LORNA THE EXORCIST (1974)

Haunted by erotic visions, a young woman (Lina Romay) comes to discover that her sexual possession is the result of a bargain struck nineteen years earlier between her playboy father (Guy Delorme) and an ethereal, pansexual seductress (Pamela Stafford). In a parallel narrative, a visionary doctor (Jess Franco) tries to unravel the particular form of psychopathia sexualis that torments a beautiful patient (Catherine Lafferière). In the 1970s, Franco’s films reached a level of voyeuristic extremes, especially when collaborating with Romay, his soulmate and creative muse. Along with Shining Sex and Female Vampire, Lorna…the Exorcist (Les possédées du diable) demonstrates the outer limits the erotic horror film: hallucinatory films with languorous love scenes, drenched with lyrical music, and punctuated with moments of stark horror.