The perverse Dimitri, returning from a "satanic" ceremony, gets into a car accident and plunges into the depths of a cliff...
At the precise moment of the accident, Dimitri witnesses a "diabolical" intervention: Satan himself, with his enormous powers, has blocked the flow of time and proposes, to the dying man, a mocking pact.
For ten years Dimitri will live in two dimensions, the carnal and material one, with his body suspended in limbo, hovering between life and death; and that of the "astral" double, free to appear and disappear in any place and at any time, whose task is to make Satan possess the officiant of the satanic rite mentioned at the beginning of the film. All this in order to be able to give, to the Devil himself, a worthy offspring on this Earth....
Stunning rip-off of the Exorcist, this Who Are You?, by Ovid G. Assonitis (Stridulum, Tentacles)...
A film imbued with atmosphere and meaning that often escapes a superficial viewing of the film...
The sequence plan of the elevator scene is emblematic, evocative, and particularly effective: in subjective shots we see Dimitri approaching the building, and as we descend floor by floor, the man always appears in the same spot, even though he is walking. The faculty of stopping time and meeting the elevator guest on the very ground floor is a moment of great narrative and stylistic insight, realized with great technical skill.
Particularly inspired was the cast, with a resounding Gabriele Lavia in perfect part...
And unforgettable Richard Johnson, the loser who, from the very beginning, is understood to be eternally cursed.
Centered and very accurate dialogues, calibrated and perfect acting and a plot with subplot and meta-meaning make Who Are You? one of the very rare examples of great Italian horror cinema.
Although the film was born in the vein of the "exorcist" genre, it retains a dimension all its own, original and innovative, over and over again bordering on the gimmicky.
What remains imprinted, at the end of the film, more than the possession, more than the violent exorcism, more than the obscene excrescences spewed by the invader, is the figure of Dimitri: a man more melancholy, than evil; more unfortunate, than fanatical. A pawn in the Devil's chessboard, who while believing herself to be endowed with "free will" and conscience, is part of a larger and indecipherable "diabolical" design...
The unkempt beard, the duster fanned by gusts of wind, the (emblematic) reflections in the glass and mirrors of that very sad and dejected face, make Who Are You? an unsurpassed example of "decadent" cinema and horror...
A film that, starting out as a simple imitation, exceeds (perhaps even unwittingly) every rosiest expectation in terms of both content and style...
Special mention for the excellent soundtrack, in perfect symbiosis with the hieratic atmosphere of the work...
Mystery over the presence of an illuminated sign with the words Who are you? which, according to some, appears at some point in the film in the home video version Avo film...
Masterpiece.
Review by Undying1
