Spirits of Death (Italian: Un bianco vestito per Marialé/ translation: A White Dress for Mariale) is a 1972 Italian film directed by Romano Scavolini and starring Ida Galli, Ivan Rassimov and Luigi Pistilli.[2] The film was also released as Exorcisme Tragique (Tragic Exorcism).[3]
Plot
As a child, Mariale witnesses the murder of her mother at her father's hands. She later becomes a recluse, living by herself in a dark, gloomy castle. Mariale decides to invite some friends over for the weekend and stages a decadent orgiastic party. Then a series of grisly murders begin to occur.
Although the film is often described as a giallo, film historian Roberto Curti stated it only becomes a violent murder mystery about an hour into the film.[4] Curti described the giallo trademarks of violent murders and a twist ending are marginal when compared to other films of the genre at the time.[4] Curti opined the film was one like a perverse kammerspiel which borrowed from both gothic and avant-garde theatre.[4]
Production
Following his return from Vietnam where he was a freelance photographer, director Romano Scavolini returned to his native Italy where he started his film career again as a genre filmmaker.[4]
Release
Spirits of Death was released in Italy on 30 November 1972.[1] The film grossed 65.564 million Italian lire in Italy on its release.[1] When the film was released in France, it was titled Exorcisme tragique to try and bank on the popular success of The Exorcist.[5]
Reception
In a retrospective review, Curti stated that Scavolini's direction and Fiorenzo Carpi's score "cannot overcome the script's many shortcoming–namely, sketchily developed characters, pretentious dialogue, heavy-handed symbolism."[6] Scavolini later referred to the film as a film "which only deserves to be forgotten"[7]
