Some of AIP's biggest successes of the early 70s came in the blaxploitation field, including this black rip off of The Exorcist - such a rip off indeed that a court ruled against AIP for copyright infringement. Which does seem a bit harsh considering the girl here (Abby) is not a kid but a grown married woman who is sexually active - meaning that when she gets possessed she can go around seducing a whole bunch of men and masturbate in the shower.
However there are several other undeniable similarities - an opening sequence in the third world where a priest (William Marshall, who has terrific gravitas and speaking voice) is at a digging where evil is unleashed, Abby has a concerned mother, the priest doesn't really appear until the last act when he does the exorcism, a sequence where a barrage of tests are performed on Abby, Abby speaking in the voice of the devil. It's also not terribly feminist with a climax involving two men holding down Abby so another man can exorcise her.
Still its quite competently made - a decent story, with Carol Speed very good in the title role and good support actors (including Juanita Moore and Terry Carter of the original Battlestar Galactica as Abby's husband), some interesting stuff about African religions (if they'd followed this up more the lawsuit mightn't have been successful). There's decent campy exploitation material with Abby getting horny and wrecking havoc (she reminded me of a vampire in these scenes). Austin Stoker is wasted in a support role.
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