Jan 27 2009
Worshipping the devil…it’s what the kids are doing
SATAN’S CHILDREN (1975)
Dir.: Joe Wiezycki
Cast: Stephen White, Eldon Mecham, Joyce Molloy, Kathleen Archer
Plot: After running away from home and the clutches of his abusive stepfather and stepsister, a rebellious teenage boy is gangraped and left for dead by some hoodlums, but is taken in by a satanic cult.
Thoughts: This is a rather nasty little no-budget exploitation anti-classic that stumbles some in its execution. My main issues with it were its pacing and dry tone. The movie tends to drag a lot, with some overlong takes, but maybe it was just the mood I was in. But besides, there is enough perverse, fucked-up happenings packed into the flick to make it worthwhile. First, there’s the opening scenes of the young protagonist at home, being forced to mow the lawn while his stepsister lounges by the pool in a bikini. When he’s done, he goes inside to change. The father is unsatisfied by his effort, and commands the sister to go in and tell him to come back and do it again. She walks in on him in his skivvies and teases him about his manhood. When he threatens to use it on her, she puts him back in his place. Then at the dinner table, she gives him the ol’ footsie between his legs. If those pseudo-incestual overtone weren’t enough, later on, after he’s run off, a biker lures him back to his pad, where he’s stripped at knifepoint and trussed up, then we see the biker and his friends take him on a joyride naked, and then it’s implied he was violated off-screen. But don’t worry, there’s even more to come once he joins the devil worshippers.
The acting is really stiff, although it’s kinda funny because I kept thinking that lead actor White looked a lot like a young version of Dave Mustaine from Megadeth. Speaking of him, while his acting skills are lacking, I’ll definitely give him credit for having to spend a majority of the duration in his underwear or even nude, especially the prolonged escape scene where he’s running through the woods in nothing but his tighty whiteys, covered in dirt and throwing a couple of guys in quicksand (really just a pit filled with oatmeal).
A decent trash flick, even though it takes some patience.
Rating: **1/2
