Satan's Slave

The strange atmosphere of this film seems to lead many to find it boring, but I disagree and in fact find it unsettling and, well, really absorbing. Some of the over the top T and A (I wonder if the rest of the cast was there at the same time as the nudie cuties, these scenes feel like awkward inserts) but at any rate the acting is very good overall. I like the sicko relationship between Francis and the brother. The fact that the mystery has been given away before the final double reverse is actually quite interesting, and puts you in the place of Candice. I wish they had done a final reversal at the end and had Gough get it, but still, I like this sick little film quite a bit.

On her way to a nice, relaxing vacation at her uncle's isolated country mansion, Catherine (Candace Glendenning) is instead tortured and terrorized by her uncle Alexander (Michael Gough) and cousin Stephen (Martin Potter), who -- unbeknownst to her -- are disciples of Satan.

Michael Gough is here pre-"Batman", Michael Craze, who plays John, also appeared in other films by director Norman Warren. The cast in general is pretty good.

The picture a little shaky on the Mill Creek copy, and the sound is somewhat muffled, but there are plenty of hairy nude women getting sacrificed, if that's your thing. And decent kills, like a head slammed in a door.

Apparently, there exists a version with an audio commentary. I know nothing about that, but it would be an improvement. If the sound and picture are cleaned up on there, too, it might actually be a decent film.

On the eve of her 20th birthday, "Catherine Yorke" (Candace Glendenning) is going with her parents to visit her uncle, "Alexander Yorke" (Michael Gough). Unfortunately, just as they arrive within sight of Alexander's house, the car hits a large tree and explodes killing her mother and her father. Her uncle takes her inside the house so that she can recuperate. While she is there she begins to have premonitions that include flashbacks to Satanic rituals which happened hundreds of years before on the very grounds where her uncle lives. Throw in a mentally unstable cousin, "Steven Yorke" (Martin Potter) and a jealous secretary, "Frances" (Barbara Kellerman) and the result is a devilish tale with a couple of surprises along the way. I thought Candace Glendenning put on a superb performance as did Michael Gough as well. Likewise, both Candace Glendenning and Barbara Kellerman were also quite attractive. On the minus side though, there were some parts which were rather dry and other parts didn't seem to transition very smoothly, causing me to suspect that there was some cutting and splicing which tended to give the film a choppy feel. But I liked the Gothic atmosphere which added to the dark ambiance necessary for a film of this type. One warning though, it does have some nudity which some people may find offensive. Be that as it may, this wasn't a bad film but because of the criticisms I mentioned earlier I have to rate it as average.

This is actually quite a bright spot in the late 70's Brit Horror Film Industry breathing its last few gasps. It comes in a few different versions, some bloodier and sexier than others. It actually works in either the softer or hotter versions. The grue-- including a nude woman threatened with scissors, a head crushed in a door, a gory fall of a ledge, a woman slashed with a jagged piece of glass, and a nail driven into an eye-- is lively, but the central story about the traumatized heroine being cared for by her malevolent uncle and his murderous son is strong enough to stand on its own. There are also the expected scenes of black mass and nude female worshipers. The film plays nicely on our expectations and manages to surprise. With all the garish colors and hazy turn of events, we're never quite certain if everyone is off their rocker, the heroine especially possibly going off on some flight of fantasy triggered by the accident and exacerbated by the legend of the ancestress witch. Plus, characters you expect to play a pivotal role die suddenly, it's hard to tell who is trustworthy and who isn't, and Martin Potter as the cousin vacillates so perfectly between being a morose companion to the girl and a frenzied monster to everyone else that I found myself just as lulled in by him. The violent scenes are shocking and unpredictable, while the talkier sequences have a weirdly cold atmosphere to them. For me, this one gets unfairly written off far too often.

This is not as bad as it seems, but it could have been a lot better. The story is intriguing and could have been made something interesting out of, but as it is, the insufficient acting and script get muddled up in a confused cinematography that puts more effort on effects, sex and bloody gore than on making the story and its characters understandable. The film lacks clarity and gets lost in its efforts to express the inexpressible in a manner not to activate censorship. The only real actor here is Michael Gough, who appeared in many films like this, mostly absurd ones, and always made a more comical impression than what his characters was supposed to be, as if he as an evil inhuman freak rather actually should have been a clown.