Baba Yaga, Devil Witch (1973)
The sensual Carroll Baker (Baby Doll 1956, Something Wild 1961) who later became one of the queens of the Euro-Exploitation realm (The Sweet Body of Deborah 1968, Paranoia 1969, So Sweet… So Perverse 1969, A Quiet Place to Kill 1970, The Devil Has Seven Faces 1971) inhabits the role of Baba Yaga.
Based on Guido Grepax’s ‘Valentina,’ a pornographic comic, the film is less about the trope of good vs evil and suggests more the exploration of the heroine’s ‘body’ and the consumption of pleasure and pain. Isabelle De Funés is Valentina, a photographer who falls under the spell of a bewitched camera, and the sapphic enchantress Baba Yaga who desires to possess her. The film is filled with surreal imagery, erotic reveries, and sadomasochistic fetishism. Ely Galeani (A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin 1971) plays the living doll.
Necromancy, aka The Witching (1972)
A little overview of Pamela Franklin’s career is below:
SPOILER ALERT!
Directed by Bert I Gordon, leaves behind gigantism for a moment to delve into satanism. Orson Welles is Mr. Cato, a practitioner of the dark arts and leader of a coven in the small town of Lilith, who desperately wants to bring his dead son back to life. He seeks out Pamela Franklin, who plays Lori Brandon, a girl who has the power to help him raise the dead. When she and her husband, Frank (Michael Ontkean), move to Lilith, guided by the lure of a new career, Lori finds out, much to her horror, the true reason behind Cato’s motives. There are some very atmospheric moments, with the ghost of a little boy that taunts Franklin and some eerie exterior camera work by Winton C. Hoch (The Quiet Man 1952, The Searchers 1956, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 1961, Robinson Crusoe on Mars 1964 and including the 1966 TV series Lost In Space). It also stars Lee Purcell as Priscilla.
The chilling conclusion of Necromancy (1972) involves Lori being buried alive during a necromancy ceremony to resurrect Mr. Cato’s dead son. However, this disturbing ending is revealed to be a nightmare, only for Lori to awaken and realize she’s experiencing déjà vu, suggesting that her dream was actually a premonition of events yet to unfold.
10 Down, just 140 to go!-Your EverLovin’ Joey formally & affectionately known as MonsterGirl