We start in a castle where a medium is conducting a seance with members of the Karoli family. A spirit is loosed in the castle and it sets it's sights on Sister Sofia (Mariangela Giordano), but her faith is too strong. The demon goes to the teenage Bimba and possesses this young woman in the flowering of her woman hood. If this wasn't bad enough her father is being seduced by his invalid brother's wife. And his mother thinks it's a good idea so that the family will be able to keep her money in the family when her son dies!
The demon, Lucrieza, knows what she wants. She wants Sister Sofia. To corrupt such a strong spirit would be quite a victory. Bimba makes advances on everyone in the family and even manages to kill her uncle during a rousing round of oral sex.
This is a flick that is obsessed with sex. We get graphic sex scenes that, while not like the mindless hardcore films of today, still have penetration and oral shots in the film.
At the heart of the film is Bimba played by Katell Laennec in her only film role. This young lady exudes a steamy sexuality that almost makes the screen sweat with passion. I'm personally amazed that she never went on to do anything else. Bimba fights with the demon the entire time, but she is young and the demon knows much more than this young girl will ever know and soon the castle is drenched in sex. I was amazed that the mother didn't engage in any of the hanky panky.
This DVD by Severin Films (www.severin-films.com) is probably the best we will get. The print is quite nice with rich colors and a sharp picture. As for extras there are some deleted scenes that are not of the same quality as the feature, but they do add a little to the story. The folks at Severin must have known this because they include the option of having the deleted scenes integrated into the film. Sure, there is that little shock as you go from the lush picture of the feature to the lower quality of the deleted scenes, but it is really the only way to watch this movie.
In addition to this we get a nice interview segment with cinematographer Franco Villa and Sister Sofia herself, Mariangela Giordano. Franco goes on about the pornographic sequences and says that they weren't shot by him and he believes that they were inserted by the producers and exhibitors of the film. While I believe Mr. Villa, I have trouble thinking these were just some random sex scenes. They match pretty damned well to the footage to just be some random porn they found and stuck in the movie. Just my opinion.
Mariangela is so beautiful in this interview. She still looks amazing for a woman her age and she tells us a lot of what went on behind the cameras. Not any hanky panky more like how the shoot went and what it was like to work with everyone.
Finally, there is a theatrical trailer that you should wait until after watching the movie to view it. A lot of the movie is given away in the trailer and it's really a film you should watch in it's entirety.
In the end MALABIMBA holds up well as a perverse entry into the demonic possession genre of films and a wonderful example of quality Eurotrash.
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