Italian-American co-production (filmed in both Rome, Italy and Atlanta, Georgia!) is a too-fancy, strenuously arty supernatural thriller with echoes of both "The Exorcist" and "The Omen", featuring a faintly-bemused star cast who, in the words of co-star Lance Henriksen, signed on merely "to get a free trip to Rome." Cherubic pre-teen girl with psychic powers--into gymnastics, ice-skating and shooting her own mother at a birthday party--could be just one of many evil children produced by an ancient alien force waiting for its chance to wreak terror upon the world. Even for those who are able to follow the murky preamble, it may be difficult to ascertain who is good and who is rotten in this picture. The child's mother, now paralyzed, is dating the owner of a professional basketball team who appears to be part of a secret Satanic sect; they want him to impregnate the woman with a male child to mate with her daughter, thereby resurrecting the evil force in human form...but what if she got pregnant with another girl? Calling Dr. Spock! John Huston (sly and crafty as ever, even in these chaotic circumstances) plays some kind of disciple sent to Earth to monitor the girl's actions (at one point posing as her babysitter!). There's also a maid (Shelley Winters), sent by "the agency", who dresses all in black; a detective (Glenn Ford) who investigates mom's "accident" and is attacked by a maniacal bird; and mom's ex-husband (Sam Peckinpah!) who aborts her unwanted fetus. A misbegotten venture, ludicrous and at times laughable, though one must give credit to director Michael J. Paradise (aka Giulio Paradisi): it certainly isn't boring. *1/2 from ****

I understand how some (perhaps most) viewers found The Visitor an incoherent mess, but it may be due to poor editing since its U.S. release in 1979 which, evidently, was also released theatrically to international audiences. However, I am only speculating, but I do know the original Italian version is longer. That version may help to fill in the gaps and possibly extends some of the more emotional scenes in the film which have been severely cut. As I was watching The Visitor, I was disappointed at how abruptly some of these scenes concluded. I wanted and expected a deeper connection to the material and the characters. Regardless of these setbacks, the movie is unquestionably unique on many levels, and I didn't find it difficult to follow. Perhaps because it IS so outlandish, I enjoyed fitting the pieces together. There was never a dull moment with so many things happening throughout the course of the story line. The atmosphere was classic 70s style, and the acting was not bad at all despite (again) the poor editing.The Visitor is an Omen copy to a degree, but instead of demonic forces at work, the film centers on an evil alien force. This alien force is actually an escaped prisoner named Zatteen, who finds refuge on Earth many years in the past after fleeing from a deadly battle in space. Before his eventual death, he impregnates a number of women, passing along his mutated genes and allowing his future offspring to possess telekinetic powers. Since Zatteen had evil intentions and only wanted to kill and destroy others, his children are of the same breed. In order to carry out his catastrophic deeds, a cohort of wealthy men led by Dr. Walker (Mel Ferrer) is assembled to ensure his plan of world domination succeeds. This mission is challenged when only one woman on the planet in the present day bears the ability to fertilize Zatteen's seed, and her name is Barbara Collins (Joanne Nail). Barbara has already given birth to Katie (Paige Conner), a now eight year–old daughter who shows us she is no angel with some of the wicked things she says and does. The cohort wants Barbara to give birth to a son so he can become the new Zatteen of his generation. This task of impregnating Barbara is given to Raymond Armstead (Lance Henriksen), who must convince her to marry him despite the fact she is unwilling to commit to marriage. Barbara, of course, does not realize she has the special gift of carrying Zatteen's seed in her womb, but she knows intuitively that something is wrong with Katie. That sets up the premise of The Visitor. Of course, there are birds that attack on command, a watchful babysitter (Shelley Winters), a police detective on Katie's trail (Glenn Ford), a mysterious butler, a Jesus–like character who tells tales of the evil Zatteen to a group of young bald–headed children, and the good–guy visitor himself (John Huston), who congregates his disciples on the roof of a large skyscraper. The first fifteen minutes of the film unravels the basis of the plot, but as the viewer, it's important to listen to the dialogue. A lot happens quickly. Whether you like the film or find it a mess, to say it's not an entertaining effort would seem unfair. The only thing that really was annoying to me was part of the soundtrack dealing with the discotheque music. It was way over the top and out of place for this type of picture. I'm sure it fit the times and some people enjoyed it, but if the movie is to be taken seriously on any level, then that music has to go. If the movie was intended as hype – which doesn't appear to be the case – then the histrionic melody is warranted. On the other hand, the moody, ambient music was excellent, and the ending was solid. Give this cult classic a shot and be prepared to go on a strange journey of plot twists and turns. Watch it on a rainy day when you have the time or are feeling ambiguous and/or disconnected from the world. We all have those days sometimes. That's when The Visitor will leave you a little numb, confused, and scratching your head... but in a good way.

Gleefully eschewing standard notions of narrative coherence and overall quality in favor of a thoroughly preposterous, but still oddly fascinating and sometimes downright hilarious sci-fi/horror combo of disparate elements from such notable famous cinematic landmarks as "The Omen," "Rosemary's Baby," and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," this entertainingly absurd howler tells the outré tale of creepy eight-year-old kid Katy Collins (an effectively wicked portrayal by Paige Conner), a nasty little brat who's really some kind of malevolent alien with dangerous and destructive psychic powers. Katy wants to get her fiercely resilient and resourceful crippled mother Barbara (a sound and sympathetic performance by the lovely Joanne Nail) pregnant so she can have a brother to eventually mate with (yes, you read that correctly). It's up to mysterious saintly extraterrestrial visitor Jerzy Colsowicz (none other than John Huston, who somehow manages to retain his dignity amid the rampant silliness) to stop Katy by bringing her back to her home planet. Director Giulio Paradisi and screenwriters Luciano Cornici and Robert Mundi treat the hopelessly inane premise with jaw-dropping misguided seriousness, thereby ensuring a wealth of precious unintentionally gut-busting moments (sidesplitting campy highlights include Katy using her special abilities to thwart a basketball game, an attack by killer falcon, Katy clobbering several teen boy bullies on an ice rink in a shopping mall, and a totally off-the-wall psychedelic light show climax involving a flock of pigeons). The amazing all-star international cast play the ridiculous material completely straight: Glenn Ford as the meddlesome Detective Jake Durham (the scenes with Katy cursing Durham out are simply priceless!), Lance Henriksen as ruthless basketball coach Raymond Armstead, Shelley Winters as batty housekeeper Jane Phillips, Mel Ferror as sinister physician Dr. Walker, Sam Peckinpah as friendly abortionist Dr. Sam Collins, and an unbilled Franco Nero as a blond-haired Christ figure. Franco Micalizzi's funky-throbbin' disco score and the tacky (not so) special effects further add to this messed-up movie's considerable cruddy charm. Ennio Guarnieri's glossy cinematography gives the picture an attractive sparkling look and makes neat occasional use of strenuous slow motion. A complete loopy riot.

Whatever one thinks of the movie itself, it cannot be denied that BEYOND THE DOOR (1974) was a highly successful property and when THE OMEN (1976; my own personal favorite of the three major diabolism films of that era) came along, it was almost a given that Ovidio G. Assonitis (aka Oliver Hellman) would contemplate something similar for the Italian market. However, he was anticipated in this by director Alberto De Martino's HOLOCAUST 2000 aka THE CHOSEN (as it was originally released in the U.S.) and RAIN OF FIRE (under which title it has recently been released on R1 DVD) – whereas Assonitis had, with his own BEYOND THE DOOR (1974), preceded De Martino's THE ANTICHRIST (1974) virtually by a couple of weeks! Even so, Assonitis went ahead with his project and, not to be outdone, he concocted a truly bizarre but fascinating mélange of horror and sci-fi that also throws in for good measure elements from THE BIRDS (1963), ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968), THE EXORCIST (1973), GOD TOLD ME TO (1976), CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) and even DAMIEN: OMEN II (1978)! The cherry on the cake, however, was the fact that he somehow managed to rope in a stellar cast of Hollywood notables to give life to his ungodly premise: John Huston (in the enigmatic title role), Glenn Ford (as an ill-fated police detective), Mel Ferrer (as a sinister surgeon and chairman of a mysterious conglomerate), Shelley Winters (thankfully less obnoxious than usual as a maid-protector), Lance Henriksen (as the Faustian father who apparently sells his soul – and wife – merely to become a successful basketball coach!), Sam Peckinpah (remarkably restrained, glimpsed only in profile and in semi-darkness to boot, as an abortionist – but, apparently, he was drunk and cocaine-addled on the set!) and even an uncredited Franco Nero (as, ostensibly, Jesus Christ and a blond one at that)!! Despite his surprisingly brief time on screen, Ford comes off best from among his colleagues and I particularly enjoyed his altercations with the demonic and foul-mouthed child (the excellent Paige Conner – with gleaming eyes and, obviously doubled, turning occasionally into a faceless 'monster' – who, going effortlessly from sweet to sinister, undoubtedly delivers one of the best child performances in this type of film); another good turn is given by Joanne Nail as her long-suffering mother who, among other things, is left half-paralyzed and wheelchair-bound after a gunshot wound accidentally fired by her own daughter; is abducted and artificially impregnated by an 'alien' bunch inside a truck parked down a darkened tunnel; eventually, her offspring contrives to push the woman straight into a large aquarium in slo-mo (just as Winters has finished assuring her that no harm will come to her while she is around)! It would be virtually impossible to describe the decidedly mystifying plot in a few words, so I will just concentrate on a series of images that remained with me since my viewing of the film: the pre-credits sequence in which a cassock-wearing Huston, seemingly in Heaven or at least another planet, prepares to face up to his enemy; the opening scene set in a basketball court in which the leading player of Henriksen's opponents (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) is literally 'exploded' by Conner's gaze prior to his netting the winning ball!; Conners showing her deadly ice-skating abilities by sending several leering male kids to their doom; the setting-up of Huston's rooftop base by an army of bald-headed acolytes; the surreal chasing of Conner by the latter in Peckinpah's dilapidated clinic; Ford's eye-gouging by Conner's pet falcon and subsequent fiery demise; babysitter Huston dueling with his charge-quarry Conner via a now-primitive video-game; later still, her attempt to do the old man in by literally dropping a stairway on top of him (flattening a shop in the process) a' la THE OMEN's unforgettable falling glass-plate; followed shortly by their showdown inside a hall of mirrors (borrowed, no doubt, from Orson Welles THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI {1948}); the landing of the spaceship in downtown Atlanta; the climactic – and apparently elliptical –'cleansing' attack of a flock of pigeons (standing in for the proverbial doves); the epilogue in which the monk-like Huston brings a seemingly reformed bald-headed Conner in Nero's celestial abode of equally head-shaven children. Strangely enough, it is never explained why the villainous sect need a boy 'heir' when Conner is clearly being such a good {sic} ambassador of Evil on Earth (incidentally, obscure director Paradisi walked off the film which was subsequently completed by producer Assonitis) but, luckily, Franco Micalizzi's alternately funky and eerie score and the occasionally striking visuals smooth over such inconsistencies. In fact, it would be very easy to bash STRIDULUM (whatever that means, it is how THE VISITOR is known – if at all – on its home-ground given that it has never been shown on TV in my neck of the woods) as a desperately derivative and incoherent mess but, frankly, I found it far too enjoyable and weird to be dismissed. For the record, I watched an acceptable (albeit full-frame) VHS-sourced copy of the 90-minute English-language U.S. theatrical version but, since most of the cast is American anyway, this is the right way to watch it; still, apparently, the Italian edition is slightly longer and features an alternate version of the scenes featuring Peckinpah! Although an Italian DVD edition is currently available, as a result of this surprisingly satisfactory first viewing – emulating a similar experience I had in a previous Halloween Challenge with the equally maligned William Castle production, BUG (1975) – I am now looking forward to that long-rumored, fully-loaded R1 DVD from Code Red that promises to offer the longest ever available version (108 minutes) of this unique gem!