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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.

It's absolutely horrible. Stupid story. Horrendous acting. Bad direction Porn background music (in fat, there's a few porn stars in it.

There is absolutely NOTHING to recommend about this film.

"Lucifer's Women" follows an illusionist who believes himself to be an incarnation of Svengali (the character from the novel Trilby). Obsessed with the occult, he begins a search for a female human sacrifice.

This film was more or less lost to time, and is an example of a feature whose production and release history is probably more interesting than the film itself. Shot by porno director Paul Aratow and released in 1974, the film was subsequently acquired by Al Adamson, who chopped it up, filmed new scenes with new actors (including John Carradine!), and made a hodgepodge new feature called "Doctor Dracula" (which I have not seen, but which is, by most accounts, utterly incoherent).

That's not to say that "Lucifer's Women" is not interesting, though; while not high art, it is a fascinating look at early-1970s counterculture, particularly occult subculture. There is a lot of dark arts and sex magic mumbo jumbo here (Anton LaVey, none other than the leader of the church of Satan himself was purportedly a consultant on the film) that is sometimes perturbing, and the ritual sequences are mildly effective. It's an affair that has "sleaze" written all over it, and in fact has a lot in common (at least visually) with "Mardi Gras Massacre," another occult-themed Z-grade horror flick from the same period.

A lot of the supernatural mechanics of the plot are vague and seem sloppily put together, but the film is just weird enough to maintain interest. The whole thing culminates in an orgiastic ritual that is bonkers, and the last shot has a "Scooby Doo" quality that doesn't quite work. All that being said, "Lucifer's Women" is fascinating simply as a time capsule of 1970s San Francisco, as well as the countercultural fascination with Satanism that spurred a whole subgenre of horror films during this time that were, for the most part, badly-made. "Lucifer's Women" is certainly of this ilk, but it's an oddity that is worth watching as something of a relic. 6/10.