'Scratch' and Sniff: Satan's Slave

Fate has been against this movie for a while now. Twice has this review been delayed by mitigating factors and Hobgoblins 2's suckiness. No longer! This film comes to us from jolly old England, although nothing is too jolly about this movie. In fact, the closest we'll get to 'jolly' and 'England' is one of my Christmas-time reviews- more on that later. As for this movie, it has many of the qualities that you expect from a British movie: long dialogue scenes, a rustic setting and one memorable character actor. In this case, it is Michael Gough, better known as Alfred from the Batman films.  I should also note that this movie was made by Norman J. Warren, the man who also brought us Insemnoid. With all of that out of the way, let's go take a visit with...

Satan's Slave

The film begins pretty innocuously with a young woman meeting up with her boyfriend. They meet up in her tiny 'flat,' making it all the more clear that this is a British film. Her man wants to take things to the next level, but she can't do that right now. The following day, you see, she has to go meet up with her uncle in the country. She is leaving with her parents quite early, which puts a kibosh on the man's actions. One pleasant drive and the trip ends happily with...oh my god, the car just exploded! Why, oh why, did we take the Pinto?!? The girl manages to escape the wreck and awakens inside of the house. She is met by her uncle (Gough), her nephew and niece. They explain that they called the police to report the accident & that she can stay the weekend. That night, she goes down to dinner and learns that there is some weirdness going on here. The two younger relatives have an odd tension building between the two of them that goes unexplained for a while. Let's just say that dinner is not the best experience at this house. Fortunately, the uncle wants to keep giving tranquilizers to our heroine, so all of this does not seem too bad. I'm sure that he has no ulterior motive or anything.

More talking and more build-up to the strange events to come. The pair have an awkward conversation in the niece's bedroom and we learn that the pair are more than just relatives. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more. The movie has a very odd rhythm to it, going from long talking scenes to some weird shit going down. We get a couple of scenes of women on altars and some ritual sacrifice, but it is never quite clear how much is real. The whole dream-like narrative works both for and against the movie in the middle parts. The setting is nice enough, but the DVD transfer is not exactly at Blu-Ray level, so it can only do so much. As usual, the Brits nail atmosphere, but that can only account for so much.

As the film nears its conclusion, everything begins to pick up. Our heroine realizes that her family has some plans for her that relate to her recent birthday. Just a hint: these don't involve cake, but they do involve cutting. She takes this about as well as anyone would, which is why she stabs the lecherous nephew in the eye and runs away. After a tumultous confrontation, she suddenly...wakes up, with the family members over her in bed. Wait- so all of that was a dream?!? What a cheap plot de...oh, apparently it was real the whole time. Oh and the father is revealed to be the leader of the cult that wants to cut her up. I hope you weren't waiting for a happy ending, because you aren't getting one. This is European horror cinema! The End.

There is not a whole lot to say about this movie. It is good, but not great. Many of the problems I had with it are somewhat relative and could be ignored by others. Ultimately though, this is how I look at it. If you are a gore-hound who rents a movie called Satan's Slave, you are going to be let-down by the stretches without gore or the occult. If you like character dramas, you may very well be put-off by the crazy parts that the other audience would love. Ultimately, the movie cannot please both sides and end up being forgotten in the long run. That would be a shame, since the movie's high points are often able to overshadow any low ones. This is not the be-all-end-all in British horror, but it is a solid movie that is full of mood and atmosphere, even if there isn't always something else there.

In honor of the eve of Halloween night, I bring you a film that is from a less than iconic series. Even so, it does feature some pumpkins. Stay tuned...