The Brotherhood of Satan (1971)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Bernard McEveety

Writers:

L.Q. Jones (writer)
Sean MacGregor (story)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

A demon-spirit of madness and murder holds a California town in the grip of terror.

Plot:

A family is trapped in a desert town by a cult of senior-citizens who recruit the town's children to worship Satan. |

Plot Keywords:

Satan | Children | Kidnapping | Satanism | Devil

Cast

Strother Martin	...	Doc Duncan
L.Q. Jones	...	Sheriff
Charles Bateman	...	Ben
Ahna Capri	...	Nicky
Charles Robinson	...	Priest
Alvy Moore	...	Tobey
Helene Winston	...	Dame Alice
Joyce Easton	...	Mildred Meadows
Debi Storm	...	Billie Joe
Jeff Williams	...	Stuart
Judith McConnell	...	Phyllis (as Judy McConnell)
Robert Ward	...	Mike
Geri Reischl	...	K.T.
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Scott Agular	...	Child
John Barclay	...	Witch
Patrick Sullivan Burke	...	Witch
Phyllis Coghlan	...	Witch (as Phillis Coghlan)
Jonathan Eisley	...	Child
Gertrude Graner	...	Witch
Robyn Grei	...	Child
Cindy Holden	...	Child
Anthony Jochim	...	Witch
Donald Journeaux	...	Witch
Debbie Judith	...	Child
Ysabel MacCloskey	...	Witch
Brian McEveety	...	Child
Kevin McEveety	...	Child
Sheila McEveety	...	Child
Grant McGregor	...	Child
Alyson Moore	...	Child
Elsie Moore	...	Witch
Lenore Shanewise	...	Witch
Linda Tiffany	...	Child
Cicely Walper	...	Witch
Margaret Wheeler	...	Witch

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Norway:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

THX 1138 (1971) was shown as a double feature with this film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Artifact from the Future: The Making of 'THX 1138' (2004) (V)

Another 1970's Satan movie featuring "Wild Bunch" alumni

For some reason in the 1970's it seemed to be a requirement for every former cast member of "The Wild Bunch" to appear in a low-budget satanic-themed horror movie. You had Ernest Borgnine in the ridiculous "Devil's Rain", Warren Oates in the underrated "Race with the Devil", and of course William Holden in the the overblown sequel "Damien: Omen II". The weirdest one though was probably this one which features both Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones (Jones, who would later write and direct the cult classic "A Boy and his Dog", also contributed to the screen play).

It starts out promisingly enough with an entire family somehow being compacted in their car, all except for the young son who wanders off and runs into a strange group of other children. For awhile it is unclear whether this movie is ripping off "Village of the Damned" or "Rosemary's Baby", as you have this group of orphaned and kidnapped children wandering around after their parents have been done by a bizarre murder spree, AND you have a coven of decrepit oldsters led by Strother "What we have here is failure to commun'cate" Martin. The main protagonists are a good-looking but bland couple and their young daughter who are only passing through town, but become involved in the weird goings after they discover the remains of the compacted family. Jones plays the good guy sheriff, and Martin has a second role as the seemingly kindly town doctor.

The satanic scenes are very weird with a lot of freaky shots of children's dolls, and people violently convulsing and dropping dead. The pretty blonde wife also has a "Rosemary's Baby" style hallucinatory dream that is like "Coffin Joe" on particularly bad acid. The end finally ties everything together sort of, but this remains one of those 70's movies that is a lot longer on style than on logic. Still I guess I'd recommend it if you go for these sort of films at all.