IslandGuru Who payed the critics

AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

jadavix This is a weird, surreal movie about an improbably beautiful female photographer who has a strange encounter with a weird pale lady. The lady gives her a doll that she can apparently control the photographer with.It's hard to know what to say about this one in that it is deliberately incomprehensible and perhaps indeliberately tedious. There's nudity, but nothing all that great. The only actor in it I liked is the behemoth George Eastman. I could never see why he is described as a handsome man but he works in front of the camera better than all the ladies in this movie do.Apparently it was based on an Italian comic strip called a "fumetti". I know nothing about these, and after watching this, I'm not that interested in finding out about them either.

Leofwine_draca This film is a bit of an oddity, a movie that has more in common with art-house cinema than the more conventional stalk-n-slash murder movies that were popular at the time. The story of a woman descending into madness is a familiar one that was utilised through the '70s, so don't expect anything new from the plot. The style of direction, the fashions and the camera-work is also very typical of the period which gives this film a solid grounding as well as making it extremely dated – but hey, isn't that part of the fun of watching? Ultimately, BABA YAGA, DEVIL WITCH is a disappointment because nothing seems to happen. Once the story has evolved, the movie alternates between scare scenes and dialogue, neither of which are done very well. It's a shame, because many of the horror ingredients here have the opportunity to be extremely frightening, had better use been made of them. The idea of a hole in the ground leading to hell I loved, and the weird fetish doll is an extraordinarily creepy idea. As another plus, Carroll Baker is effective in the role of Baba Yaga, the witch, even though she isn't given much to work with...she certainly gave me the chills! Sadly too much of the film is filled with filler material, and it seems that the director struggled to adapt this movie from its comic book roots. There seems to be a focus on female nudity rather than plot, and minor characters like the black man come and go with little impact on the actual storyline. There's no faulting the acting, as Isabelle De Funes' heroine is pleasingly complex, far more than a simple screaming victim, and big George Eastman gives one of his better performances early on in his career. It's just that BABA YAGA, DEVIL WITCH is so familiar. There's absolutely nothing in the way of originality here, and while a good few individual moments are decently done, as a whole the film is run-of-the-mill entertainment.

Bezenby Is this artsy fartsy seventies jive or compelling allegory of the so called enlightened intellects versus the unknown? That's up to you to decide. I know nothing about the comic strip so I can't compare… Valentina is a fashion photographer being romantically pursued by George Eastman (aka Luigi Montefori, from The Unholy Four and The New Barbarians). Fobbing him off one night and walking home herself, she finds a puppy lying within a circle of candles and narrowly manages to save it from being run over by a car driven by the mysterious Baba Yaga (Carrol Baker, from The Devil with Seven Faces). Baba Yaga's immediately starts getting weird on Val, taking a clip from her suspenders and saying she'll be back the next day. And the next day indeed (after Val indulges in some topless photography), Baba turns up and gives her the clip back and gives her address. Intrigued in a way only free living seventies people can be, Val goes to Baba's house, takes photos of things, finds a bottomless pit in the hall, finds a strange glove and puts in on, which prompts her to do a bit of invisible banjo playing while the film turns into a comic. Baba also gives her doll in bondage gear and curses her camera so that every time she takes a picture of someone, they die. The doll on occasion turns into Ely Galleano (from Lizard in a Woman's Skin and High Crime) who puts in a performance so erotic, I felt obliged to send her some money in the post. Sounds weird, eh? It is, all done in a surreal, playful manner with plenty of topless women and kinky situations. It's not overly pervy though, but highly stylish. The sets and general execution are very good indeed, involving scenes that turn from reality to comic strip, a nazi trial, a boxing match with a guy dressed like Jesus, and a soap powder commercial that's truly bizarre. Gore hounds will be disappointed, as will though who like things fast paced. As for me, I liked it. Made a nice change from all the violence you usually get from Italian films from this era. The copy that Shameless Screen Entertainment have released looks to be the fullest version (including a full frontal scene with Baker!), and it looks beautiful. This is the only version I've seen so I can't comment on anything that's gone before.

hengir Based upon a comic strip which presumably made more sense than this confusing film. The plot simply is female photographer falls under spell of strange woman. The original language might have sounded better but the dubbed dialogue is a mix of pseudo profundity and sheer nonsense. Nothing makes sense. What are the photographer's Nazi related dreams about? What about the killer camera? What is the leather clad doll that come to life about? What is the big hole about? Who is Baba Yaga anyway? She says to the photographer that she will reveal to her cosmic secrets, which seem to involve chaining her up and having her whipped. What? You can carry off this kind of thing if you are a David Lynch but not this director. The best part were the opening credits with the glacial black and white background of panels from the original comic. After that it went downhill.