Scott LeBrun "Satan's Slave" is typical of the New Wave of British horror in the 1970s, with the focus on a younger character, a contemporary setting, and increased doses of sex and violence. Candace Glendenning, a brunette beauty with a striking pair of blue eyes, is featured as Catherine, a young woman about to turn 20 who travels with mum & dad to visit the long unseen Uncle Alexander (a solid Michael Gough, rocking an impressively big and bushy moustache here), who lives in a country estate with his unhinged son Stephen (Martin Potter) and his luscious secretary Frances (Barbara Kellerman). We know from the start that there's something definitely not right here, but it takes Catherine a while to really wise up. In the meantime, she finds herself falling for cousin Stephen!In addition to the incest element of the package, "Satan's Slave" includes other exploitative ingredients such as female nudity, and some harsh violence, with killing implements thrust into eyeballs and mouths. One thing that really makes watching the movie worthwhile is its wonderfully depraved scene involving a pair of scissors, which occurs quite early on in the movie. The pacing is rather sedate, but this also allows director Norman J. Warren to establish an atmosphere of doom & gloom.The screenplay is courtesy of David McGillivray, who also does a cameo as a priest. Like so many other films of this time period, "Satan's Slave" isn't afraid to end on a downbeat note. John Scotts' music score is fitting and adds to the ambiance. The acting is right on the money, with fine performances by Gough, Potter, Glendenning, and Kellerman.Overall, this is an enjoyably sordid, low budget (it only cost about 15,000 pounds to make) for any viewer who delights in discovering these British genre efforts.Seven out of 10.

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.

amosduncan_2000 The strange atmosphere of this film seems to lead many to find it boring, but I disagree and in fact find it unsettling and, well, really absorbing. Some of the over the top T and A (I wonder if the rest of the cast was there at the same time as the nudie cuties, these scenes feel like awkward inserts) but at any rate the acting is very good overall. I like the sicko relationship between Francis and the brother. The fact that the mystery has been given away before the final double reverse is actually quite interesting, and puts you in the place of Candice. I wish they had done a final reversal at the end and had Gough get it, but still, I like this sick little film quite a bit.

world_of_weird The works of Norman J Warren and David McGillivray can be likened to the little girl with the little curl - when they're good (FRIGHTMARE, TERROR) they're very very good, and when they're bad, they're horrid. SATAN'S SLAVE completely lacks the edgy, tense, paranoid atmosphere of foreboding doom that marked Warren's later work (including the unfairly maligned INSEMINOID) and the gleeful nastiness that made McGillivray's collaborations with Pete Walker memorable, and the result is a tedious experience indeed, with a sub-standard Michael Gough performance, several sequences that make little sense (though the version I saw was probably hacked to pieces by the sensitive souls at the BBC - good of them to leave the eyeball gouging intact though!) and a central premise that just seems corny to our modern sensibilities. The opening credits should give you your first warning that something's amiss, because no fewer than FIVE directors of photography are credited, which is probably why the overall look of the film is so muddled - for every sequence that musters a degree of low-budget atmosphere, there are several that have the over-lit, barrel-scraping feel of a cheap public information film. Warren seemed remarkably unconcerned about coaxing decent performances from the cast at this stage, and the number of alternate versions suggests he wasn't too bothered about creating a definitive director's cut either. In all, a sad disappointment and a missed opportunity - I much prefer Warren as an unsubtle misanthropist to his mantle here as a bargain basement Roman Polanski.One other thing - the ident at the beginning for the film's distributors Brent Walker is pretty good, with a great synthesizer fanfare, like the old Cannon movies ident from the eighties, only cheap-looking. Catch it if you can!