FAQ

Children are being abducted and their parents are being murdered in Hillsboro, a small town in New Mexico...26 people in the past three days...and no one has been able to get out of or into the town. Neither Sheriff Pete (L.Q. Jones), Doc Duncan (Strother Martin), nor Father Jack (Charles Robinson), the local priest, can figure out what's going on. Somehow, passersby Ben (Charles Bateman) and Nicky (Ahna Capri) are able to get in the town and attempt to help, but their eight-year old daughter K.T. (Geri Reischl) also disappears. Meanwhile, a group of old people are convening in a deserted building on the outskirts of the town.

The movie was written, starred, and produced by American film actor/director L.Q. Jones along with screenwriter William Welch and based on a short story by Sean MacGregor. Jones published a book adaptation, titled The Brotherhood of Satan (1980).

Phyllis (Judith McConnell) was replacement for Dame Alice (Helene Winston), the Satanist who let a relative get baptized.

Ben, Nicky, and K.T. attempt to get out of Hillsboro and go for help, but their car gets a flat tire just outside of the town. When Ben and Nicky look in the back seat, they find that K.T. has disappeared. She has, in fact, joined the 11 other missing children, who are being held by a coven of elderly Satanists led by Doc Duncan at the deserted Barry place. Father Jack, thanks to the classes he's taken in exorcism, has figured out that the events plaguing Hillsboro must be due to witchcraft and that they will need one more child to make a full count of 13. There being four more children left in Hillsboro, they take up watch outside each child's house. Meanwhile, little Joey sneaks away while his father is asleep on the couch. When Mike (Robert Ward) wakes up and notices that Joey is missing, he goes looking for him, only to be beheaded by a knight on horseback, a toy that has mysteriously come to life. Father Jack witnesses the beheading and is rendered senseless. Meanwhile, the coven members are engaged in a ritual ceremony, each one professing devotion to Satan, while Doc Duncan prays that Satan will allow them to once again bridge the gap between life and death, same as they have been doing for centuries. Ritual swords are passed around, and the elderly witches begin killing themselves. Sheriff Jack, Deputy Tobey (Alvy Moore), Ben, and Nicky go in search of the children. Their search takes them to the old Barry place, and they decide to search the premises from bottom to top. In the final scene, they reach the top floor and find all 13 of the missing children, alive and well.