Angeli Bianchi… Angeli Neri comes from director Luigi Scattini, who started his career as a journalist before directing movies like Primitive Love with Jayne Mansfield and War Italian Style with Buster Keaton.
One of the best things about this mondo film — a genre that is pretty much reality TV before that was a thing or the kind of shows that most folks love on cable today — is the collaboration between composer Piero Umiliani and director Luigi Scattini.
As the film was shot mostly in Brazil — where else would you go to show off the world of black magic, devil-worshipping and pagan rituals — the soundtrack was partly record there with the help of local musicians and instruments before being finished in Rome with artists like Alessandro Alessandroni and his octet vocal group Cantori Moderni (who composed the music for The Opening of Misty Beethoven and The Devil’s Nightmare), Nora Orlandi (who wrote music for The Sweet Body of Deborah and The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) and Edda Dell’Orso, who provided wordless vocals to the scores of Ennio Morricone.
The score is a psychedelic treat, combining modern and ambient tones of 1969 with bossa nova and samba. That’s kind of perfect for this X rated exploration of the occult circa 1969.
This film is the tamer side of Witchcraft ’70, just with non-violent nudity in the place of the madness that American audiences demanded. It also has a billion times better title, because it makes you wonder — exactly what am I getting into? All occult movies should feel that way for their audiences.
This movie also has so many amazing poster designs that I couldn’t decide which to use for the article. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are several of them.
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