Malabimba: The Malicious Whore (1979)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Sick Product of a Sick System

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Malabimba is not just a sleazy film. The film has more depth than people give it credit for. It is one of the more notorious "Exorcist" rip-offs (and the best of them in my opinion). This is of course a matter of taste. I've seen some of them: "The Antichrist" (cinematographically speaking is the more traditional of the lot and therefore the easiest to please the majority, but being an Italian film (even if tame for Italian standards) it crosses boundaries that Hollywood would never dare to trespass (the goat scene). It's a film that in spite of being exploitative follows the "Exorcist" recipe more closely and with more seriousness."L'Ossessa" (The eerie midnight horror show) – See my comment in IMDb."Un urlo nelle tenebre" released in English under many different titles ("Cries and Shadows", "Naked Exorcism" "The Possessor" etc..). The film is a hopeless mess. It's very uneven. Sometimes it's visually stylish and atmospheric (good use of scenery – small village on the top of the hill, narrow and gloomy streets, the house and its interiors etc..), but the film seems like a collage of different scenes, losing some steam in consequence. It was directed by two directors: Angelo Pannaccio and Franco Lo Cascio.Back to Malabimba. A lonely mansion/castle on the top of a hill. There live the Karolis. The Karoli family was once wealthy and aristocratic, but now they are almost bankrupt. Tragedy, resentments, intrigues, decadence... In this place, Bimba (Katell Laennec - mala means bad), a shy teenage girl, lives a secluded life. One day a harsh wind blows into the house. It's the devil – a hoarse whispering wind. It attacks everybody in the household, but it takes possession of the innocent Bimba. Bimba's sexuality till then dormant explodes. Sexual hunger, anger, frustration, she wants satisfaction at any price... but the grown-ups (with the exception of her preceptor, the nun, Sister Sofia – Mariangela Giordano) are too busy with their own problems to realize what's really happening with Bimba. She's passing through hell and the devil in her will convulse the whole house."Malabimba" is audiovisually an engaging film – the hand-held camera explores corridors, enters rooms, follows the characters, as well as the hoarse wind (the devil) that prowls around. The gardens are seen from the upstairs windows, and the distant mountains..... There are many sex scenes (already widely commented by other reviewers). Some hardcore porn inserts are present, but not many, and they don't spoil the overall effect. The images are punctuated by a good and effective soundtrack (some of it borrowed from "La morte ha sorriso all'assassino" by Joe D'Amato, but who cares?).Immerse yourself into the film, and you'll have an enjoyable sexy audiovisual trip.

Malabimba, The Malicious Whore (1979) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Andrea Bianchi (Burial Ground) directs this Italian rip off of The Exorcist, which adds some hardcore footage to the mix. Katell Laennec plays a teenage girl who becomes possessed by her dead, whore mother and soon starts acting out in sexual ways. I've probably seen about five or six of these Italian rips of The Exorcist and this one here is probably the best, although that's not saying too much. If you've seen the director's cult zombie film Burial Ground then you'll have the idea of what to expect from this movie. The entire thing is silly, over the top and at times downright funny, which I don't think was the intent but oh well. The performances are actually pretty good as is the photography but the rest is pretty much camp entertainment. Some of the sex scenes manage to be quite erotic but the added hardcore inserts don't work and come off looking very cheap. The teenage girls sexual desires range from molesting her paralyzed uncle to having sex with her teddy bear so those against this type of thing shouldn't even bother with the film. There are plenty of beautiful, naked women running around throughout the film, which is never a bad thing especially when they're Italian. The film gets to be too long for its own good and it could have used some editing but God knows there's a lot worse out there.

Expecting an unashamed Italian rip-off of a Hollywood box office success to turn out into something remotely as good as its original source is like being born a millionaire (i.e. only one in a million {sic}) – and this belated eroticized EXORCIST-clone is no exception to the rule. Still, being aware of its notoriety for a couple of years (via "Stracult", an essential tome on Euro-Cult I picked up at the 2004 Venice Film Festival), I was rather looking forward to Severin's recently released DVD. However, the first online reviews I came across were far from encouraging...As it turned out, I found MALABIMBA not to be as bad as I was being led to believe and certainly deserving of its ungodly reputation for sleazy exploitation. In fact, I chose to watch the lengthier "Integral Version" of the film (which adds some 10 minutes of horrendously preserved expository footage – not too dissimilar in quality, in fact, to the R2 disc of WITCHFINDER GENERAL [1968]) and it's an enjoyably trashy ride. There's nudity galore and unlimited camp value (and, consequently, unintentional hilarity) as in the opening séance (with a man's zipper being undone by itself and a big-breasted woman going suddenly topless!) and Bimba's penchant (while possessed by her black sheep of an ancestor's evil spirit) for humping her teddy-bears!! The over-the-top dialogue, then, gives the whole a faux-sophisticated air which raises it slightly above its tawdry origins.As opposed to other Italian variants on THE EXORCIST (1973) I've watched – like Alberto De Martino's interesting THE ANTICHRIST (1974) and Mario Bava's wretched THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM (1975) – the film under review is (as was to be expected) more often sleazy than scary, thus also inviting comparison to contemporaneous Italian films of the "naughty teen" variety like Fernando Di Leo's LA SEDUZIONE (1973) and PECCATI IN FAMIGLIA (1975). Which brings us to the hardcore inserts; the film's numerous sex scenes are lengthy and flatly shot which, frankly, stop the narrative dead in its tracks (much like what happens in Jess Franco's movies). Still, director Andrea Bianchi may not even be in the league of a Franco (and certainly not Walerian Borowczyk) but his camera is, during the quieter moments, admirably mobile with the great location of the old castle enriching the film's interesting depiction of a decaying aristocracy; the score – with its accompanying spooky ghost sighs during the possession sequences – is also quite notable.Luscious short-cropped redhead Katell Laennec (whose only film this proved to be!) looks like a more sensual version of a young Shirley MacLaine; she is quite good in the role but should perhaps have tried to vary her range a little more in conveying possession than by just narrowing her eyes. Mariangela Giordano (who would go on to reprise the role of the nun in the 1982 remake; see below) is decent enough but the fact that Patrizia Webley is even more of an irrepressible nymphomaniac than her possessed niece in the first place, rather defeats the purpose of the whole enterprise!

I knew nothing about Malabimba before viewing it, other than that it was directed by the same man who brought us the fine zombie flick, Burial Ground. What can I say? WHOOPS! Here I thought I was gonna view an innocent little gore/splatter flick and what do I get? Well, since I was viewing the complete version, uncut (i.e., like the men in this film), I found instead of a family-friendly horror movie, I had been duped into watching a very lame European porn flick. I wasn't so sure that dame who played Nais wasn't actually Jerry Hall slumming for a few extra lira. What would Mick have said? Tsk, tsk! (It's actually Patrizia Webley, who made a number of trashy flicks, 'Salon Kitty' and 'Queen Of Sex' being 2 of her better ones.) Not too shabby in the mammary department at any rate - and the gal *does* know how to strike a pose in lingerie. Essentially, this is a pornified variation on The Exorcist, which would've bored me beyond belief were it not for the lesbian nunsploitation elements. I've seen both better Exorcist ripoffs (try 'Exorcism' by the always delightfully kinky Jesus Franco) and better nunsploitation (try 'Flavia The Heretic' by Gianfranco Mingozzi). This film apparently did nothing for the career of the main character, played by Katell Laennec, as she seems to have no film credits besides this one. Too bad - just watch the excruciatingly slow way she teasingly takes down her little white panties in the scene where she seduces her uncle Adolfo (not her grandfather, as incorrectly noted in some other reviews). Hey, if that ain't talent, what is? I understand there is a censored version sans the hardcore scenes - does that mean there's a version where Bimba doesn't have sex with a teddy bear then stab him to death? Does this girl have no MERCY? Malicious little whore, indeed! Teddy bear lovers, UNITE and stand up against this abominable filth! If you enjoy really vanilla hardcore sex scenes, or scenes of young ladies masturbating with stuffed animal toys, you may appreciate the uncut version of Malabimba more than I did. I found it to be more porn than horror and dull unimaginative porn at that, for the most part. Left me frustrated and longing for some blood and bone-chilling terror - to say nothing of more bizarre sex scenes. Definitely EURO and most definitely TRASH!