Die Töchter Satans - Daughters of Satan

Low budget shot-in-the-Phillipines quickie has Tom Selleck being pursued by his suddenly homocidal wife and two other women. Seems that Tom is the descendant of a Spanish Inquisition witch hunter who burned a certain trio of accused women to death and was cursed by the dying women that their spirits would kill all of his descendants. The spirits have possessed the wife and two other women(an American jet-setter and and RN from Manila)to do the deed. Enjoyable pap with future MAGNUM PI star, directed by Hollingsworth Morse, who usually directed TV shows like FAMILY AFFAIR and H.R. PUFNSTUF!It's a long, long way from Living Island!

"Daughters of Satan" is a cheesy but fun piece of low-budget occult Horror starring 27-year-old Tom Selleck in his first leading role. Directed by Hollingsworth Morse (nice name, buddy), "Daughters of Satan" was obviously shot on a very low budget, and while the plot is cheesy and messy and often lacks logic, the film is undeniably entertaining. Selleck plays the American arts expert James Robinson, who has recently moved to the Phillipines with his beautiful wife Christina (Barra Grant). In an obscure art gallery, he stumbles across a painting which shows a witch-burning in 1592 Spain. And one of the burned witches happens to be the spitting image of his wife! Fascinated with the coincidence, he buys the painting and brings it home; henceforth, mysterious things begin to happen... As mentioned above, logic isn't the strongest point of the film (why would anyone keep the painting when it's clear that it's causing trouble), and the plot is often messy. Nonetheless, this is an enjoyable film that might appeal to many of my fellow fans of low-budget Horror and Exploitation. There are some really cool scenes, in particular the sleazy opening sequence, and one fantastic creepy scene involving a painting, which I don't want to give away. Interestingly, Selleck's role here has some resemblance to the role of Magnum P.I., for which he would later get famous. Barra Grant, who plays his wife, has a very presentable rack, and the film includes a variety of eccentric characters. You haven't missed anything if you decide to skip "Daughters of Satan". However, it is definitely entertaining, and a film that most of my fellow fans of B-Movies and low-budget Horror in particular might enjoy.

James Robertson (Tom Selleck) buys a painting depicting witches being burned at the stake, one of whom bears an uncanny resemblance to his wife (Barra Grant).

This is Tom Selleck before "Magnum PI", but still with the same great mustache... much, much better than the film "Runaway". Some of the stunts are pretty cool (like flipping over a horse). I would like to believe Selleck did them himself, but I am not so gullible.

The film opens with a pretty intense scene, possibly a sacrifice, and soon after we are treated to a story of a satanic knife... definitely a solid start to a movie.

Director Hollingsworth Morse worked almost exclusively in television, and it shows, though not in a bad way. The quality is television quality, but the story really holds strong for the full length.

The film takes place in the Philippines... and it makes me wonder: was this a decision because of the plot (which does revolve around Spanish conquistadors) or because of budget? The Philippines were a notorious hotspot for low budget films... curious.

Was Tom Selleck really in this film? Yes. He wasn't a star yet - "Magnum P.I." was still a few years away. The rest of the cast isn't much to talk about, although there is a scene where a blonde women is stripped topless, her arms strung up high, and she is whipped as part of a cult event. Other than that, not much else to talk about. I have to give credit to the actress who played that role - she looked uncomfortable and I wonder how much of it was acting.

After buying a strange painting at a sale, a man begins to suspect something sinister is occurring after noticing his wife's resemblance to a figure in the painting and comes to realize that a coven of witches are involved and tries to stop them before he becomes a victim of their wrath.

This was an admittedly fun witchcraft movie, though it does has a few minor areas of improvement to really work itself out of it's overall hum-drum feel. That's the main fault of the pacing in this one feeling just so dreary that nothing really exciting happens, with everyone tending to talk about the proceedings since the film plays it off as a mystery about painting and the reincarnation which can be fun but overall it tends to just drag the pace out. That said, the mystery angle here is actually inviting due to being a rather creepy mystery surrounding the painting, the few action scenes are rather well-done and it's certainly got enough horror elements to keep it enjoyable. Plus, any film that opens with topless female whipping definitely has it's head in the right direction. Overall, not bad but has some problems.

Rated R: Violence, Language and Nudity.