Exploitation Nation

Satan’s Slave (1976) **1/2
D. Norman J. Warren
BCI/NAVARRO
in the UK ANCHOR BAY
2.35-1

This little slice of British deviltry has some good things going for it such as a solid performance from Hammer stalward Michael Gough, lots or splashy gore and plenty of babes taking off their clothes for no good reason at all. Then why is it so damn stuffy?

The story follows a young gal named Cathrine who goes to visit her Uncle and Cousin whom she has never met before with her parents for a week. She leaves behind a layabout boyfriend in the big city. But as soon as her and her parents arrive at the giant estate dad has some sort of supernatural fit and wrecks the car into a tree. Cathrine gets out to go get help and the care mysteriously explodes, killing Mom and Dad. She is taken in by her Uncle Alexander (Michael Gough), her Cousin Martin, and his squeeze Theresa. Seems Alexander is a doctor so he immediately starts doping her up to take care of the “shock” she is under. What she doesn’t know is that Martin is a murderous lunatic who killed some babe in the opening reel of the movie and there seems to be some sort of Satanic shenanigans going on as well. Naturally Cathrine and Martin start to fall in love (its natural! All cousins do it!) and we find out that her arrival there is not nearly the coincidence it seems to be. Cathrine also starts having premonitions about people dying and visions of naked babes being whipped and burned at the stake. Obviously it isn’t going to end well.

There’s a suicide scene that has a mashed head and broken bones that is especially nasty, as well as a nail file in an eyeball that should make you squirm. The Satanic rituals are fairly hokey but seem to be in the film more to get girls naked more than anything else. What hurts Satan’s Slave more than anything is the whole Britishness of it. The whole sort of “Yes Niles, I will have another wine and crumpet” feel to the proccedings work against the sleazier elements causing the reletively short running time to feel far longer. Candice Glendenning who plays Cathrine suffers the worst as her character is far to reserved for both the situation and for a 19 year old girl. At times this feels a little too Masterpiece Theater when it should be getting down to business.

The print that was released as part of BCI’s Exploitation Cinema double bill with Norman J. Warren’s Terror is heavily cut. The print on that disc is in fact a TV print with the violence and nudity trimmed out. Oddly enough it is properly letterboxed, which is weird. The way to go to see this as close to uncut as possible is the PAL Region 2 UK Anchor Bay disc available in the Norman J. Warren box set. The disc there is complete save one single shot of a girl getting her panties ripped off. It is also fully letterboxed. I’m not sure if that box set is still in print or not though.

Come back Tomorrow to read what I watched next!
2008-10-30
00:12:14
Andy Copp