ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Woodyanders Sweet young Catherine (the lovely and appealing Candace Glendenning) goes to a British country manor to stay with her kindly doctor uncle Alexander Yorke (legendary horror icon Michael Gough, who's excellent as usual) and handsome cousin Stephen (a fine performance by Martin Potter). Unbeknownst to Catherine, both are members of a satanic cult who plan on using her for a special ritual once she turns twenty. Director Norman J. Warren, working from an absorbing script by David McGillivray (who appears in a flashback as a priest), relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, maintains a grimly serious tone throughout, creates and sustains a pleasingly creepy and unsettling atmosphere, and further tarts things up with a handy helping of tasty gratuitous female nudity and generous servings of raw bloody violence. Moreover, Gough's suavely sinister presence keeps the picture humming, the remote English countryside setting projects a strong sense of isolation and vulnerability, and the surprise bummer ending packs a potently upsetting punch. John Scott's spirited shuddery score and the crisp widescreen cinematography are both up to speed. Worth a watch.

Aaron1375 I got this movie in a pack of twelve movies called gore house classics or something. I figured they would all be total crap, but as I like watching horror movies and reviewing them I had to buy it, especially seeing as how I had never seen any of the movies on it. This is the first one I have watched on it and while not a good movie by any means it had its moments and did entertain me for its run. The movie does have gore in it, nothing that looks all that great at times, but it is the 70's, a time for the red paint to come splashing out. It also had a good deal of nudity too, I always enjoy seeing 70's ladies nude from time to time as they have a natural look that is just hard to find these days. The story has its moments as I really enjoyed the beginning of the movie and the end quite a bit. It is the middle that at times muddles the movie down as there is a strange love story going on between the female of this tale and her cousin that really seems to be added to pad the film. Basically, she is visiting this uncle that until recently she did not even know she had and there is tragedy shortly after she arrives with her parents. The rest of the film is watching her try to figure out and realize what you the audience already knows, she is in deep trouble. So while not great it was entertaining, rework the script a bit and this one could have been a classic. Though Michael Gough's performance in this one does help the more talkative scenes seem more tolerable.

Jonathon Dabell In the 1970s, someone involved in the production of British horror movies realised that gore sells but sex sells better. A whole host of dismayingly similar horror titles were trotted out in quick succession, all of which were distinguishable by their reliance on graphic blood-letting, full frontal nudity and soft-core sex scenes. The Fiend, Tower Of Evil, House Of Whipcord, Frightmare, Expose and Satan's Slave stand out as just a few examples of this regrettable trend. The latter of these titles is perhaps the worst of the lot. A tedious, slow-moving, frequently absurd bloodcurdler, Satan's Slave is a true test of willpower to sit through. Its final three minutes are actually quite surprising, but few will have the energy or the inclination to sit through the previous 83 minutes just for the promise a neat twist ending. Not even occasional nude scenes – some featuring the beautiful Candace Glendenning - can save this turkey.Catherine Yorke (Candace Glendenning), a beautiful young woman plagued by visions and premonitions, goes with her parents to visit her long-lost uncle. Along the driveway leading to the uncle's remote country mansion, her father loses control of the car and crashes into a tree. Catherine offers to get help, but as she heads away the car explodes and her mother and father are engulfed in the ensuing inferno. Following this traumatic ordeal, Catherine finds herself in the care of her Uncle Pete (Michael Gough) who shows great kindness and tenderness in supervising her recovery. Present in the mansion are her cousin Stephen (Martin Potter), and her uncle's secretary Frances (Barbara Kellerman). Initially everyone seems eager to help her through this difficult time, but gradually strange events begin to unfold. She suffers from recurring visions about whippings, burnings and satanic masses within the grounds of the house; her creepy cousin Stephen makes sexual advances towards her; she even gets the feeling that something terrible has happened to her boyfriend John back in the city. Eventually, Frances reveals to Catherine that her uncle is preparing to use her in a Satanic ritual to bring back an ancient witch. Satan's Slave is an example of film-making at its most inept. Director Norman J. Warren demonstrates little sense of cohesion or craft. There is no gradual build-up of suspense, no logic in the story, no generation of intrigue to add interest to the muddled development. Instead, the film wriggles along at a snail-like pace, punctuated occasionally by pauses for nudity and sudden bursts of gore. Amongst the grislier scenes, we see the splattered remains of a man who has leapt from a tower block, a female corpse pinned to a door by a knife through the mouth, and a truly nasty nail-file-through-the-eyeball demise for one of the villains. These unpleasant flourishes may please gorehounds but they do little for the film as a whole. Long periods of absurd dialogue and unpersuasive plotting can hardly be forgiven by tossing in brief moments of bloodthirstiness. The performances range from hammy (Gough, Potter) to wooden (Glendenning, Kellerman), and the film has a cheap, amateurish feel to it throughout which merely accentuates the utter lack of taste and finesse. In the very last scene the film produces one genuine (albeit far-fetched) surprise, but it's a long and unjustified wait for this momentary flash of ingenuity. Satan's Slave is a dire film – avoid it if you value your time.

Paul Andrews Satan's Slave starts with a human (naked) female sacrifice during a Devil worshipping ceremony... Jump to present day London where Catherine Yorke's (Candace Glendenning) 20th birthday fast approaches, she, along with her father Malcolm (James Bree) & mother Elizabeth (Celia Hewitt), has been invited to stay at the country estate of her uncle, Dr. Alexander Yorke (Michael Gough). Just as they arrive at the property Malcolm loses control of his car & crashes into a tree, Catherine is unhurt & runs for help as Malcolm stays in the car to look after the injured Elizabeth unfortunately before Catherine can obtain any help the car explodes & her parents are toast. Her uncle Alexander comforts her & offers her his every assistance & insists that she stay with him, his son Stephen (Martin Potter) & his personal secretary Frances (Barbara Kellerman) who all make Catherine feel very welcome. Despite seeing her parents burned alive Catherine feels OK & decides to take a walk through the woods with Stephen where she experiences a disturbing vision of human sacrifice, torture & her own death. However, this is just the beginning as Catherine discovers her uncle has a sinister plan for her which involves murder, satanic rituals & the resurrection of an ancient witch...This English production was directed by Norman J. Warren & like the rest of his trashy horror exploitation films that have recently been given a new lease of life on DVD I really rather enjoyed it. The script by David McGillivray, who has a small cameo in the film as a Priest in the scene when the woman (Monika Ringwald) is flogged & branded, moves along at a nice pace has a decent story with a few nice twists & turns &, thankfully, never forgets it's sleazy exploitation roots, just the way I like them. I mean Stephen brutally kills women for no other reason than for sleaze value & to bump up both the body count & gore quotient, there's no logical reason for him to kill women totally unconnected with anything else but Warren & McGillivray correctly knew this is the sort of thing us horror fans want to see! The character's are OK but no one is going to watch Satan's Slave for it's dramatic qualities, are they? Some of it's a bit silly like the elevator scene but overall Satan's Slave worked for me on many levels, was entertaining & was a good way to spend just over 80 minutes of my time.Director Warren does a good job here, Satan's Slave has that unique, & frankly priceless, 70's sleazy grimy feel throughout. From the satanic rituals where every female in sight has to be naked to the sexual violence & the free flowing blood & gore, good stuff Norman. The nasty stuff in Satan's Slave is pretty extreme & exploitative, someone has their head bashed in & then is gorily stabbed, a woman is tied to a tree, flogged & then branded, more people are stabbed with blood splattering results, a knife is stuck through someone's mouth & a scene in which someone has a nail file stuck into their eyeball, luckily Warren doesn't skimp on the blood or the close-ups in these scenes either. I also just love the whole 70's look of the film, the fashions, the decor like the horrible orange wallpaper for instance & the cars.Technically Satan's Slave is well made with nice period flashback scenes, good widescreen cinematography, decent music & a great looking central location. On the down side it does look a bit cheap occasionally though. The acting is alright & I quite fancy Glendenning in this although I thought she took witnessing her parents being burned alive rather too well. Michael Craze's acting in the silly elevator scene is just plain embarrassing.Satan's Slave is a bit of a British exploitation film gem that I really liked. The whole look, the feel & atmosphere & the story impressed & entertained me. I think this is a must for exploitation & horror fans, definitely well worth a watch although those with sensitive dispositions may want to give it a miss.