Satan’s Children (1975)

 

Watching Satan's Children is the kind of experience that leaves you shuddering to imagine what issues and personal demons its makers were wrestling with at the time. Mean spirited, a l'ttle bit too preoccupied with incest, intense in its homophobia yet drawn towards homoerotic imagery, opening up the idea that there was an element of strong, self-hatred going on here. Try to second guess which direction this film is going in, and I guarantee that Satan's Children will run rings around you.

The film initially has the feel of a public information film warning teenagers about the dangers of running away from home, as teenage hero Bobby Douglas flees his bullying stepfather and flirty, troublemaking step sister, both of whom regard him as little more than a glorified houseboy. This mask of social concern soon begins to slip away though and a more sadistic agenda comes into play when Bobby gets picked up by a middle aged biker dude, only to then be hog tied and gang raped by the biker and his buddies. Satan's Children then turns queer hating once Bobby falls in with a satanic group, who regard Bobby with some suspicion and hostility due to him having been raped by men. At which point your mind begins to wander towards this film being the work of some anti-gay religious group, however any allegiance there is shattered by the film's own combative relationship with Christianity as well. Satan's Children's point of view seems to be that Christianity is weak and has become too forgiving and tolerant towards homosexuality, driving young people like Bobby in the direction of Satanism instead. A point made by having Simon, the head Satanist, taunt poor Bobby by bitching “your ass is sore. Poor little boy got raped by some queers. And he's perfectly willing to forget all about it. You must believe in Jesus”. Bobby's presence leads to power struggles within the group. Cult member Sherry falls in love with Bobby, but loses face within the group when his sexuality comes under question. Sherry is also falsely accused of betraying the group by Monica, a closet lesbian who wants revenge after Sherry had rejected her advances. Can Bobby Douglas ever forget his sore ass and find true happiness?

The all-consuming hang up of Satan's Children is homosexual rape, and being tainted by the suspicion of homosexuality because of it. Mental baggage so specific that you can't help but suspect that you are seeing someone's own private hell being brought to the screen. Surely if a person in 1970s Florida just wanted to make a few bucks from the drive-ins they'd have thrown money at a HG Lewis type gorefest or a monster movie throwback like Zaat...Satan's Children feels a far more bitter and personal endeavour. Hateful at it is towards homosexuality it is impossible not to pick up on just how homoerotic Satan's Children gets at times. The male rape scene is graphic and its mere depiction atypical for something aimed at the drive-ins, another scene where Bobby runs from the cult in just his underwear is hilariously prolonged and eroticized. Paradoxically, when it comes to what this film regards as sexually normal, Satan's Children gets all conservative on us. Woman are allowed to keep their bras on while being sacrificed to Satan and Bobby's victorious assertion of his heterosexuality, by bedding Sherry, coyly takes place under the sheets. A troubling, ugly yet unforgettable sexual nightmare caught on film...if I were to be told tomorrow that someone involved in Satan's Children later went on to join the Westboro Baptist Church I wouldn't be at all surprised... this film might have been more aptly titled 'Don't Look in the Closet'.

House on Elm Lake (2017)

 

In which a naked old man frequently enters into the body of a younger man, causing problems within the younger man's marriage....a plot description which admittedly doesn't immediately sound like a satanic horror film. House on Elm Lake is actually a remake of an earlier British horror film called Lucifer's Night (2014), whose makers decided to do a second, more moneyed and professional, take on the same material. Its the type of low budget British horror film that tends to turn up on the DVD shelves of supermarkets, usually accompanied by an excitable sleeve quote comparing it to other, better known films, in this case "Nightmare on Elm Street meets Amityville Horror". If anything though The Shining seems to have been a greater influence on House on Elm Lake's story of a couple, Eric and Hayley Jones, who relocate to a universally unwanted remote house by a lake with their young daughter in tow. The reason the house remains universally unwanted is that the previous occupant, Elliot Mandre had murdered his entire family then killed himself during a satanic ritual. Soon after taking up residence, the house's bad mojo takes its toll on the already troubled Eric, who begins pissing blood and under Elliot's evil influence committing adultery, rape, murder, cannibalism and domestic abuse. Elliot who is essentially an amalgamation of The Shining's Grady and the naked lady in room 237 also makes his own presence felt in the household. Cutting an obscene, sexually threatening figure throughout the movie. Whether he is perched naked on the end of a girl's bed or murdering the babysitter by gouging out her eyes. Tony Manders, a former civil servant turned British horror film regular, gives a particularly fearless performance as Elliot Mandre, a role that requires him to be fully naked for the majority of his screen time.

To give an idea of what a small world the current British horror scene is...House on Elm Lake was filmed at the same house as Mother Krampus (2017) which shares at least four cast members with this film, and was recently remade as 'The Candy Witch' by this film's leading lady, Becca Hirani, who also directs and produces films under the name 'Rebecca J Matthews'. At 100 minutes, House on Elm Lake is leisurely paced, but has its rewards for those prepared to stick around. Just don't go in expecting an Evil Dead type ride in the fast lane without any brakes, this is more like a Sunday afternoon drive with your grandparents, albeit one where they end up going insane, taking off all their clothes and gouging out eyeballs.

Necropolis (1986)

 

Where else are you going to see a New York punk babe (who is in fact the reincarnation of a 17th century witch) expose her breasts, use her occult powers to grow four more breasts and then breast feed zombies?

Tim Kincaid's gooey handprints are all over this film. Although he was only the producer in this instance, Necropolis fits in well with the mid-1980s NYC sleaze of Kincaid's Breeders, Bad Girls Dormitory, Mutant Hunt etc etc

Kincaid came from the netherworld of 1970s gay porn (as "Joe Gage"). Followed by a stint in exploitation film distribution, releasing older titles like 'Psycho from Texas' and 'Kill and Go Hide' through his New American Films company in the early 1980s. A background that served Kincaid well when it came to knowing exactly what buttons to push for grindhouse audiences. Although his mixture of sleaze and slime often pushed the envelope a little too far when it came to the comparatively conservative confines of 1980s horror fandom. Most famously when Fangoria published a still from Breeders (depicting several naked women bathing in some suspiciously sperm like alien slime) the backlash against which directly led to the magazine's self imposed ban on female nudity. An air of sexual subversion is also strong in Necropolis, its anti-heroine Eva (LeeAnne Baker) is an outrageous Alicia Bridges type leather clad lesbian, who might use her sexuality to lure men to their deaths, but isn't also above seducing their girlfriends as well. Comic relief in the film is provided by a queeny mortuary attendant. Eva's purpose in the film, to avenge herself on the modern day descendants of the peeps who put her to death in the 17th century, places her at odds with the burgeoning heterosexual romance between an Italian-American cop and a British radio personality, whose union Eva had similarly foiled back in the 17th century. In another startlingly scene, one of Eva's intended victims turns out to be an ex-junkie and male prostitute, who insists he is straight and defensively claims to have only sold himself to men for money. An achilles' heel that Eva hilariously turns on the guy, planting the suggestion in his head that the kindly priest who is trying to help him kick his drug habit, is only after his body instead. As with Kincaid's Breeders, the major force for good in the film...the aforementioned priest...is played by an African-American actor, another atypical touch for a 1980s horror film.

Kincaid made Necropolis in association with Charles Band's Empire Pictures. A union that also produced Breeders, Mutant Hunt, Robot Holocaust and the urban action film Enemy Territory. Films whose graffiti sprayed, crack era NYC atmosphere always seemed a little at odds with Band's preference for picturesque L.A or Italian location shooting. As well as the relatively kiddie friendly, fantasy fare that Band's name has become synonymous with. Something that didn't stop Band from making a remake/sequel to the film 'Necropolis: Legion' last year, presumably for all the people who've been patiently waiting 33 years for a follow-up.

Necropolis' love of sticky bodily fluids -Eva is fond of suggestively licking ectoplasm off her fingers- suggests though that there was a part of Joe Gage that Tim Kincaid never forgot. The film's centrepiece, Eva growing multiple breasts, lactating slime and being suckled by her undead followers, might not be able to quite top the 'sperm bath' sequence in Breeders, but it can't be accused of not trying, and I doubt Fangoria were in any rush to feature that particular moment within their pages.