Ring of Darkness (1979)

Another in the cycle of Italian films issued in response to the success of a raft of seventies US movies involving children either possessed or spawned by the Devil, Ring of Darkness (1979) director Pier Carpi, (who adapted the script from his own novel), always denied that it was inspired by The Exorcist (1973).  Which is fair enough: it seems to have more in common with The Omen (1978), with its tale of a young girl fathered by the devil discovering her parentage and the power that comes with it.  To be absolutely fair, it seems to predate The Omen - although released in 1979, shooting seems to have commenced in 1977 and the source novel was published in 1974.  Moreover, whereas in the US film the parents are (initially) unwitting hosts to the Anti-Christ, unaware of their adopted child's origins, in Ring of Darkness, the mother has deliberately got herself impregnated by the devil as part of a diabolical pact she and her friends had entered into in order to ensure their own success.  What seems clear watching Ring of Darkness is that was seen by its makers as something more than just another Euro horror picture.  The cast, for instance, features a number of very recognisable actors - Frank Finlay, Ian Bannen, Ann Heywood, John Phillip Law and Irene Papas, (although Finlay, Bannen and Law have what amount to extended cameos).  Stylistically, the film seems to be deliberately avoiding all the usual cliches of the genre.  Indeed, the Satanic 'orgy' which plays out under the opening titles is shot in a very 'arty' style.

Not that the film doesn't feature some scenes of demonically-inspired violence - set pieces include a boy having his chest burned by the touch of the devil's daughter and a teacher forced to jump to her death, for example - it also boasts an exorcism scene and nudity.  Lots of nudity.  Which, ordinarily, wouldn't bother me, but here it is problematic as much of it involves the devilish daughter, Daria, who is characterised as being thirteen.  The problem stems from the fact that the actress playing her, (Lara Wendel), was, at the time of shooting, around thirteen herself.  Now, in her earliest nude scenes, it was possible that a body double could have been used, based on how they were framed.  Likewise the exorcism scene, where she is scene naked in long shot.  The climactic scenes, however, where she battles her mother, both physically and spiritually, dispel this notion - there are full frontal nude shots of both.  All of which left me feeling decidedly uneasy, as if I'd unwittingly walked into an underage porn film. Clearly, child protection issues weren't always to the fore in seventies Italian exploitation, as Lara Wendel had already appeared in a trio of films in which she had played an underage love interest.  

Quite apart from child exploitation, Ring of Darkness has other problems.  Most fundamentally, the reactions of Daria's mother and her friends to the discovery that one of their off-spring, the result of a liaison with the devil is herself diabolical, simply don't make sense.  What other result did they expect?  It isn't as if they aren't constantly reminded of this past event by regular appearances from the Devil himself.  He keeps popping up in the guise of some dude who wears his coat over his shoulders, to frighten off interfering characters like Ian Bannen's chess-playing Professor.  In the case of Irene Pappas, who has become so disillusioned with her tryst with the dark side that she dabbles, part-time, in prostitution, he turns up to scare off her punters, usually when they are mid vinegar stroke.  Moreover, it is not entirely clear why they choose a priest who is having a crisis of faith to perform the attempted exorcism of Daria - surely you'd want someone God-fearing to drive out the Devil?  In the event, it makes no difference as John Phillip Law's acting simply isn't up to the rigours of an exorcism.  The character of Daria is also problematical, all too often coming over as simply a stroppy and petulant teenager rather than an earthly embodiment of evil, (the fact that she is dubbed in the English language version by someone who sounds like the sort of middle class kid the BBC would cast in children's TV period dramas as the over-privileged eldest daughter, doesn't help).

On a technical level, Ring of Darkness is actually pretty well made, with good production values and an interesting musical score from Stelvio Cipriani.  But the underage nudity remains a sticking point for me.  While attitudes to to such things might have changed since the seventies, (not just in Italy -let's not forget an underage Natassia Kinski's nude scenes in Hammer's To the Devil a Daughter (1976)), it remains exploitative and disturbing.