Over the years a number of films have been subjected to various cuts and re-edits that alter the filmmakers’ original vision for both good and bad. This has included Apocalypse Now with its ‘Redux (opens in a new tab)‘ cut in 2001, the multiple versions (opens in a new tab) of Blade Runner that culminated with 2003’s ‘Final Cut’ and the strange case of Superman II (opens in a new tab). None of these revisions were quite as ill-judged as the fate that befell Italian director Mario Bava (opens in a new tab)‘s 1974 horror Lisa and the Devil (opens in a new tab) when it flopped at the European box-office.

An entertaining if somewhat bizarre horror set in Spain, the original film focused on Lisa (Elke Sommer (opens in a new tab)) a tourist in Toledo who becomes separated from her group and winds up at a crumbling old mansion on the edge of town. There she meets the eccentric inhabitants and becomes embroiled in a series of strange and often murderous situations involving the family and the house’s mysterious butler (Telly Savalas (opens in a new tab) in one of his more quirky roles).

When the film failed to perform in Italy and the few other European countries in which it was released, the producer Alfredo Leone (opens in a new tab) convinced Bava to retool the film as an Exorcist clone to capitalise on the success of the then recently released American classic. New scenes were shot featuring a demonically possessed Elke Sommer and a priest played by Robert Alda (opens in a new tab), and the original film was heavily edited so these new flashback scenes could be incorporated.

Leone and Bava clashed heavily over the style of the new scenes and the latter eventually walked away from the project (the director was credited as the fictional Mickey Lion, the surname being English for Leone), which was released in the UK and US as The House of Exorcism (opens in a new tab) to instant critical derision (many reviewers calling it an Exorcist rip-off) and poor commercial performance. All in all the project was a total waste of time for all concerned. Recently the UK video label released Lisa and the Devil on blu-ray (opens in a new tab) in its original version and included the House of Exorcism on the same disc.

As of 2026, it is believed this poster is the work of the late, great Vic Fair who was one the most important characters ever to work in British film marketing. He was responsible for several iconic posters, including The Man Who Fell To Earth, posters for Hammer horrors like Vampire Circus, and the withdrawn advance one sheet for A View to a Kill. I also interviewed Vic for this site. 

I previously thought it may have been the work of British artist Mike Vaughan but Sim Branaghan, author of British Film Posters: An Illustrated History, believes it’s likely to be Vic’s work, or possibly that of his contemporary and colleague Eddie Paul. The noted poster dealer Mike Bloomfield is currently (as of January 2026) selling a print of the concept artwork for the poster which mirrors this design and came from the archive of Vic Fair. This further lends credence to Sim and Mike’s belief that the final design is by Fair.