Just like he did with "Horror Express", wisecracking Telly Savalas manages to completely ruin the atmosphere of yet another horror film. With his flippant, trivial and farcical tone, Kojak takes the Horror out of the Express and turns Lisa's Devil into a Jester!
shareMight the devil be a jester? Just a thought. In the film he's world weary and knowing and speaks aloud as though to the audience. I liked the lollipops and reference to Helen of Troy and so his song If.
Movement ends, intent continues;share
Intent ends, spirit continues
He was great in this. The Devil should have a sense of humour (and does according to many folklores).
"The game's afoot!"
This is the first time I'm seeing "Lisa and the Devil", I had seen "House of Exorcism" when it first came out in 1973 and at the time did think it was a rip off of "The Exorcist". I was surprised to see no Mel Ferrer in this one. Both can stand alone.
shareyou're nuts..he made the movie!
shareI thought he was superb in both films. This film would have been too flat and lifeless without him.
shareHe was wholly smug, a satanic trait.
As SASKIA47 pointed out, Savalas' character was needed to balance-out the flat, surreal tone and the (fitting) lifelessness of the other characters.
I liked him. He always played pretty much himself in movies, but he did it well. one of those actors.
shareThat's the way it was/is with a lot of actors. Producers back in the day who hired, say, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Charles Bronson or Shatner knew who they were getting and got it since they essentially always played themselves with slight nuances based upon the corresponding character. Some actors, by contrast, can lose themselves in a role to the point of being almost unrecognizable, like Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis.
shareTrue. Both have their place, too. Clint Eastwood might always be very Clint Eastwood like, but that doesn't bother me.
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