The Visitor (1979 film)
The Visitor | |
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Italian | Stridulum |
Directed by | Giulio Paradisi (as Michael J. Paradise) |
Screenplay by |
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Story by |
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Produced by | Ovidio G. Assonitis |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Ennio Guarnieri |
Edited by | Roberto Curi |
Music by | Franco Micalizzi |
Production companies |
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Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 99 minutes[2] |
Countries |
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Language | English |
Budget | $800,000 |
The Visitor (
Plot
In an enigmatic, alien landscape, Jerzy Colsowicz experiences a vision of a powerful and destructive storm brought about by a young human girl. His colleague, an enigmatic
During a professional basketball game at
Katy is only partially aware of her powers, and she experiments with them throughout the film, most notably helping Raymond's basketball team to victory. Colsowicz, who possesses powers similar to Katy, is sent to Earth by the Christ-like figure with several of his disciples, where at first they survey her from a distance. He's also acquainted with Barbara's new maid, Jane Phillips, who instantly sees the potential evil inherent in Katy, as she had once had a child with the same abilities. Katy begins using her powers to facilitate the Satanists' goals, causing a series of fatal accidents to happen to their enemies. Barbara is inadvertently paralyzed by a gunshot wound, and becomes relegated to a wheelchair. A police detective, Jake Durham, investigating the deaths is killed in a car accident facilitated by the Satanists.
Raymond fails to seduce Barbara, and the Satanists decide to proceed with other, more violent methods. Barbara does get pregnant after the intervention, but is still afraid of having another child and has her ex, Katy's biological father, Dr. Sam Collins, abort the baby. When she returns home, she is attacked for her actions by Raymond and Katy, who attempt to execute her by tying a wire around her neck and sending her down the stairs in her chair lift. Before they can succeed, Colsowicz intervenes and summons an army of birds that thwart Katy and kill Raymond. The next day, the other Satanists are found dead at their round table, presumably by Colsowicz's intervention.
Colsowicz returns to the Christ-like figure and his apostles. He reveals that he has brought Katy with him. She is now bald and cleansed of her malice, and the film ends with her smiling and embracing Colsowicz, who insists that children are not to be harmed.
Cast
- Mel Ferrer as Dr. Walker
- Glenn Ford as Det. Jake Durham
- Lance Henriksen as Raymond Armstead
- John Huston as Jerzy Colsowicz
- Joanne Nail as Barbara Collins
- Sam Peckinpah as Dr. Sam Collins
- Shelley Winters as Jane Phillips
- Paige Conner as Katy Collins
Atlanta radio personality
Release
Reissue
The Visitor was released on DVD by independent distributor Code Red in November 2010. It was the first time the film had been presented in its uncut form in the United States.
In 2013, independent distributor Drafthouse Films acquired the film.[6] Drafthouse Films announced they would re-release the film in remastered form on October 31, 2013 with a VOD/digital and home entertainment release in January 2014.[7]
The film's soundtrack was released in 1978 in Italy and 1979 worldwide.
Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Visitor holds an approval rating of 78%, based on 18 reviews, and an average rating of 6.4/10.[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews".[9]
Film.com's David Ehrlich referred to the film as "a remake of The Bad Seed as filtered through the acid-tinged mind of
Miscellany
The film was released in Italy under the title Stridulum and in Spain as El visitante del más allá.[14][15]
On 25 October 2019, film-mocking website RiffTrax released a downloadable digital version of The Visitor with a comedic commentary of the film.[16] They said, "The Visitor's got ambitious cinematography, big name actors, and a score that makes Goblin sound like they barfed on their Casio. But when you add them all together, the result is a baffling mess, as incoherent as it is unintentionally funny."[17]
References
- ISBN 978-1-934110-64-5.
- ^ "The Visitor (X)". British Board of Film Classification. 12 December 1974. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ^ "The Visitor". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
- ^ "Eventful: See Calendar of Events & Shows | Audacy".
- ^ "1979's Astounding Sci-Fi Horror Mess the Visitor is in Theaters at Last". 5 November 2013.
- ^ Husney, Evan (19 June 2013). "Drafthouse Films Rediscovers The Sci-Fi/Horror Epic That 1979 Couldn't Handle". Drafthouse Films. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- ^ Collis, Clark (9 October 2013). "Drafthouse Films to rerelease whacked-out '70s horror film 'The Visitor' this Halloween -- EXCLUSIVE POSTER". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
- ^ "The Visitor (1979)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ^ "Critics Reviews for The Visiter (1980)". Metacritic. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ^ Ehrlich, David (2013). "Review: The Visitor", Film.com.
- ^ Scherstuhl, Alan (2013). "1979's Astounding Sci-Fi Horror Mess The Visitor Is in Theaters at Last Archived 9 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine", The Village Voice.
- ^ Trunick, Alan (2013). "The Visitor", Under the Radar
- ^ Axmaker, Sean (2013). "Videophiled Classic: ‘The Visitor’ Brings Satanic Incoherence with a Side of Bizarre", The Parallax View.
- ISBN 978-970-32-3605-3.
- ISBN 978-88-8440-350-6.
- ^ RiffTrax [@rifftrax] (25 October 2019). "It's "Abraxas" meets "The Omen" with John Huston replacing Jesse Ventura – oh and Sam Peckinpah was gracious enough to show up" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "The Visitor". RiffTrax. 24 October 2019.