To the Devil a Daughter (Peter Sykes, 1976)
...and suddenly the screams of a baby born in Hell!
Hammer's final full length feature film is actually a surprisingly good one! Very, very loosely based on a Dennis Wheatley book, To the Devil a Daughter is Hammer's ohhh-so exploitative cash-in on the whole Exorcist/Omen/Rosemary's Baby Satanic/Demonic cult sub-genre that was popular in the 1970s.
The story concerns a Satanic cult led by evil Father Michael Rainer (Christopher Lee, in one of his better, more underplayed roles), who -along with his evil Satanic cohorts- plan to convert a pretty young virgin nun (played by a very pretty, very young Nastassja Kinski) into the Devil's representative on earth. A sort of Satanic sales rep, if you like. Truth be told, it's all about Father Michael getting his end away, which is probably true about all religious cults. It's all about the shagging, right? Right.
The film is well directed by Sykes, and has a slow, creepy vibe to it. You never quite know what's going on at first, but you do know it's evil! The cast is universally terrific. Lee, as always, is excellent, and so is the nubile young Kinski, who was only 14 years old at the time (!) yet has some nude scenes, including one of full frontal nudity! How did that get past the censors?
Richard Widmark is also very good in the lead role, and there's a fascinating documentary on the old DVD release telling stories of his constant child-like tantrums throughout the shoot. Support roles from Honor Blackman & Denholm Elliott also help the film, but the film's laughably bad special effects and hurried, diabolical ending hampers To the Devil a Daughter from becoming a true classic.
Despite the flawed ending, To the Devil a Daughter is an enjoyable Hammer romp. It's also a rather fitting swan song for Hammer's House of Horriororiorrrr.
