The Brotherhood of Satan ** (1971, Strother Martin, L Q Jones, Alvy Moore) – Classic Movie Review 12,749

The 1971 horror film The Brotherhood of Satan is a fairly scary, reasonably stylish little chiller, in which witch worship possesses a desert town in the grip of a cult of senior citizens recruiting the local children for Satan.

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

Director Bernard McEveety’s 1971 horror film The Brotherhood of Satan is a fairly scary, reasonably stylish little chiller tale, in which witch worship possesses a desert town in the grip of a cult of senior citizens recruiting the local young children for Satan. L Q Jones is the local lawman Sheriff Pete, Strother Martin has a jolly good time as Doc Duncan, and Alvy Moore plays Deputy Tobey, while swathes of people meet devilish doom over three days.

Charles Bateman plays widowed Ben Holden, who is on a road trip through the American Southwest with his young daughter K T (Geri Reischl) and his glamorous girlfriend Nicky (Ahna Capri) when they have a too close encounter with the small town where the coven of Satanists is kidnapping the local children to transfer their souls into their bodies.

Despite the cheap production and a few wobbles, it is mostly eerie and engrossing. It is certainly lurid and overheated enough, with that very special, ultra-tacky early Seventies B-movie horror film flavour. It is produced by two of the stars – L Q Jones and Alvy Moore.

Also in the cast are Charles Bateman, Ahna Capri, Geri Reischl, and Charles Robinson.

It is written by William Welch and L Q Jones (uncredited), based on an original story by Sean MacGregor.

It was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico in August 1969 and was released in cinemas on 6 August 1971, premiering in New York City.

The cast are Strother Martin as Doc Duncan, L. Q. Jones as Sheriff, Charles Bateman as Ben Holden, Ahna Capri as Nicky, Charles Robinson as Priest, Alvy Moore as Tobey, Helene Winston as Dame Alice, Joyce Easton as Mildred Meadows, Debi Storm as Billie Joe, Jeff Williams as Stuart, Judy McConnell as Phyllis, Robert Ward as Mike, and Geri Reischl as K T.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,749

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