Mario Bianchi's confusing tale of possession and seduction, Satan's Baby Doll/La bimba di Satana.

Starring: Jacqueline Dupré, Mariangela Giordano, Aldo Sambrell, Joe Davers, Giancarlo del Duca, Alfonso Gaita and Marina Hedman.

I'm not entirely sure what message or story Mario Bianchi was attempting to convey through Satan's Baby Doll. For the most part the film is completely nonsensical and an excuse to film as many scenes involving naked women as feasibly possible. I may need to watch this film again to fully understand what happened, as there's a lot of revenge elements thrown in for good measure.

The plot, as wafer thin as it is, appears to deal with a virginal girl named Miria (Dupré) becoming possessed by the spirit of her recently deceased mother, Maria (Hedman). Also thrown into this equivocal mess is Miria's bullying and manipulative father, Antonio (Sambrell), his mute paraplegic brother Ignazio (Davers), Sol (Giordano), Ignazio's carer/nun and last but not least there's Isidro their servant-come-religious fanatic, who spends most of his screen time attempting to exorcise the castle and Maria's corpse.



Not particularly the most enthralling sleazy Euro-horror titles drifting around, but certainly one that is full of atmosphere, style and most importantly...nudity. It quickly becomes evident to any audience that Bianchi is using any excuse to shoot a nude scene. One in particular begins with the paraplegic brother Ignazio, in his wheelchair rolling towards a partially closed door. His wheelchair stops rolling enough so he's able to clearly see through the gap in the door, he then starts eerily watching Sol undress and get into bed, before diddling herself.
Throughout the film I did begin to wonder whether Satan would crop up, sadly he never does which is actually quite misleading as the title holds almost no significance to the plot.

Satan's Baby Doll feels somewhat like a Joe D'Amato production, purely because of the film's absurdity, abhorrent incoherencies and the casts lack of talent. However, one thing I absolutely love about films such as this and any number of D'Amato's flicks is their soundtracks. In this case, Nico Catanese offers a synthy prog-rock score that makes the film wholly more tolerable.