It becomes clear almost from the outset that with this film Bava is out to mess with our heads and narrative cohesion isn't a priority, so it's best just to sit back and enjoy the ride, knowing you're in good hands. While viewing a strange fresco in a town on holiday, Lisa becomes distracted by the sound of music and in a small shop off the beaten track finds a music box with some creepy figurines spinning on top. She tries to buy it but learns that it belongs to the shop's only other customer: Telly Savalas, who greatly resembles a figure on the fresco that was described as the devil! Telly for some reason is carrying a life-sized figure of a man and finds it highly amusing when Lisa runs off.Lisa soon gets lost and after wandering around the strange streets, has to ask someone for directions, and that someone is Telly Savalas! This is where Bava starts really messing with us as the dummy in his hands is obviously actually played by an actor - but only in certain shots. Things get even more confusing when Lisa encounters a live version of the dummy who falls down a flight of stairs and dies. Eventually Lisa ends up getting a lift from a bickering couple (the wife of whom is having an affair with her chauffer) and they all end up at the usual huge mansion/castle inhabited by angry man Maximillian, his blind mother Alida Valli, and chirpy butler Telly Savalas, complete with Kojack lollipop. The house is full of Bava's favourite prop: creepy dolls, and things just get stranger and stranger for here on out.There's no point in detailing any more of the plot, but it involves murder, mysterious characters locked in rooms surrounded by slices of cake, people becoming dummies and Telly Savalas breaking the ankles of a corpse in order to fit it into a coffin. I was never really sure what was going on at all due to all the mind games Bava was playing. He even has certain characters follow the exact same path through the house using the exact same camera angles which just adds to the surrealism, and through it all Telly Savalas acts like that whole thing is some bizarre comedy. It all works for me though!He also has the light shine deliberately off of Savalas' head quite often too, films the action from above or below, and uses an awful lot of colour wherever he can. My favourite set was the mock-funeral that is later smashed to pieces by one of the characters. I wasn't expecting the film to be off the wall as much as it was and was nicely surprised. Perhaps it was this film that Umberto Lenzi and Lucio Fulci had in mind when they directed the House of Doom series in the late Eighties? I was getting a severe House of Clocks vibe from this film.

This movie was excellent in every level! Hell, it might be even my favorite Italian horror movie and it is one of my 20 favorite horror movies ever. To explain this movie's brilliance, I should explain a little bit of backstory... This is the movie the director Mario Bava wanted to do for years, but no studio wanted to pick this project up, because the story is so open to interpretation and so non-linear that they thought it would be a flop. Well, he got what he wanted, he could shoot the movie, the problem is that when he finished the movie, the producer said that it would be a flop, convinced him to drop it out, and turn the movie into a The Exorcist rip-off, called House of Exorcism, which I did not have the displeasure of see, but based on what I read about the movie I can say that I'm not losing much. House of Exorcism was a critical and box-office fail. The thing is, Lisa and the Devil is so good that before they blocked the movie the critics still got a screening. And the movie was a hit! Critics loved it. But thank god they restored this gem and now we get to see it in its integrity. This movie's script is genius because it truly looks and feels like a nightmare, it's truly dream-like, not some Inception bullshit. And the art direction in this movie is truly fantastical. This is one of the best looking movies I've ever watched. And it's so open-to-interpretation, that you can make whatever you want from the story, which is more simple as you think it is on first viewing. This movie should become a cult-classic, and it should be watched many many times. I watched it three times already, and I plan on watching many many more times...

While touring a medieval European village, Lisa Reiner (Elke Sommer) gets separated from her tour group and ends up needing transportation out of town. As luck would have it, a car breaks down nearby which has a chauffeur named "George" (Gabriele Tinti) and two occupants, "Francis Lehar" (Eduardo Farjardo) and his wife "Sophia Lehar" (Sylva Koscina) who offer to give her a lift. Unfortunately, the car breaks down again and all four are compelled to accept accommodation in a large house out in the countryside. It doesn't take long for them to realize that the residents are very strange. Especially the butler, "Leandro" (Telly Savalas). At any rate, rather than spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this is a rather macabre film which I found to be both slow and confusing. And while I enjoyed the performances of Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, and Telly Savalas, the disjointed plot noticeably hampered what could have been an outstanding movie. As a result, I give it an average rating.

I agree with one of the reviewers that said that the narrative of this film wasn't terribly important--and is subject to many possible interpretations. It's one of those films where the plot, believe it or not, isn't all that important--and this aspect makes "Lisa and the Devil" a lot like another good horror film, "Suspiria"--and that's putting the film in very good company.Elke Sommer is on vacation. Soon after seeing a mega-creepy fresco from the Middle Ages with a demonic creature that looks like Telly Savalas, she sees the real life Savalas! A bit later, when she is traveling, she gets stranded and seeks shelter in a mansion. Take a guess who the butler is--yep, Telly again! Who exactly he is during the film is pretty vague--and I kind of like that. All around him, horrible and grisly things keep occurring--and time and again you wonder when poor Elke will be killed--especially when everyone else but her and Telly seem to die. I say 'seem' because it's all rather vague...and weird...and creepy--very, very creepy.While I think the horror films of Mario Bava vary tremendously in quality, this one impressed me. His direction was great---very, very artistic. And, very beautiful. In fact, in a nude scene late in the film, you don't feel it's the least bit gratuitous--it's more like a lovely work of art--even if some of it also involves a weird necrophilic murderer! Really...you just have to see this one.By the way, this film flopped at the box office and some sleazy jerks re-edited the film and added some scenes to make an entirely new film. "House of Exorcism" was made of the film in order to cash in on the success of "The Exorcist" and is widely regarded as a terrible film. Well, if you get the DVD for "Lisa and the Devil", BOTH films are included so you can see both versions and make your own decision. That's pretty cool and as I write this I am watching "House of Exorcism".UPDATE: Apparently there is no separate page for both films--just one for "Lisa and the Devil"--so my review for the bastardized re- working is included here: An obvious difference you soon notice is that a different person dubbed Sommer's voice. Also, the very nice but repetitious song that repeats throughout the movie is used less often--making the film seem a bit quieter and not quite as artistic. In fact, Bava did not direct these new scenes--and the new portions lack the artistic quality of the rest of the film. In fact, the film is, at times, pretty incomprehensible as it cuts back between old footage and new. And, unlike the original film, the nudity is very gratuitous (and more explicit) and doesn't make much sense (such as when Elke becomes a black lady!). All in all, a terrible film--one which unfortunately harmed the reputation of "Lisa and the Devil". I'd give this one a 3--and that's being generous.UPDATE: Since I originally posted this review, IMDb has now created a separate page for "House of Exorcism" and it gets its just desserts as a terrible film and "Lisa and the Devil" avoids this distinction.