cult film freak: LARA WENDEL GETTING DEMON POSSESSED IN 'RING OF DARKNESS'

Written by James M. Tate / 8/19/2026 / No comments / anne heywood , horror , irene papas , italian , john phillip law , lara wendel , marisa mell , seventies , stelvio cipriani , valentina cortese

LARA WENDEL GETTING DEMON POSSESSED IN 'RING OF DARKNESS'

8/19/2026 | No comment

Lara Wendel in RING OF DARKNESS Year: 1979 Rating: ***

The bizarre naked-people-dancing intro to the Italian low-budget EXORCIST clone RING OF DARKNESS has techno-wizard Stelvio Cipriani making Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells (or John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN theme) sounding like music blasting from a discotheque nightclub...

Leading to Satan-worshiping mom Anne Heywood already in the frustrated process of dealing with her very evil child... as if RING OF DARKNESS (aka SATAN'S WIFE) were more of its own sequel than a classic horror film money-grab homage... perfectly suited for controversial child starlet Lara Wendel in that she actually resembles Linda Blair...

Lara Wendel in RING OF DARKNESS

But more from EXORCIST 2 as Wendel's her usual young-teen 14-year-old semi-naked promiscuous that made PLAYING WITH LOVE and LITTLE GIRL IN BLUE VELVET practically banned worldwide... only here she's has the hots for The Devil himself... actually appearing in the form of a handsome, feathered-haired 20-something...

Who goes up against American-import John Phillip Law as the end-of-the-second-act exorcism priest, doing head-to-head good vs evil battle while Wendel lays in the middle of a creatively designed/giallo-colorful Satanic-ritual background, making DARKNESS more like one of those 1970's Coven thrillers than something where the central young girl's existence is in peril...

Lara Wendel in RING OF DARKNESS

She's so downright evil there's no suspense, really, other than how dirtier she can get: even carried into the classroom (ala OMEN 2), with the perfect narrowed-eyed scowl that would sustain in following year's exploitation DESIDERIA. (that actually began in 1972 as another creepy/evil little girl in THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK)...

A sublime middle-ground for the iconic European scream-queen, spending the rest of her career as either vulnerable victims or intense final girls, making RING OF DARKNESS (providing composer Stelvio more tense-filled bass-lines than his signature synth) her edgily antagonistic horror-genre peak.

Lara Wendel in RING OF DARKNESS

John Phillip Law in RING OF DARKNESS

Lara Wendel in RING OF DARKNESS

Marisa Mell in RING OF DARKNESS

Lara Wendel in RING OF DARKNESS

Anne Heywood in RING OF DARKNESS

Lara Wendel in RING OF DARKNESS

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Tags : anne heywood , horror , irene papas , italian , john phillip law , lara wendel , marisa mell , seventies , stelvio cipriani , valentina cortese

James M. Tate

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