In the annals of weird movies, the 1979 Italian epic The Visitor is one of the most memorable. Previously released in truncated form, the newest edition from Drafthouse Films boasts the complete, full length 109 minute version with improved picture quality (or at least as good as we’ll ever see). So, is the complete cut an underappreciated masterpiece? Well, in truth far from it. It’s still a terrible and nonsensical flick, but a fun one nonetheless.
Director Guilio Paradisi worked as an assistant director for Federico Fellini on the 1963 classic 8 1/2. The cheesy, garbled script was clearly an attempt to capitalize on the success of The Exorcist, The Omen and Close Encounters of the Third Kind with a similarly fashioned rip off. Yet the filmmaker attacks the material with every ounce of art film pretentiousness that he can muster, resulting in bizarrely hilarious non sequiturs, startlingly inappropriate music cues and too many unexplainable moments to count.
The plot, as close as can be assembled, involves an evil space being that has traveled across the universe. A character that can be best described as a sort of Space Jesus (Jess Franco) explains that while the evil presence was destroyed, it wasn’t before he passed his genes on with a human woman. Now, with every generation comes a child with psychic powers that could destroy the world. In this case, it’s 8 year old Katy Collins (Paige Connor). She’s a little girl with a pet hawk and a mean streak a mile wide.
Space Jesus isn’t about to do anything about it, but he does inform us that help is on the way. Yes, the only hope for the universe is Jerzy Colsowicz (John Huston), an inter-galactic hunter with a Polish passport who is out to capture the girl and clean her skull of wicked malevolence. When he’s not pursuing the child, he spends a much of his time on rooftops hanging out with bald beings clad in tracksuit jackets. There are also subplots featuring Katy’s odd maid (Shelley Winters), a gruff detective (Glenn Ford) and a professional basketball team owner (Lance Henriksen). Yeah, so in general, there’s a lot of very strange stuff going down.
In all honestly, there are some interesting shots, including several otherworldly, interpretive moments that involve clouds forming over a desert-like landscape. But most of the movie is comprised of a series of inexplicably jaw-dropping moments. These include a birthday party that ends in gunfire, several killer bird attacks, and an ice rink mishap that sends skaters through plate glass windows. Instead of carrying an air of concern or determination, Huston looks strangely bemused the entire time he hunts down the little girl. And Winter’s performance includes some very unusual and unsuitable ticks and mannerisms that are best forgotten. Henriksen and Ford lend some legitimacy to the proceedings, but even they can’t overcome the absolutely insane story.
Again, this is the type of movie that is so wrongheaded and tonally bizarre that one can’t help but be impressed on some level. It isn’t unintentionally hilarious for the entirety of its nearly two hour running time, but cheesy movie fans will find themselves laughing for a good portion of the proceedings.
Extra features include the trailer and interviews with the screenwriter who translated the Italian script into English, as well as actor Lance Henriksen. Both tell a similar story about the peculiar end product. There were many communication problems between the Italian director and English speaking cast. None of the stars understood what was happening in the film or even why it was happening as shooting took place. At least they got a free trip to Rome for their troubles and audiences got one of the wonkiest films they’re ever likely to see.
So, if The Visitor sounds appealing to you, it likely won’t disappoint. Check out the Blu-ray from Drafthouse Films.