Lorna the Exorcist/Review

If the other films on this list are to be considered the bastard children of THE EXORCIST then LORNA is more like a stepdaughter. Only its misleading title and some devilish dealings bare any resemblance to its predecessor.

The film opens with an prolonged (roughly nine minutes) yet intoxicating lesbian seduction scene captured in surrealistic imagery and without a line of dialogue. Its between the innocent, doe-eyed Linda (Franco's muse, Lina Romay, who appears in most of his endless list of directorial credits) and Lorna (Pamela Stanford), an unusual older woman. (Stanford deserves applause for being able to exude a genuine sexiness past the silly makeup and attire she is forced to don throughout the film). The twist to this dream sequence is that its the younger woman is the seductress and the older one is the submissive. However, it twists right back again when its revealed in the wakened state that Lorna is sending these erotic dreams to Linda.

The story then kicks in with Lorna's rich parents Patrick (Guy Delorme) and Marianne (Jacqueline Laurent) taking Lorna on a coastal vacation for her upcoming 18th birthday. The trip is sullied by the fact that several mysterious phone calls have Marianne believing Patrick is having an affair. In actuality its Lorna, the ambiguously mysterious woman who could be anything from a witch to the Devil incarnate. (Just for the record Patrick did indeed have a one-night fling with her nearly two decades before). She wants him to keep his end of a pact made with her -- Wealth for his firstborn on its 18th birthday; in other words, Lorna.

A stray subplot has one of Lorna's former lovers (Catherine Lafferière), crazed with desire, running the streets naked in search of her. She is institutionalized and diagnosed by a psychologist, who is none other than the director in a cameo appearance. Strangely enough (although maybe not so much since Franco seems to be running the facility) is that the woman is wrapped in a strait-jacket while remaining entirely bottomless.

Despite the palpable eroticism of LORNA and sex scenes that teeter on being hardcore the most memorable moment comes during an instant of coitus-interruptus between married couple Marianne and Patrick. A jilted Lorna sends forth a curse that sends the wife into painful anguish as crabs crawl out of her . . . Well, you get the idea.

Reviewed by Angel Orona