiah of Christianity. He is the Devil, played by Ivan Rassimov.

The Devil seduces Danila and henceforth she is in a burning rage of unfulfilled passion. She has fits of writhing, scratching and throwing herself into all sorts of shapes. She berates her father Mario for not wanting to have sex with her. “I nearly died of pleasure, it was wonderful,” she tells him. Mario blames Luisa for their daughter’s condition. He lashes out at her: “submitting your body to whips, belts and other sadomasochistic tomfoolery!”

There is a particularly memorable scene where Danila finds another unconsecrated church. What is it with these unconsecrated churches? She “dreams” she encounters a Satanic ritual and is crucified by a manically laughing Satan, Rassimov delighting in his evil role as he nails her to a cross.

Carnacina throws everything she has into her performance, running around a mountain-top village screaming with bloodied hands, foaming at the mouth, and eventually throwing up green slime in her exorcising of the Devil. But before we get to that, the puzzled doctors call in the church to puzzle over her stigmata wounds, and an exorcist priest is called in to save the day. He is a hermit, of course, and comes out of his isolation to save Danila.

Enter Father Xeno (Luigi Pistilli), who plays the role with such reverence you might be forgiven for thinking he has forgotten he is in a satanic sexploitation film. This being Italian, there is Catholic guilt running through the film. Danila does her best tongue rolling to try and fellate the priest. He resorts to flagellating himself for penance at being tempted by the satanic seductress. It ends well for Danila, as she has vomited Satan out, but poor Father Xeno has by this point been beaten to death with a heavy chain by the demonic Danila.

Stella Carnacina deserves the exploitation Oscar, if there was such a thing, for her performance. Rassimov as Satan does a considerable amount of evil laughing while wearing red contact lenses, and Luigi Pistilli channels Von Sydow in his all too brief role as Father Xeno.

Marcello Giombini plays a funky loungecore party vibe during the kinky S&M scene and house party scene, which is crying out for a Four Flies record release. Otherwise he utilises his two synthesisers to produce a suitably reverent score in the more earnest scenes.

All things considered, Enter the Devil pulls it off with aplomb with its messy mix of sexual repression and satanic possession, and of course Carnacina is a revelation as the put-upon Danila.

Gallery

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Trailer

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From the score

• Marcello Giombini – Tema Ossessione (titles)

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• Marcello Giombini – Suspence diabolica

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Filed 31 October 2026 by Darren Evanson.