Daughters of Satan

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.

I'd never heard of this 70's horror movie until the other night when TCM had a late night airing. I've always liked Tom Selleck and even in this effective but somewhat cheesy scare-fest he does an awesome acting job! For the time and plot, this movie does include some chilling suspense and eerie music and/or chanting--the freaky calling out of the wife's name in the middle of the night was a perfect tool to get you on the edge of your seat!

However, the ending was really stupid in my opinion! I don't want to say what happens, as I don't want to really include a "spoiler." But, with all the build-up and suspense, the way the film concludes was a total let-down and ridiculous! To me no matter how awesome or superb a movie was...if the end is terrible then it ruins the rest of it as well.

I would not recommend bothering with this...unless you're a die-hard Selleck fan, or a 70's cult-horror film collector (that doesn't care how films play out or end). However, if you like Selleck...stick with "Magnum, p.i.!"

A very rarely seen little oddity this but I like it. The unusual location of the Philippines is pleasing and there a couple of very creepy sequences. The Robertsons seem positively crazy about each other which is a sure sign she'll end up doing very nasty things to him, but they were both quite believeable and the supporting cast were all adequate. The painting that is the centre of the whole mystery is very chilling, especially in the scenes where Jim meets the new housekeeper and then glances at the picture and sees her in it. The death of the Doctor is very eerie but best of all has to be the very simple scene of Chris lying in bed and hearing a voice in the night calling out "Christina..." Very creepy especially if you are watching this movie for the first time on late night television and wonder if the sound is on the screen or not! There is also an extraordinary sequence where Jim sees movement outside the house at night and investigates only to be attacked. When he returns to the house the incident is almost forgotten in his bemusement..just like a sort of "was it a dream?" sleepy kind of unreality. My main reason for liking this movie is that compared to what Hammer were churning out it is different and scary, unlike most of Hammer's films, and doesn't need to rely on gore. It also predates The Omen and The Exorcist and yet deals with the subject matter intelligently, so in a sense it is ahead of it's time. Good stuff...not exactly the greatest movie ever made but effective and successful in its clearly limited ambitions.

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!

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.