This Italian horror offering was originally
called Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel trecento ("Rites, Black
Magic and Secret Orgies in the 13 century"). It was released in the
US as The Reincarnation of Isabel.
In the thirteenth century, Isabella was burned as a witch by the
inquisition and her heart ripped out. Her friends at the time swore
revenge, and that they would resurrect her. Cut to the present,
where Laureen has moved into the same castle with her family. She is
to be married. She looks a whole lot like Isabella, which is not
surprising as Rita Calderoni plays both roles. Things complicate
quickly, as Isabella's followers have all been reincarnated as
vampires, and need to sacrifice a steady stream of virgins (blood
tainted by semen is no good) to prepare for the grand resurrection
of Isabella.
Many say the film is impossible to follow and makes no sense. I
didn't find that to be the case, but I would be the first to say
that the plot is amazingly lame, and the transparency of the
narrative is clouded by editing which is consistently annoying. The
film is full of jump cuts, really jarring ones, and other typical
early seventies attempts to seem psychedelic. Although the storyline
is not totally incoherent, it is simplistic and poorly developed,
and the pinnacle of the performing consists of screaming.
I was less than thrilled.
On the other hand, many feel this film deserves cult status, as a
"wonderfully extreme and very crazy example of European horrotica/gorotica,"
so it scores a C- on our scale based on its appeal to fanatics of
that specialized genre. Others beware.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
