Daughter Dearest

We didn't really watch as much horror over Horrorween. Ms. Spenser was busy, and I'm not as much of a horror hound. But she did request we watch To the Devil a Daughter (1976).

It starts with priest Christopher Lee being excommunicated from the church for heresy. Much later, we find him running an order of nuns on a secluded Bavarian island. One nun, Nastassja Kinsky, is being released from the order to go to her father in London.

In London we meet Richard Widmark, an author of books about the occult, at a book signing. His agent, Honor Blackman, sees him meet up with a disheveled Denholm Elliott and have a long private chat (when he should be mingling with prominent guests!). 

It turns out that Elliott has asked Widmark to pick up his daughter, Kinsky, at the airport, for reasons that are not explained quite yet. Widmark does this, deftly separating her from her escort, and takes her home to his dockside apartment. She has had a very isolated upbringing, and seems sweetly innocent. 

Blackman and her boyfriend Anthony Valentine come by for breakfast, and we get some explanation: Widmark thinks that Kinsky was raised by a satanic sect, and will be sacrificed on the next day - Halloween. He then goes out, leaving her in his friends keeping. But Christopher Lee telepathically commands her to come to him, and she obeys. Widmark spots her just in time. And so begins the battle of wills. 

This movie obviously has a stacked cast, although only Lee seems to be giving it his all. Well, maybe Kinsky, who is fascinatingly strange as the nun for Satan. She also shows a lot of skin, but that's to be expected. The final act includes a gross little demon puppet, all red and slimy, who seems to be trying to crawl up Kinsky's hoohaw - not sure about that part, but a pretty good effect. 

All in all, a pretty satisfying, if not really good, Hammer horror. It was the last one they made before The Woman in Black. It was great to see Widmark in a later role - but we were very annoyed at how he kept running off to investigate, leaving Kinsky to get into trouble. Focus, man!