Watching: Asmodeus

Overview

A man undergoes a ritual in which he is possessed by three lustful, witchy women of decidedly supernatural pedigree. After his acclaimed Thanatomorphose, genre filmmaker Éric Falardeau is both behind and before the camera in this sensory extravaganza, somewhere between an occult hallucination and a self-portrait of conflicted masculinity, that serves up a heady mix of horror, poetry and unbridled eroticism. A tribute to the magic of Méliès, the early American avant-garde and underground film (think: Kenneth Anger), Asmodeus renders bodies and fluids transcendent through its use of textured black-and-white Super 8 and in-camera special effects. A cinematic memento mori that’s at once carnal and otherworldly.