Toby Dammit is a 1968 Italian/French horror film directed by Federico Fellini and based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Never Bet the Devil Your Head". The film is part of the anthology film Spirits of the Dead, which also includes adaptations of Poe's "Metzengerstein" and "William Wilson" by Roger Vadim and Louis Malle respectively.
The film follows Toby Dammit (played by Terence Stamp), an alcoholic English actor who is invited to Rome to star in a film. Despite winning an award for his performance, Dammit becomes disillusioned with the shallow nature of the film industry and retreats into a world of decadence and excess.
As he spirals out of control, Dammit is haunted by a mysterious little girl who seems to have a supernatural connection to him. Her appearance leads him on a surreal and terrifying journey through the streets of Rome, culminating in a climactic encounter with the devil himself.
Fellini's interpretation of Poe's tale is characteristically flamboyant and surreal, with striking visual imagery and a haunting score by Nino Rota. The film is notable for Stamp's intense performance as the jaded and tormented Toby Dammit, and for its depiction of Rome as a city of hedonistic excess and moral decay.
Despite mixed critical reception upon its initial release, Toby Dammit has since become a cult classic and is widely regarded as one of Fellini's most underrated works.