From the MGM Limited Edition Collection: Daughters of Satan (1972)
The box art and information for Daughters of Satan lists producer Aubrey Schenck, director Hollingsworth Morse, and writer John S. Higgins, but there’s no mention of the cast. Viewers will undoubtedly be delighted to find that none other than American superstar Tom Selleck starred as the bedeviled husband, James Robertson, in this eminently forgettable film that opens with a nude torture scene.
Selleck is unbelievably young (has anyone ever been that young?) in this silliness. Robertson is an antiques buyer looking for relics in Manila. In an antique shop, he finds an old painting of a witch-burning that features a witch who is a dead ringer for his wife, Chris (Barra Grant). As soon as his wife sees the painting, spooky music begins to play. How does Chris know so much about the historical event it represents? (Note to men: if you would like to feature in your own horror story, give your wife a painting of a witch that you think looks just like her.)
Chris’s reaction is about what one would expect from a woman whose loving husband thinks she looks like a witch, and that night she begins to hear far-off voices calling her name and there’s a—gasp—strong, unexpected breeze. Daughters of Satan leaves no cliché unturned. It is pure seventies, and in a nod to hippies, Chris wears a hideous granny dress which prompted me to burn my “vintage” wardrobe items.
After brooding over the painting, Chris meets a large black dog named Nicodemus whose outrageously-spiked collar advises that he lives at 666 Calle Revelacion (I swear to you, I’m not making this up). This is the scene where you seriously start throwing the popcorn. When Old Nic runs away, Chris runs after him. At this point the audience is convinced that there’s something not quite right about Chris.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati