i must have seen a different film!!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Absolutely amazing

A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

If it's not already considered something of a cult classic, then "The Brotherhood of Satan" certainly should be. It's one of a few interesting genre items produced by actors L. Q. Jones and Alvy Moore; the others are "The Witchmaker" and the justly famous "A Boy and His Dog". Joined by director Bernard McEveety (a veteran of mostly TV), cinematographer John Arthur Morrill ("Kingdom of the Spiders") and other talents, they're wise to concentrate mainly on an escalating sense of danger. In fact, the whole film has a memorable atmosphere of weirdness, not to mention some effective imagery.Its opening is one of the most memorable things about it, as the filmmakers switch between shots of a toy tank and a real one as it crushes a car beneath it. This leads us into a story (written by William Welch, with story credit given to Sean MacGregor (director of "Devil Times Five")) about vacationers Ben (Charles Bateman), his girlfriend Nicky (luscious Ahna Capri), and K. T. (Geri Reischl), Bens' daughter from a previous marriage. They come upon a small town whose citizens are scared silly. It seems that no one can enter (save for Ben & company) and no one can leave. Adults are dying, and kids are disappearing. The frustrated sheriff (Jones) doesn't understand what's going on and it's driving him crazy.This is creepy from the start, and gets under the skin due to a deliberate pace and some deeply committed performances, from bit players as well as main cast members. Jones and Moore are great value, as always, and Charles Robinson (not to be confused with the actor from 'Night Court') is good as the priest who comes to figure things out. Strother Martin is wonderful as the cheerful Doc Duncan who's hiding a LOT from some of his fellow citizens. There's also a very fine music score by the under rated Jaime Mendoza-Nava ("The Town That Dreaded Sundown" '77). The nightmare sequence in the latter half of the picture is stylishly done. And there's one noteworthy scene where a member of the coven (Helene Winston) is confronted for going against the ways of their Dark Lord.Horror buffs should give this one a try, if they're not already aware of it. It just makes this viewer more impressed with Jones and Moore that they gave genre fare a go during this period.Eight out of 10.

This is a very original production in all its surrealistic absurdity for its fantastic imagination and imagery - there is a tremendous dream sequence in the middle of the film, a nightmare, of course, but very efficient, credible and well done - exactly like that real nightmares tend to haunt you. The horror is not ridiculously exaggerated, like in most later horror films, but actually creeps into you with some efficiency and manages to present a spectacle that gets more fascinating all the time, until the grand finale, which offers some additional surprises. The actors are all unknown, its a budget film with no pretensions, but it certainly deserves some attention, together with other odd films of some uniqueness, for instance "Wild in the Streets" from 1968 about a stipulated flower power world revolution. This belongs in almost the same category for making the absurd credible enough to catch your interest, which is the element of cinematic magic: the art of making the impossible credible and surrealism as a visually acceptable reality. Of course, it's a B-feature and not on par with professional standards, but it certainly is better than most B-features and well worth seeing at least for once. The idea in itself is timeless: the problem of old age to renew itself, its longing for the lost youth, and the wishful thinking of the possibility of renewing it, a theme which also dominates a later and much more refined horror thriller, "The Skeleton Key" from 2005. Here the question is left open - did they succeed, or did they not? The door is left open for any possibility and impossibility.

"The Brotherhood of Satan" is a singularly creepy movie. I'm surprised I haven't heard more about it. The opening sets the tone. A toy tank clicks and spins. A car is crushed flat by a very real tank, the family inside screaming. The two are cut together, no explanation provided. After the car is reduced to burning wreckage, a little boy in a cowboy hat calmly walks away, soon joined by a group of other quiet children. There is no music and the whole sequence is shot in either extreme close-ups or wide long shots. The effect is deeply creepy."Brotherhood of Satan" is actually packed with spooky imagery like that. A little girl is awoken by her baby doll. Downstairs, her father reads solemnly from the Bible, unaware that his wife is having silent seizure-like spasm right next to him. On its own accord, the doll enters the room. It doesn't spring to life and attack the man. Instead, the toy simply stares him down, shaking with glee, the man bleeding from the mouth. After the parents are dead, the little girl joins a group of other children, walking off into the foggy night. The doll cries a murky tear.The movie is disinterested in plot. There is a story. A stout-chinned man, his girlfriend, and eight year old daughter are on a road trip. While stopping through the town of Hillsboro, California, they are attacked by crazed locals. After escaping, their car breaks down outside the town, forcing the three to return. Over a nightmarish pace, we are made privy to a plot by the town's devil-worshipping elderly to kidnap children, sell their souls to Satan, and take up residence in the now lifeless young bodies. The dad and town priest realize this slowly, unaware that the kindly old doctor is the ringleader of the cult. The story is purely functionary and the film outright ignores it at times, focusing instead on eerie imagery. Like a man decapitated in shadow by the sudden a black-clad rider. A child's birthday party cut together with pictures of dismembered bodies. The red face of a painted devil appearing slowly over a man reading a book. So on and so forth.The satanic lodge reminds me of "Suspiria," with its checkered floors, and "The Masque of the Red Death," with the way the camera glides through the '70s puke-green painted walls. The movie is largely without music. Actually, there might not be any music before the fifty-five minute mark. The direction is frequently intentionally askew, creating an otherworldly feeling. There's even a sick sense of humor, when an elderly couple enter the lodge, pledge allegiance to Satan, and then chit-chat and tell jokes like this is an after-church bingo party.Like many of the Satanic cult films that followed, and "Rosemary's Baby" before it, "The Brotherhood of Satan" has a downbeat ending. Character actor Strother Martin screams madly about the devil while his cultists are stabbed to death by black-robed men with flaming swords. Evil triumphs and good arrives too late to stop it. It's hard to decide if the loose plotting was intentional. Either way, the film sustains a freaky atmosphere of seventies dread and packs a visual wallop.

This totally odd-ball feature is a typical and prime example of satanically shocking 70's horror. The events are thoroughly confusing and it takes up quite a while before you figure out what the hell is going on, but the brooding atmosphere sucks you in immediately. Right from the indescribably bizarre intro, showing a couple of eerie children turning toys into real-life war machinery, you just know this become an uncompromising and gritty shocker. "Brotherhood of Satan" soon appears to be another installment in the alleged & unofficial "creepy little town hiding a dark secret" sub genre. A young widower, traveling with his new yummy girlfriend and 8-year-old daughter, stops in a remote little town to report a car accident they witnessed on a nearby highway. The villagers behave very hostile and insist the visitors on leaving right away. The town clearly bathes in an ambiance of fear and panic, as local children vanish inexplicably vanished and unnatural forces maintain everyone within the boundaries of town. Hillsboro is in the grip of a satanic cult, apparently ruled by the elderly members of the community. I really liked "Brotherhood of Satan" a lot. The story reminded me of a novel written by John Saul, but I can't remember the title. It also dealt with a cult of elderly people abusing youthful villagers for their own greedy merits. The film mainly relies on creepy scenery (like dolls and witchcraft relics) but a slightly more involving and coherent screenplay would have been nice. The subject matter often raises a lot of issues and questions, and director Bernard McEveety can't always provide us with answers. The climax is terrific, very seventies (meaning shocking) and unforgettable. Beautifully shot film, too.