Lisa And The Devil (1973)

During the sightseeing in Toledo, Spain, the tourist Lisa Reiner sees an ancient painting of the devil on the wall and leaves her group for a moment; however she gets lost in the narrow streets. Later she gets a lift with the wealthy Francis Lehar and his wife Sophia. However, their car breaks and stops in front of an old manor. While the driver George tries to fix the car, the trio is hosted by the blind owner and her son Maximilian who invites Lisa to spend the night in the mansion. During dinner, they are served by the butler Leandro that resembles the image of the devil of the painting. Lisa seems to be living a strange nightmare, recalling her love from a past life, and trapped in the house with that bizarre family.



Note: Bold but decidedly uncommercial, Lisa and the Devil failed to get picked up for distribution after its Cannes premiere. Leone – looking to recoup his potential losses – then pressured Bava into doing extensive reshoots and re-editing in order to create an alternate movie that would capitalize on the demon possession craze following in the wake of William Friedkin's The Exorcist. The result was House of Exorcism, which ramped up the gore and sexuality and blasphemy to such an extent that Bava – who, despite what his previous output might suggest, did have his limits when it came to adult content – took his name off of the film entirely.