Nachts, wenn die Leichen schreien (1975)

Nachts, wenn die Leichen schreien: Directed by Robert Fuest. With Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, William Shatner. A satanist cult leader is burnt alive by the local church. He vows to come back to hunt down and enslave every descendant of his congregation, by the power of the book of blood contracts, in which they sold their souls to the devil.

“Context is everything for this type of film. This is a 1970u0026#39;s era Devil Worship film, which is a genre quite apart from other horror movies. The American public was in something of a u0026#39;Satanic-Panicu0026#39; in the u0026#39;70u0026#39;s, what with people listening to Black Sabbath and playing Dungeons and Dragons. In retrospect it was all relatively harmless and rather silly, as is this film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat said, the actors do the very best job possible, with Bill Shatner being very, um, Shatnerian, and Borgnine being, well, Borgnine (compare his performance in Disneyu0026#39;s u0026quot;Black Holeu0026quot; for contrast- hilarious). If you like anything either of these actors starred in you will probably like this as well (unless youu0026#39;re offended by the religious content). I actually though Borgnine looked *better* as a goat, at least until he melted!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe exposition/flashback portions of the plot reminded me of the u0026quot;Reverend Kaneu0026quot; plot in u0026quot;Poltergeist III: The Final Chapteru0026quot;. The presence of the actual priest and priestess of the official Satanic Church is rather telling. They obviously didnu0026#39;t take it all that seriously, so why should the viewer, or anyone else? I found the special effects towards the end to be quite spectacular, again for the era and genre. I was left with little sense of closure in this film however, as the fate of the main characters was left quite unclear. I suppose weu0026#39;re expected to go with u0026quot;The good Lord will work it outu0026quot; as an explanation, but something about the ending gives me the feeling that the good guys did *not* win out, which may again have something to do with Anton Lavey being around. At least itu0026#39;s not u0026quot;Look Whatu0026#39;s Happened to Rosemaryu0026#39;s Babyu0026quot;, or worst still, u0026quot;The Touch of Satanu0026quot;! As horror films go, I give it a 3 out of 10. But as 1970u0026#39;s Satan movies go, I give it an 8 out of 10. It really is a matter of context.”