Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 8.0 | 27/34 | Person of color lead 3/3
A group throws a surprise party in the park in Kentucky for professor and archeologist Dr. Garrett Williams.
Dr. Williams (William Marshall) expresses his desire to visit a cave in Nigeria, where the cult of the Yoruba deity, Eshu, practiced their rights. He declares Eshu the most powerful of all earthly deities. Eshu is a trickster god who creates chaos. Hence, people in the area attribute natural disasters to Eshu. Its symbol is the phallus.
Dr. Williams gets his wish and goes to an archeological dig in Nigeria. There, they find a box carved out of ebony depicting Eshu at the crossroads. He opens the box, unleashing a whirlwind that pins everyone against the cave walls. A green, smiling face flashes before them.
Meanwhile, in Louisville, Dr. Williams’s son, Emmett, and Emmett’s wife, Abby, move into a new home, paid for by the church as Emmett is the church’s pastor.
That night, a strong wind blows through the house, slamming doors and knocking furniture over.
The following morning, Abby hops into the shower. She experiences an unnatural ecstasy coming over her. Her silhouette behind the shower curtains grows.
Later, in the basement, Abby does laundry. The basement door slams shut. The room fills with wind. A grinning green face appears. Then, everything dies down.
Abby’s behavior grows erratic. While butchering a chicken, she turns the knife on herself and cuts down her forearm, licking her lips with an erotic intensity. She has a coughing fit in the church. Her voice changes when Emmett tries to start sex.
Did Eshu possess Abby? Or is this a devil in disguise?
Director William Girdler became known in exploitation circles for his mockbusters, making several of his movies box office successes, including Abby.
Warner Bros. sued American International after this came out. They claimed it was an Exorcist rip-off. The suit caused the film distribution to cease. The only available version of this movie is a digitally scanned 16mm print released in 2007.
The performances are all solid — William Marshall is charismatic and steals every scene he is in. While the script does not avoid Black stereotypes, it does not hang the story or characters directly on those stereotypes.
Also, the script is to the point. It knows you know the premise — it gives you all the information you need and sets everything into motion by the fifteen-minute mark.
Emmett and his family are all devout Christians. Even Emmett’s foreplay is quoting The Bible. So, their concept of an exorcism looks different from the Catholic one of The Exorcist.
A remaster, or some distribution would garner more consideration for this movie than its reputation as a cheap knock-off. This isn’t a hidden masterpiece, but the film is better than I expected.