Malabimba (1979)
7/10
Malabimba-The Malicious Whore
16 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Sheltered 16 year old, Malabimba is possessed by the spirit of a deviant ancestor, after a séance unleashes her, who uses the girl as a tool for unmitigated lust, shocking the girl's family and "nun protector" with suspicious sexually depraved behavior.

Little more than well made soft-core erotica with a slight bend towards horror. Superb camera work(..two cinematographers contributed)and an ideal setting(..a wonderfully atmospheric isolated castle monastery on a hill)provide this film with some class despite the trashy premise and characters.

The shocking subject matter is what sets it apart from what one might see in today's modern cinematic porn. A teenage virginal innocent besieged by the spirit of a horny ancestor who was once a nymphomaniac. Malabimba attempts to seduce her own father, gives grandpa oral sex(..which, I guess, gets him so worked up he has a coronary!), successfully ravages her nun, Sister Sophia(Mariangela Giordano;the spirit had attempted to possess her at the opening), and often peeps on the sexual activities of her voracious slutty aunt, Nais(Patrizia Webley). Nais is married to Bimba's uncle(Giuseppe Marrocco)but yearns for her father, Andrea(Enzo Fisichella). Nais, after repeated tries, is able to secure Andrea's desire, and Bimba looks on, actually luring Sophia into voyeurism with her. And, easily the film's most unpredictable sequence, has Bimba pulling up her dress, displaying her naked body for a dinner party of guests as her family stare in disbelief!

Director Andrea Bianchi is known as a director willing to push boundaries, and does so here. Katell Laennec, who has a more mature body than an expected 16 year old, still looks young enough for her teenage character's wild antics to cold-cock an audience into silence and awe. Bianchi's camera enjoys closing in on the crotches of both Webley and Laennec, both seemingly open and free with exposing themselves. Webley is often seen in lingerie, gallivanting her body for those she wishes to proposition. The film's most erotic component is probably Bimba's methodical seduction of Sister Sophia who is able to ward off the permeating desire to engage in lesbian pleasure, finally giving in at the end, ultimately allowing access for the evil spirit to invade her(..I'm not sure why the spirit would wish to leave the younger Bimba for Sophia, unless it was the devious idea of overtaking the body of a God-fearing nun). The Karoli family is an open wound for the viewer and we witness their moral decay.

NOT for the easily offended or those bothered by immoral acts of sexual gratification. Often labeled an EXORCIST rip-off, I think the film is it's own beast, really only using a little bit of the Catholism..this is a possession movie exploring erotic territory, rather than Satanic horrors regarding unsettling demonic images.
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