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Fans of old Italian pics, grindhouse cinema or Mario Bava will love the “Bava Box 2” collection from Anchor Bay. The jewel in the crown is the double-feature disc featuring “Lisa and the Devil” and “The House of Exorcism”. After the lovely & strange “Lisa and the Devil” flopped, some 40 minutes of film were ruthlessly cut and replaced with grindhouse-style footage designed to capitalize on the international success of “The Exorcist”. It’s been 30+ years since I’d seen either of these movies and seeing them again with the usual bells and whistles Anchor Bay respectfully affords these gems made it worth the wait. Even tho “The House of Exorcism” lays waste to the carefully constructed gothic narrative of the original version, the possession scenes often deliver the goods. The beautiful Elke Sommer undulates with gusto as she spits toads & profanity with the best of them. There’s waves of green bile spewing and vulgarity. The climactic exorcism is not entirely dis-similar to the finale of William Peter Blattys’ “The Exorcist III”. If you don’t remember these highly entertaining pics, now would be an excellent chance to refresh your memory. The audio commentaries for both are as captivating as the films with surprise partisipation from Elke herself.

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