In opposite to most reviewers, I'm not familiar with the 1965 b/w TV series, but review this movie as a separate piece of art. Admittedly, Belphegor' is not a perfect movie, as there are a couple of logical problems within the story. Nevertheless it's crafted entertainment. The love interest between Lisa (Sophie Marceau, beautiful as ever) and Martin (Frederic Diefenthal), an eccentric old investigator (Michel Serrault), a museum director (J.F. Balmer) who ignores experts as often as he can (I've faced this kind of boss in real life, believe me) and of course a dark phantom on the loose provide 90 minutes of good fun. And if you suffer from arachnophobia like I do, you'll be happy to hear that this is the first movie about archaeologists since Raiders of the Lost (Sp)Ark' that doesn't employ creepy crawling insects for cheap thrills. Instead, it has a few new ideas. I loved the scene where Lisa explains to a bunch of kids what the Egyptian Book of the Dead is about
gets confused because she doesn't know where she got the knowledge from
and then gets angry about one boy who painted the story the wrong way around in his notebook. It's the little human touches that matter. Voted 7/10.
