The Antichrist certainly looks dynamic and foreboding as lensed by Joe D’Amato, but given how it veers from scene to scene between orgiastic absurdism, freakout ceremonies, and solemn religious speak, its wants for more seamlessness and coherence.

The Antichrist is actually rather restrained as far as Italian horror flicks go, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

The special effects are predictably dated, and the score by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai is unexceptional, but the family home where most of the action takes place has a suitably oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere.

Now von Trier's trying his hand at the horror porn genre without abandoning the genital close-ups, making Antichrist a sort of horror porn squared.