THE ANTICHRIST (1974)

As far as THE EXORCIST ripoffs go THE ANTICHRIST isn't too bad.  A young woman named Ippolita (Carla Gravina) was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident when she was 12.  The strange thing is the doctors cannot find anything wrong with her.  Her father (Mel Ferrer) is extremely wealthy and will do anything to cure her, so when her uncle (Arthur Kennedy) suggests a psychologist, who specializes in cases like hers, Mel immediately brings him in.  The doctor, using hypnosis, soon discovers that the paralysis is caused by both sexual frustration and a past life experience by a relative (who had the exact same name) who was burned alive for witchcraft!  Wow!!!  Somehow during all of this Ippolita is possessed by the same demon that possessed her ancestor.

Anyway, the whole story is just an excuse to get to the demon stuff and...it's entertaining.  THE ANTICHRIST had a lower budget than THE EXORCIST and the story is nowhere nearly as gripping, but the acting (by the impressive cast) is above average and the story does move along at a nice pace.  The demon-possession scenes themselves featured green projectile vomit, one head-spinning murder, demon-powered levitation, visions of a Satanic ritual (complete with off-screen goat butthole licking!), fire, rain, a fake-as-hell-looking snake, very mild nudity, blood licking, vomit licking, invisible demon sex, mouth foam, tons of blasphemous profanities and floating furniture.

Worth a viewing for fans of such things, but mainstream audiences would probably dislike it.

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974)

"You're all the same, the lot of you, with your long hair and faggot clothes. Drugs, sex…every sort of filth. And ya hate the police, don't ya?"

"You make it easy."

A young man is on his way out to the English countryside when a young woman hits his parked motorcycle at a gas station.  He catches a ride with her.  They get lost and end up in the middle of a zombie outbreak!  That might not sound like a lot of story, but it gets the job done. 

Although it's probably too slow for modern audiences, LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE is a great zombie film filled with creepy atmosphere, beautiful scenery, satisfying special effects, cool old buildings (the church/graveyard and the hospital were especially awesome), a tight script and a totally badass soundtrack.  I also enjoyed the political undertones: the hippie streaker, the experimental farming machinery causing the dead to come back to life, the fascist cop (played brilliantly by Hollywood legend Arthur Kennedy) versus the hippie protagonist, the various jabs at Christianity ("Look, it's not my fault Sergeant if Christ and the saints are out of fashion.", the one zombie who appears to be praying whenever he feeds, multiple references to Satanism, etc.) and so on.

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE has been a cult movie for decades, so I would figure that all of the horror fans have seen it by now, but if you haven't then do yourself a favor and check it out.  That first attack at the stepping stones is legendary! Would make a fun double-feature with BURIAL GROUND.