Una donna che viaggiava con i suoi genitori a casa di suo zio si è schiantata vicino. I suoi genitori muoiono ma lei sopravvive. Resta con suo zio, ma diventa chiaro che lui e suo figlio han... Leggi tuttoUna donna che viaggiava con i suoi genitori a casa di suo zio si è schiantata vicino. I suoi genitori muoiono ma lei sopravvive. Resta con suo zio, ma diventa chiaro che lui e suo figlio hanno in mente qualcosa di sinistro per lei.Una donna che viaggiava con i suoi genitori a casa di suo zio si è schiantata vicino. I suoi genitori muoiono ma lei sopravvive. Resta con suo zio, ma diventa chiaro che lui e suo figlio hanno in mente qualcosa di sinistro per lei.
- Regia
- Sceneggiatura
- Star
- Janice
- (as Gloria Walker)
- Camilla Yorke
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- Puritan with Whip
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- Mad Monk 2
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- Mad Monk 1
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- Woman Disemboweled by Stephen
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- Tortured Girl
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- Alexander's Wife in Prologue
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Recensioni in evidenza
This movie is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the worst of its type. It has a reasonably interesting story, attractive characters, at least one sleazy psycho guy, and plenty of nakedness and blood. Since its about an evil Satanic cult, there's also a few cool ritual scenes with daggers and baphomets and robes, along with an attractive young blonde being offered up to the dark lord. What more can a viewer ask for, right?
One of the coolest parts of this movie is the opening sequence, if only because of the eerie off-key piano music and bizarre artwork--there was a certain look attributed to Satanism in the 1970's, and this movie definitely gives the audience that feel. It then transitions to an outdoor scene with a bunch of goat-headed cultists performing the sacrifice of a naked blonde woman upon the altar for the generic reasons that Satanic cults typically do such things in movies of this nature.
From there, we are introduced to Patrick Bateman's wealthy British counterpart, Stephen Yorke (Martin Potter), who romances a young woman. Things are going well for our anti-heroic psycho and it looks like he's about to score a bit of crumpet (if you know what I mean) when suddenly his companion changes her mind for some inexplicable reason. He isn't about to give it up, however, and suddenly clothes are torn and rape seems almost imminent. She does flee the immediate scene, only to have Stephen smash her skull in the doorway before she can exit the manor.
Finally, we meet our heroine, pretty Catherine Yorke (Candice Glendenning), who has spent the night with her long-term lover John (Michael Craze). The two discuss the trip she is about to make out into the country for a week with her parents, to visit a long unknown uncle. Oh yes, and we also find out that Catherine is psychic. No specific psychic powers, mind you--just the generic extra-sensory perception that operates as the plot deems necessary.
Catherine leaves London with her mother and father and they travel by car into the countryside. As they approach her uncle's estate, her father has a flash headache and steers the car directly into a tree. When Catherine is sent for help, the car explodes into a fireball, incinerating her parents and leaving her in the care of her uncle Alexander (Michael Gough).
From there, things go from bad to just plain weird. While Uncle Alexander remains the cool center around which everyone else revolves, his "secretary," a young woman named Francis, does everything she can to maintain Stephen's affection and attention despite the fact that he only has eyes for his cousin. Catherine, meanwhile, has repeated psychic flashes of witchcraft and other assorted Satanic activity around the area, only to end up falling in love with the cold-hearted Stephen and having incestuous relations with him.
Eventually the secrets of the evil cult are revealed, much to the surprise of Catherine but not so much to the surprise of the audience. There are a few twists, but given the age of this movie, expect numerous clichés.
This is a super-cheap movie and there's absolutely no reason you should be paying full price for it. I personally got mine with one of those Mill Creek boxed sets in the dump bin at a local department store. It's not too bad for what it is, all things considered.
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Techniscope)
Sound format: Mono
While visiting her uncle's country estate, a young girl (Candace Glendenning) becomes involved with satanists who believe she's the reincarnation of an ancient witch.
A key work from cult director Norman J. Warren (TERROR, INSEMINOID), SATAN'S SLAVE combines gratuitous nudity and horrific violence in a censor-baiting concoction designed to compete with the gore and cynicism of its contemporary American/European counterparts. Tellingly, SATAN'S SLAVE was written by David McGillivray, a film critic-turned-scriptwriter whose collaboration with another Brit maverick (Pete Walker) resulted in some of the most memorable exploitation movies of the 1970's, including HOUSE OF WHIPCORD and FRIGHTMARE (both 1974). McGillivray's scripts were always distinguished by their tongue-in-cheek attitude and gleeful subversion of accepted morés, and SATAN'S SLAVE is no exception. Sadly, despite its lip-smacking excesses, the movie is a disappointment.
In fact, much of the film's problems can be traced directly to McGillivray's screenplay, a skeletal mixture of witchcraft and paranoia, driven by dialogue rather than action, which coasts along on auto-pilot in between bouts of skin and sadism. Cast for her waif-like beauty and startling blue eyes, Glendenning (in what appears to have been her final appearance in a theatrical feature) fits the bill as a stereotypical heroine, but she emerges as little more than a colourless wimp, and her one-note performance is a liability. Second-billed Martin Potter gives an equally lacklustre performance as Glendenning's cousin, a psychopathic brute who subjects a pretty young girl (Gloria Walker) to a terrifying ordeal in the opening sequence (more of which later), before turning up as a resident in the home of Glendenning's enigmatic uncle, played by Michael Gough. SATAN'S SLAVE may not have been Gough's finest hour, but he rises to the occasion with predictable flair, delivering his fruity dialogue with Shakespearean relish and acting everyone else off the screen; his obvious talent and lack of pretension has earned him the devotion of cult movie fans worldwide, and with good reason.
Warren uses the widescreen format to visualise the gulf between the characters, and to exploit the landscape and décor of Gough's isolated residence. In fact, the film's threadbare production values are clearly bolstered by its primary location, a Gothic-style mansion located within the Surrey countryside, filmed in all its autumnal splendour. But the movie's rough-edged beauty is frequently tempered by scenes of horror and brutality, visited mostly on female characters who are often stripped naked before suffering the kind of cruel indignities which characterised exploitation cinema of the period. The downbeat ending is also typical of the era, though die-hard horror fans will guess the outcome long before the on-screen characters.
During post-production, Warren was asked to beef up the sleaze quotient for a number of European and Asian markets, so the director prepared a variant edition at odds with his original vision: The rough foreplay between Potter and Walker in the opening sequence (preceding Walker's murder) was extended by having the killer run a pair of scissors over his victim's naked body (the original version develops in a different way and features alternative dialogue, which means the 'new' material can't simply be edited back into the print), and a brief flashback was added to a later scene, in which Potter is seen stabbing an unidentified woman to death. The BBC dispatched a film crew to cover the production for a documentary entitled "All You Need is Blood: The Making of SATAN'S SLAVE", which they subsequently refused to show, though it has since been issued on video.
"Satan's Slave" moves at a rather slow pace, but I didn't hold that against it (movies from different eras usually have a different pace to them anyway). A gorgeous leading lady witnesses her parents dying in a car crash. She is kept at her uncle's mansion to recuperate. Uncle and nephew have rather sinister plans with her.
"Satan's Slave" is not exactly a 'satanic worshiping cult' movie, but more a macabre tale of reincarnation. Lots of 70's female nudity, some torture, some sacrifices, some nice atmospheric looking scenery surrounding the mansion and a few nasty & gory make-up effects. The make-up was handled rather well also, given the budget available. And we have a nice twist at the end, wrapping things up.
By now I have seen all of Norman J. Warren's horror films - even became a bit of a fan of the man - and I think his "Satan's Slave" still ranks up there as my favorite. Followed by the aforementioned "Inseminoid" (something most people can't really grasp, since it's usually to be found at the bottom of their list with Norman J. Warren favorites).
Lo sapevi?
- QuizWhen the actress they cast to perform nude during the ritual in the opening scene and during a flashback later in the film couldn't show up because she was arrested, producer Les Young immediately volunteered his young wife, Moira, who was the associate producer, without consulting her first. When she objected, he convinced her they had no other options and would lose money if the film was delayed while they searched for another actress. She reluctantly agreed. At first, she was only going to be topless, but the day of shooting, Les and director Norman Warren told her it would be better if she were fully nude to give them more options for framing the shot. Moira agreed, but she told Les she wasn't happy about it. Though they had a closed set, she said later it was very embarrassing having to strip all her clothes off and lie on the ritual table stark naked surrounded by male extras and crew for hours while they filmed. To make matters worse, the extras were all wearing masks so she kept imagining all of them were leering at her breasts and vagina. Her breasts and pubic hair then ended up prominently displayed on screen while another nude actress rubbed her hands all over Moira's body. She joked years later that she can't imagine any other producer ever went as far as she did to help a film. She also said she now had more respect for actresses who performed nude because it was tough to do.
- Citazioni
Uncle Alexander Yorke: The thing I admire most about you, Frances, is your ability to suffer in silence. Don't ever change.
- Versioni alternativeThe original UK cinema version was heavily cut by the BBFC with edits to all stabbing scenes, the nude sacrifice, an eye gouging and shots of John's mutilated body. The 1997 Satanica video featured an alternate print which was pre-edited by the director to remove a scene where scissors are traced over a woman and restored many of the original cinema cuts, although the film was then cut by 1 minute 4 secs by the BBFC to edit a whipping scene and much of the bedroom assault. The 2004 Anchor Bay DVD restored all previous BBFC cuts.
- Colonne sonoreDrive to Alexandra's
Composed, Arranged and Conducted by John Scott
Courtesy of Moscovitch Music
Courtesy of Moscovitch Music
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Dettagli
- Data di uscita
- Paese di origine
- Siti ufficiali
- Lingua
- Celebre anche come
- Evil Heritage
- Luoghi delle riprese
- Pirbright, Surrey, Inghilterra, Regno Unito(location shooting)
- Azienda produttrice
- Vedi altri crediti dell’azienda su IMDbPro
Botteghino
- Budget
- 35.000 £ (previsto)
- Tempo di esecuzione1 ora 26 minuti
- Mix di suoni
- Proporzioni
- 2.35 : 1