Lucifer's Women (1974)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Author John Wainwright (Larry Hankin) is causing a stir with his latest book, which tells the story of the second coming of Svengali. For the book's launch party he dressed up as the character and puts on a full act. Before long he becomes involved with a Satanic cult thanks in large part to his publisher (Norman Pierce) as well as a pimp (Paul Thomas) who might know a dark secret.
LUCIFER'S WOMEN has the Church of Satan leader Anton LaVey act as a consultant and for many decades that's what it was best known for. A print of the film pretty much went missing and for several decades no one really knew if the film was ever completed or if filming had started and stopped for whatever reasons. The only footage of the movie that was available was from the Al Adamson film DOCTOR DRACULA. As was usually the case, producer Sam Sherman bought the rights to LUCIFER'S WOMEN and Adamson chopped it down, added new scenes and pretty much made a horrible movie.
Is LUCIFER'S WOMEN better than DOCTOR DRACULA? Of course it is! What's so interesting about getting to see this uncut print is that you're finally able to see what director Paul Aratow (CHINA GIRL) was going for without the brain-numbing edits of Adamson. The film basically plays out as a Svengali-Trilby story with a Satanic background thrown in for some shock effects. The film works just fine as a horror picture, although there aren't any overly graphic or gory death scenes. There is a bizarre Satanist orgy where a man wearing a goat head makes a cameo.
Another thing that makes this movie work is the fact that the Svengali-Trilby aspect is handled quite well. The first portion of the film also works well as a sexploitation picture as there's a whole lot of nudity and sex, which of course was cut out of the DOCTOR DRACULA version. These scenes certainly add a lot more entertainment and keep the film rather lively. With that said, there are some major flaws that keep it from being better including the fact that the direction is a bit too laid back for its own good. There are portions of the film that really drag, which is too bad because a faster pace would have made for a much better film.
