Luminous
Film & Video | Review
by Crites
A
foreign EXORCIST
mimic – that goes the extra mile with
hardcore porn.
It all begins, as it so often
does, with a séance. Conducting the
ritual is Daniela (looking something like
a Brazilian tranny victim of alleyway plastic
surgery), a medium whose handiwork has the
expected ill results: a somewhat demonic
voice is channeled ("It's negative
presence!"), speaking out against the
swinish hypocrisy of the assembled bluebloods
and forcing lascivious displays from some
of the guests before traveling, poltergeist-cam
style, on a twisting mission straight into
the bedchamber of Sister Sofia (Maria Angela
Giordano). Forcing the nun to masturbate
lewdly for a few moments the negative presence
is repelled by the sign of the cross, and
in a fury the unclean spirit leaps to inhabit
the next best victim, sweet young sexpot
Bimba (Katell Laennec).
And thus, with the sinister
barking of a mechanical toy and a wicked
glint in her eye, Bimba becomes the Devil's
plaything. She calls her grandmother a whore
at dinner, grabs the serving boy's cock,
spits at a nun, and generally acts the possessed
brat. This behavior brings the family together
to discuss Bimba's development, as well
as provide a bit of background on the clan
and their setting. Assembled at modernized
medieval Castle Karoly, the family is ostensibly
present to spend time with and look after
rich castle owner Adolfo, paralyzed some
time ago by a stroke. But Adolfo's condition
lends to some small amount of scheming on
the hands of his vertical relatives: his
mother Countess Karoly wants her second-eldest
son Andrea, widower to Bimba's mother Lucrezia,
to marry Adolfo's wife Nais in order to
keep the castle and Adolfo's fortune within
the family. But Andrea wants nothing to
do with a faithless whore like Nais, instead
leaving her to the desperate attentions
of his younger brother Giorgio.
And as Bimba's acting-out
continues to confound her family, Nais proves
to be somewhat possessed herself - by a
case of the hot pants. Approaching Andrea
in his bedroom late one night Nais does
her very best to seduce him, but even offering
herself to Andrea in her best lingerie doesn't
persuade him to "have some relax."
Nais storms out understandably offended,
and has her sexual frustration worked out
of her ass by little Giorgio.
Bimba has been watching Nais'
display the entire time, and when she's
caught peeping by Sister Sofia she runs
screaming to her room. There she masturbates
with a teddy bear in a scene sure to send
the filmmakers all straight to hell, and
in a final fit Bimba gouges out the bear's
crotch with a butcher knife and pushes a
candle into the opening. The next morning
the family finds this trophy downstairs
in the main hall for all to see.
This new outrage causes the
Karoly family some small consternation,
and theories on the girl's emotional state
run wild. ("Bimba is only having a
retarded puberty that's causing her some
sexual morbidity.") When her father
tries to have a little talk with the girl
she sticks her tongue in his mouth and pulls
at his cock. Shocked, Andrea can only run
away, and that night at a dinner party Bimba
comes down to call everyone pigs and expose
her bush to the banquet guests. ("Bimba,
cover up yourself!") Consultation with
a doctor proves to be no help at all, as
with a dismissive wave of pop psychology
the quack essentially tells Andrea not to
worry about it, once his daughter starts
getting laid she'll settle down.
That night a thunderstorm
again enflames Bimba's burgeoning passion,
and after masturbating feverishly she creeps
about the castle and spies upon her father
as he finally succumbs to Nais' temptations.
Aroused even further by their unabashed
sexuality Bimba sneaks into the chamber
of paralytic Uncle Adolfo and, after performing
a truly arousing striptease, proceeds to
go down on him. Bimba's blowjob is one that
would raise the dead, but in Adolfo's case
it instead gives him another stroke, this
time a fatal one.
With rich old Adolfo out of
the way there are some heated words between
family members regarding his estate, and
Bimba's nymphomaniacal disruptions are forgotten.
That is until Sister Sofia interrupts to
request that she be allowed special supervision
over the troubled girl; the Sister was the
one who discovered Bimba naked in Adolfo's
bed after his 'accident,' and is convinced
she can help save the girl's soul. This
even as Bimba is upstairs masturbating with
another one of her toys and making love
to her reflection in a mirror. Sister Sofia
breaks in on this Janus coupling and, attempting
to sooth the girl's sobbing pleas for help,
stays with her until she falls asleep.
When Sofia awakens she goes
in search of her young charge, only to find
Bimba peeking in on her father's lovemaking
yet again. After convincing the Sister to
watch with her for a moment Bimba leads
her back to her bedroom and begins working
some of the wiles of seduction she learned
from watching Nais. As she works a hand
between Sofia's legs it looks like Bimba
is well on her way to getting the Sister
to perform an unnatural act, but with a
burst of conscience Sister Sofia comes to
her nunly senses and bolts back to her own
room.
Bimba won't be so easily evaded
however and, nude, she stalks after Sofia
and corners her in her bedroom. Speaking
in a familiar demonic tone Bimba chastises
the Sister, accusing her of awful sins before
offering her a single chance to save the
girl: offer her soul in exchange for Bimba's.
Sister Sofia of course can't allow the girl's
soul to remain in jeopardy, and passively
agrees to allow the demon to have its way
with her. Forcing the quivering nun to undress
Bimba throws her onto the bed and goes down
on her, then kisses Sofia passionately before
the demon forces itself inside of her, moving
out of the girl to possess the greater prize,
a true bride of Christ.
In the morning Bimba is found
to have returned to her former self, much
to her father's relief. Sofia however still
has a demon to wrestle, and she does so
in the classic way.
Bimba being the girl's name
and 'mala' meaning bad, the title of this
film is essentially "Bad Bimba"
– a standout in the field of bad porn
titles. But perhaps one of the film's alternate
titles puts it better: MALICIOUS WHORE.
(Why any parents would want to name their
daughter 'whore' is never explained.) A
word about the sex here – while the
film can be considered hardcore in that
it features a number of scenes of full penetration,
there are no 'money shots' to be found here.
This places the intentions of the filmmakers
in an ambiguous position; is this a sex
film or a horror film? Which came first,
and which was added to spice up what would
otherwise have been a truly tepid genre
offering? No matter, the combination of
the two succeeds through sheer perversity.
Or fails, depending on your point of view,
but if you happen to appreciate a little
X-rated demon possession now and again,
MALABIMBA just might be for you.
Katell is a little smoker
for sure, with a wide seductive face, rich
sensual lips, and a sweet little body that
any man, and a number of women, would love
to possess. And while there is something
of a fragmentary subplot running around
in the film about the fact that Bimba might
be possessed by the spirit of her dead mother
Lucrezia (hence the séance and start
of all the trouble), there is no explanation
given as to what made Lucrezia a vicious
and vindictive old slut who was desperately
hungry for the souls of innocent girls.
Again, perhaps the title MALICIOUS WHORE
says it best.
This DVD presents MALABIMBA
in widescreen NTSC/Region Free format, in
the original Italian with English subtitles.
No special features to speak of, unless
you consider the film's remarkable perversion.
