Satan's Slave (1976 film)

Catherine Yorke, a young woman from London, receives a bracelet from her boyfriend John for her upcoming birthday. She then leaves the city with her parents to join her father Malcolm's brother, Alexander, for a week at his home in the country. At the turn into Alexander's estate, Malcolm falls ill at the wheel of the family car and crashes into a tree. Catherine gets out to fetch help and the car explodes, seemingly killing her parents. Alexander, assisted by his son Stephen and secretary Frances, takes the distraught Catherine into the house and gives her a sedative. On waking, Catherine finds the driveway cleared of wreckage and is told that the police have concluded their investigation. Her parents' funeral is conducted later that day on the grounds of the estate. After the ceremony, Catherine finds an old gravestone bearing the name of Camilla Yorke, an 18th-century ancestor of hers who died aged 20the age that Catherine is about to reach. Over the next few days, as she continues to be hosted by Alexander, Catherine experiences visions of women being branded, flogged, and sacrificed in satanic rituals. She finds herself drawn to Stephen, with whom she becomes romantically involved. Meanwhile, Alexander steals Catherine's bracelet and uses it to channel dark magic that compels John to kill himself by jumping from the roof of a tower block. Frances tells Catherine that Camilla had supernatural abilities and that Alexander, who believes in necromancy, plans to resurrect her spirit to increase his own power. Having murdered several women, including his own wife, to test his theories, he has determined that he can achieve this only by sacrificing Catherine, Camilla's direct descendant, when she turns 20. Frances also warns Catherine not to trust Stephen who, having witnessed his mother's sacrifice as a young boy, has grown up to be a murderer like his father. Discovering Frances's betrayal, Stephen stabs her to death and locks Catherine in a bedroom. On the morning of her birthday, Catherine is led into the nearby woods to be sacrificed by Alexander and his cult. She escapes after stabbing Stephen through the eye with a nail file, then runs into her father, Malcolm, who claims that both he and her mother survived the car accident. Malcolm takes Catherine back to the house, where Alexander, no longer wearing his ritual robes, tells Catherine that her recent experiences were hallucinations brought on by the sedative. However, his trickery is uncovered when Catherine pulls back a curtain to find Stephen's corpse. Alexander praises Catherine's brutality and hails her as a true descendant of Camilla. Malcolm is then revealed to be the actual leader of the cult. Trapped, Catherine screams in terror. ==Cast==

Kim Newman compares ''Satan's Slave to "post-Rosemary's Baby satanism exploitationers" like Virgin Witch and The Wicker Man". According to Steve Green of Flesh and Blood magazine, while the story and "Gothic staging" are reminiscent of "mid-period" Hammer horror films, Satan's Slave sets itself apart by adding an "overt sadistic undercurrent". Nigel Burrell, also writing for Flesh and Blood'', describes the plot as "a stir-fried mix of Dennis Wheatley and Jess Franco, a familiar witchcraft/family curse theme jostling with deranged Black Mass sequences". Anne Billson writes that the country house setting carries "echoes of Hammer", also stating that the film as a whole picks up where Hammer left off while "amping up the nudity and gore". Leon Hunt, author of British Low Culture: from Safari Suits to Sexploitation, regards the grim ending as part of an emerging trend in 1970s "generation-gap" horror films, noting in contrast that Michael Reeves' films of the 1960s had an "angry", "anti-authoritarian" tone. He observes that ''Satan's Slave'' ends with Catherine trapped by her own family and destined to be "consumed", commenting: "The battle is over and 'youth' has lost." ==Production==

After making Her Private Hell (1968) and Loving Feeling (1968), Norman J. Warren had been in negotiations to direct films for Amicus Productions and American International Pictures (AIP). When these deals fell through, Warren and camera operator Les Young decided to make a film on their own. Knowing that they would be working on a low budget, the group believed that the only genres open to them were horror or erotica. In the end, they decided to make a horror film on the basis that it would enjoy a longer "shelf life". Warren gave the total budget as either £30,000 or £35,000 (£ or £ in ), about half of which took the form of deferred payments. Writing and casting The plot for the film, originally titled Evil Heritage, was devised by Warren and the Youngs and expanded by screenwriter David McGillivray, whom Warren had first met while editing Her Private Hell. Gough agreed to participate on the condition that the production would not interrupt his stage commitments. Filming Principal photography of ''Satan's Slave'' began on 1 December 1975, and was completed on 20 December. It features a clarinet and gongs accompanied by a piano, xylophone, xylorimba and vibraphone. Prior to release, the film's title was changed from Evil Heritage to ''Satan's Slave'' as the distributor, Brent Walker, believed that the former was not "commercial" enough. Production ended in March 1976. ==Release==

''Satan's Slave was released in the United Kingdom in late 1976, with screenings beginning on 5 December in Walsall and Birmingham. It opened in Leicester the following week on 12 December 1976. The film was distributed as the B movie in a double feature with Thriller'', an American International Pictures release. Home media ''Satan's Slave'' has been released on home video by Sovereign Marketing, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scorpion Releasing. It is included on Anchor Bay's "Norman Warren Collection" DVD box set along with Prey, Terror and Inseminoid. A Blu-ray and DVD combination set was released by Vinegar Syndrome on 29 October 2019. Powerhouse Films released a Blu-ray edition in the United Kingdom on 30 August 2021. ==Reception==

In a contemporary review for the Monthly Film Bulletin, Michael Grossbard described ''Satan's Slave'' as "basically an archaic second feature" and "the sort of subject likely to turn up on Sunday afternoon children's television, with its kids-in-trouble/blame-the-older-generation theme." He considered the plot "well constructed and written" and the performances "never below standard, though it would be nice to see Michael Gough in more demanding parts." The film was negatively received by the Coventry Evening Telegraph and the Aberdeen Press and Journal. David Parkinson of Radio Times gives three stars out of five, concluding that Warren "ultimately overindulges in horror clichés and garish set pieces". TV Guide magazine describes it as a "vile shocker [...] full of unappetising gore effects", By contrast, Martin Unsworth of Starburst magazine names it "one of the big underrated movies of the '70s" and a "vital entry to the British horror pantheon". Gary Raymond and Gray Taylor of Wales Arts Review rank the film 21st in their list of the "50 greatest" lesser-known horror films. Reviewing the film for DVD Talk in 2004, Bill Gibron described Gough's character as a "grey Sunday drag of a villain" and ''Satan's Slave'' in general as a "near-immobile mess", adding: "With an ending that repeats, laps and then doubles back on itself, and an overall atmosphere of dismal dissatisfaction, the only suggestive thing about this movie is its titillating title." In another review published in 2012, he gave three out of five stars, judging the script "silly" and the atmosphere "often wasted" but praising the performances of Gough and Glendenning. He wrote: "[...] if you can get past the endless conversations, [the] lack of real suspense, the flawed feeling of familiarity and the dearth of any or all plot twists toward the end [...] then by all means saddle up and strap in". Ian Jane, also of DVD Talk, writes that while the film has "some rather obvious pacing problems" and less suspense than a Hammer horror, it still "has its moments". Dennis Schwartz of the Online Film Critics Society rates the film "C+", believing it to be "directed with high production values but with little else that rocks". He considers the script "weak" and the dialogue "abominable", the overall film "clichéd" and the final plot twist a non-surprise as it is "given away in the opening act". Despite calling the car crash "amusingly badly staged", commentator Ian Fryer believes that film's "attractive" locations and "excellent" performances make it "[look] like a much more expensive production than was actually the case." He adds that the level of violence "made the products of the declining Hammer and Amicus studios look like very mild fare indeed." Steve Green of Flesh and Blood magazine writes that despite its "formulaic construction" the film is Warren's "most effective horror entry" and "head and shoulders above the stalk/slash tedium which would dominate the American industry within five years." Kim Newman, who regards ''Satan's Slave'' as the "most conventional" of Warren's films, compliments its "very low-budget imagination" as well as Gough's "committed" performance. Rating the soundtrack nine out of ten, Unsworth describes Scott's score as "a stunning piece of work, melding some erratic styles perfectly and creating a genuine atmosphere of dread with each listen". ==References==