Strother Martin

L.Q. Jones

Charles Bateman

Ahna Capri

Charles Robinson

Geri Reischl

Alvy Moore

Judith McConnell

Helene Winston

Joyce Easton

Debi Storm

Jeff Williams

Robert Ward

Jonathan Erickson Eisley

Alyson Moore

Kevin McEveety

Sheila McEveety

Brian McEveety

Cindy Holden

Debbie Judith

Scott Aguilar

Grant McGregor

Robyn Grei

Linda Tiffany

John Barclay

Anthony Jochim

Patrick Sullivan Burke

Donald Journeaux

Ysabel MacCloskey

Elsie Moore

Cicely Walper

Lenore Shanewise

Phyllis Coghlan

Margaret Wheeler

Gertrude Graner

Bernard McEveety

William Welch

Sean MacGregor

Sheila Clague

Jaime Mendoza-Nava

John Arthur Morrill

Marvin Walowitz

Ray Boyle

Robert Jones

Rod Sutton

Blair Brooks

Steve Karkus

Tom Ramsey

Louis Lane

Ramiro Jaloma

Horror

The Brotherhood of Satan

LQ/JAF

Four Star Excelsior

Columbia Pictures

United States of America

_**Slow-paced arty flick about satanism in a remote desert town**_

A family gets stuck in a desert town where the people seem to have gone mad. No wonder, a satanic cult has set up shop there. Charles Bateman & Ahna Capri play the couple, LQ Jones the sheriff, Strother Martin the doctor and Charles Robinson the priest.    

“The Brotherhood of Satan” (1971) combines elements of “Carnival of Souls” (1962) and "The Masque of the Red Death” (1964) for satanic horror in a desert town. 

It has the stamp of an early 70s’ art film and was the precursor to flicks like “Race with the Devil” (1975) and “The Devil’s Rain” (1975). It’s not as good as the former, but better than the latter. The main problem is the tedious pacing with pointless scenes, like the unnecessarily long driving sequence with no conversation near the beginning. Scenes such as this should’ve been scrapped for an effective 74-minute movie, like “Gargoyles” (1972). 

Cinema started to flirt with satanism in the early 60s with Roger Corman's "The Masque of the Red Death" and England's "Devils of Darkness," which were shot in 1963 and 1964 respectively.  You can trace it back further if you consider "The City of the Dead," aka "Horror Hotel," which was made in 1959. The overt satanism is surprising for films shot way back then. 

Like "The Brotherhood of Satan," none of those movies painted satanism in a positive light, but LaVey capitalized on this new interest and sprung his "church" of satan in 1966. Hammer's "The Devil Rides Out" (a.k.a. "The Devil's Bride") and "Rosemary's Baby" went into production the next year.

The other day I saw a recent movie that ludicrously turned the tables by making the satanic witches the protagonists and the twisted serial killers Evangelical believers. Yup, Christians are the real evil out there (rolling my eyes).

The film runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot in New Mexico & Southern Cal.

GRADE: C

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The Brotherhood of Satan

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