Satan's Slave (1976)

Simply said, "Satan's Slave" is fucking awesome. Just look at that poster. I want that fucking poster. This movie is filled with violence, nudity, and occultism. I'll be damned if there's something on that short list that wont interest every horror fan. In the first ten minutes alone there is a satanic ritual, an attempted rape, a murder, and three half naked girls... That's got to be some kind of a record.

The first scene is a satanic ritual sacrifice of a naked girl. I love the way the rituals are shot in this film. The camera is kind of shaky, but not in a bad way. The angles it's shot in make you feel kind of disoriented. But mostly, I love the style. Just look at this motherfucker.

Next, the scene jumps to a man and woman eating dinner. Things eventually move into the bedroom where the man plays a little too rough and practically tries to rape her. She escapes, and as she is making her way out of the front door the man slams it on her head and stabs her to death.

Next we are introduced to Katherine and John, whom are girlfriend and boyfriend. Katherine is about to leave on a trip with her parents to visit an uncle she has never met. She mentions she has been having premonitions and a strange feeling feeling about the trip, that's why she wants to go. And since they will be apart for her birthday he gives her his mother's bracelet as a present.

As they are driving up the driveway to her uncle's house Katherine's father is suddenly seized by a migraine, which causes him to crash the car into a tree. Her mother is knocked unconscious, so her father sends her to go get help. Moments after she gets out of the car it explodes, killing her parents. This is probably the most unexpected explosion I've ever seen. It wasn't a horrible crash or anything, but the car goes up like a Pinto filled with explosives.

Suddenly Katherine finds herself orphaned, with only her new relatives to turn to. Her new family is made up of her uncle Alexander and her cousins Stephen (The crazy attempted rapist from the beginning of the film) and Frances. Even though she questions the accident, Katherine accepts her new relatives. Especially Stephen, who is growing creepily close to her. They begin to grow close when he walks around the mansion's grounds with her. He tells her about his mother's death, saying only that it was an accident. They end up in the "Enchanted Forest" and he mentions that something bad happened there, but nothing specific. The forest gives her a bad vibe and triggers a premonition. She sees a witch being stripped, tied to a tree, branded with a cross, and whipped.

Later that night, someone breaks into Katherine's room and steals the bracelet John gave her. A ritual is performed on it that takes control of John and makes him kill himself by jumping off of the roof of his apartment building. The resulting squish is very satisfying.

Katherine seems to be somehow linked to John, and knows something's not right when he dies. Her uncle Alexander thinks it would be a good idea to sedate her and let her sleep. The resulting dream sequence is my favorite scene of the film.

She dreams of a satanic sacrifice ritual involving two naked girls, knives, a blood pentagram, and an upside down cross. One girl is strapped down while the other performs the ritual, which involves lots of naked body rubbing. The ritual culminates with the girl being stabbed in the neck by a hooded man. After this, Katherine is strapped down with snakes and spiders all over her.

Stephen walks into Katherine's bedroom just as she wakes up. He goes to comfort her and they end up having sex. I expected Stephen to try something like that, but I didn't think Katherine would have gone for it. Guessed wrong. I guess incest is her thing. Eww...

After Frances sees them kissing, she's upset he's choosing Katherine over her... This family is a fucking incest fest. She decides to tell Katherine everything. That John is dead and that Alexander and Stephen are necromancers who are trying to bring a powerful witch named Camilla Yorke back to life to head their coven. Alexander tried to do this before using his own wife. He was so sure it would work he let the young Stephen watch. It didn't work, and Stephen witnessed his father murdering his mother, thus Stephen is a sick demented fuck who kills women. Take this dead woman for example.

Stephen killed the shit out of her.

They need Katherine because she is a direct descendant of Camilla, but Frances wants to help her escape. Long story short, the escape fails and Stephen ends up brutally killing Frances.

Katherine finds the body and the jig is up so Stephen knocks her ass out. When she wakes up she's locked inside of her room. She tries to pick the lock with a metal nail file, but it doesn't work. Alexander and Stephen soon walk in and take her into the woods to perform the ritual, but they never get the chance to do it. As the ritual begins, she stabs Stephen in the eye with the nail file and escapes.

As she is running away, who should she run into but her father! He explains that she hit her head in the crash and was knocked out, and she's been out since.

So it was all just a dream?

As she walks inside she's greeted by Alexander. She explains that since the dream felt so real, she needs to call John to make sure he's okay. He tells her to use the phone behind the curtain. She pulls the curtain back to reveal...

THIS SHIT'S REAL MOTHERFUCKER! AND HER DAD'S IN ON IT TOO!

I love the ending of this movie. She doesn't get away. She doesn't somehow use her mental powers to thwart them. She is just sacrificed to Satan. Evil prevails. The only thing that would make the ending better is if we got to see the ritual. Instead, we just hear her scream and see a satanic mask and then the credits roll. Which isn't bad, but could be better.

Overall this is a great movie that is highly recommended. The awesome low budget special effects and satanic rituals make this a must see for fans of occult cinema.