To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
Warning! This Motion Picture Contains The Most Shocking Scenes This Side Of Hell!
Director - Peter Sykes
Writers - John Peacock
Dennis Wheatley – Novel
Starring - Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, Denholm Elliott, Michael Goodliffe, Nastassja Kinski, Eva Maria Meineke, Anthony Valentine, Derek Francis, Isabella Telezynska, Constantine Gregory, Anna Bentinck, Irene Prador, Brian Wilde, Petra Peters
Review by The_Void
A huge Hammer misfire,
Over the years, Hammer studios have provided us with some true classics within the horror genre. However, if this is the only Hammer film you've ever seen, then you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. All the things that make Hammer horror great are absent from this movie; it lacks charm, originality and it isn't intelligent or imaginative. It's a shame too, because the plot isn't a bad one. It involves a satanic cult that is posing as a Christian church and has chosen a child to 'become the devil' upon her eighteenth birthday. However, now that time has come and her father has decided that he wants to back out of the deal, only the cult isn't going to let him. So, as you can see, we have devil worshippers, sacrifice, Christopher Lee as the head of the cult, the devil himself even makes an appearance... this is great horror stuff, and if it had the right handling, it might have been able to capitalise on it's premise; but as it happens, it did not.
The main reason it fails is that it's just so DULL. The film takes ages to get anywhere, and by the time something does happen, you don't care because you're so bored. Speaking of being bored, Christopher Lee doesn't exactly approach his role in this film with gusto and his performance, although still malevolent as Lee always is, pretty much is the epitome of this film; bored. As usual with Hammer, the production values are low; but usually it doesn't matter as you can forgive the film for it, and even like it, depending on the film; but here, since the rest of the film is so bad; it's hard to forgive the bad production values. When the devil does appear, it's so ridiculous that all you will be able to do is laugh. I never thought I'd see the devil as a glove puppet! There are no real standout moments in this film, and even the ending isn't any good. I was expecting it to at least end with a bang after making us sit through nearly ninety minutes of boredom, but no.
I recommend this film to people that want to see every Hammer Horror movie ever made. Everyone else should avoid like the plague.
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