Malabimba

Malabimba- The Malicious Whore

1979

Director- Andrea Bianchi

Cast- Katell Laennec, Patrizia Webley, Enzo Fisichella, Giuseppe Marrocco, Mariangela Giordano, Elisa Mainardi, Giancarlo Del Duca, Pupita Lea Scuderoni

            

     The story begins with a rich aristocratic family participating in a séance. The medium summons up Lucrezia, the spirit of an old, and apparently horny, family ancestor. The spirit begins by sexually assaulting all those present before settling down and making itself at home in the body of Bimba (Katell Laennec) the developmentally arrested and sexually naïve teenage daughter.

            

     Bimba quickly turns into a foul mouthed pervert. Her behavior is made all the more shocking because the family tries to maintain an air of prudery. However, Bimba has some competition in the horny department. Nais (Patrizia Webley) is married into the family and is a take charge kind of lady, especially when it comes to seducing the various men in the family. Bimba spies on Nais and gets some ideas of her own.

            

     

     The family goes through the usual hand wringing typical of exorcism movies including calling in a doctor who assures them that nothing is wrong. On staff at the family’s estate is a nun-in-training, Sister Sophia (Mariangela Giordano who you may recognize from Killer Barbies, Satan’s Babydoll and The Devil’s Daughter). Sister Sophia correctly diagnoses the problem as a spiritual malady and tries to help Bimba, only to find out that she was in fact the evil spirit’s target all along.

            

      Malabimba is one of the many, many exorcism films that came in the wake of The Exorcist, some better than others. Malabimba’s script is basically a stripped down version of The Exorcist; all the outrage with none of the suspense or character development. At first glance it’s just a pornographic adaptation of William Friedkin’s movie. At second glance, it’s still just a pornographic adaptation. But on third glance, this is a really clever, chance taking film.

            

    

    The film takes shots at hypocritical sexual attitudes. Nais is viewed as a wanton harlot, yet the men in the family don’t seem to have a problem with helping her satisfy her sexual appetites. It also has fun with its exploitation nature. In the Exorcist, Regan shocks her family by peeing on the carpet during a dinner party. Here, Bimba gives the guests some full frontal nudity. Instead of the demon jumping into the priest at the end of an exorcism, here that is accomplished via a lesbian sex scene.

           

     Though Katell Laennec ,as Bimba, is supposed to be a Lolita figure, I don’t think that goal was realized. Though she was only 18 when the film was shot, she doesn’t have that Lolita look that you see in something like Don’t Deliver Us from Evil. She is convincing as the sexual predator. She seduces a nun, tries to seduce her father and kills her sick uncle by felating him until his heart gives out. She’s also hell on her collection of stuffed animals.

 Despite all of this perversity, Bimba’s scenes are overshadowed by the buxom blonde, Patrizia Webley. She steals every scene she is in. Patrizia was in several exploitation films during this era and also did some layouts in “men’s magazines.” Her character of Nais is an interesting departure from a lot of the vixens in sexploitation films. She’s not the victim, she’s the aggressor. She demands that her partner’s make her happy and she never suffers a single consequence for her sexual antics. How many times do we see characters murdered or otherwise punished after engaging in salacious behavior; not here!

       

     

     It was not uncommon during this era for multiple versions of the same film to be released, one version for mainstream audiences and another version with hardcore sex. The works of Jess Franco are a good example of this. This film has a few hardcore inserts but they add nothing to the film. Not only are they obviously “stunt genitals” not belonging to the actors, but the film was already pretty erotic without actual penetration.

            

     This movie is sometimes thought of as nunsploitation and I suppose, in the loosest sense, it is. It has a nun and some lesbian sex, which seems to be the two main ingredients for the genre. However, nunsploitation usually comes with a healthy dose of cynicism toward the Church and other conventions that are not present here. The nun in this film is, at best, only the 4^th most important character.

            

      If you want a scary film, this is not it. If you want something deep and thought provoking, this is definitely not for you. But if you want a great example of 70s Euro sexploitation, and don’t mind a ton crotch close ups, this film is for you.