The Antichrist (), also released as The Tempter, is a 1974 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Alberto De Martino and starring Carla Gravina, Mel Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, Umberto Orsini, Alida Valli, Remo Girone, Anita Strindberg, and George Coulouris. The musical score was composed by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai. It is widely regarded as a cash-in on The Exorcist, a similarly-themed and widely-successful American film released the previous year. It is considered a cult film. Plot Ippolita, the adult daughter of wealthy Rome aristocrat Massimo Oderisi, has been paraplegic since a car accident at age 12 that also killed her mother. Doctors have diagnosed the paralysis as psychosomatic, stemming from Ippolita's mental trauma rather than a physical injury. Having been reliant on her father since the accident, Ippolita has developed severe attachment issues, aggravated when she learns that Massimo has begun a relationship with a woman named Greta. Ippolita visits her uncle Ascanio, a Vatican cardinal, for help. He tells her there's little he can do, but recommends a secular parapsychologist named Marcello Sinibaldi. Dr. Sinibaldi determines that Ippolita has strong extrasensory perception and believes that her disorder is caused by unconscious memories of past lives. Using hypnosis, Sinibaldi causes her to relive the suppressed memories of her namesake ancestor, a witch who was tried by the Inquisition and burned at the stake. The memory of her past life causes Ippolita to be possessed by the spirit of her ancestor, who entered a covenant with Satan before her death. Ippolita regains the ability to walk, but the possession causes her to dissociate, during which time she seduces and murders a tourist, and has incestuous sex with her brother. Eventually, Ippolita is fully possessed during a celebratory dinner with her family. She displays incredible telekinetic powers, and is only subdued by the sound of church bells. Dr. Sinibaldi dismisses the notion of demonic possession, believing the phenomena is entirely scientific, but Massimo maintains there's no other explanation. He goes to his brother for help, but Ascanio insists there's nothing he can do without permission from higher-ups in the Church. The family maid, Irene, hires a local mystic to attempt an exorcism, but the possessed Ippolita exposes him as a con artist and expels him from her room. Ascanio’s own exorcism likewise fails, as the demon rebukes the Cardinal for turning Ippolita away when she asked for help It reveals that