The Brotherhood of Satan 2002 Horror Movie Review

  “The Brotherhood of Satan” reminded me of why I enjoy watching horror movies from the seventies.  This strange outing has a suspenseful, creepy plot without the gratuitous gore, foul language and sex that plagues today’s theatres.  Think “Village of the Damned” meets “Rosemary’s Baby.”  Instead of aliens, it is a coven of Satan worshippers that are terrorizing a small, southwestern town.  For three days, it has been isolated from the rest of the world.  No one has been able to get in or out.  It’s like an episode of Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone.”  Entire families are being murdered and their children whisked away to a secret location.  The Satanists use war toys, dolls, and other seemingly harmless objects to slaughter parents before luring their children away for their own hellish purposes.  One couple, with their little girl, manages to enter the town.  Will they be able to stop the Satan worshippers’ diabolical scheme before it is too late?


  Strother Martin gives a realistic, disturbing performance as the evil, two-faced Doc Duncan.  (He also played a mad professor in the successful science fiction horror film “Sssssss”; he was transforming his young lab assistants into cobras.)  The ending is wonderfully downbeat and left open for the imagination - the type of ending that will haunt and chill you long after the credits have finished.


  If you like occult classics such as “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Race with the Devil,” and “The Devil’s Rain,” then you will want to add “The Brotherhood of Satan” to your collection.  It is highly recommended for fans of classic horror.  Also, if you enjoyed the modern “Skeleton Key,” starring Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands, you will want to see “The Brotherhood of Satan.”  Both films involve body snatching through witchcraft.


  It is a shame that, at the time of this writing, “The Brotherhood of Satan” is no longer in print.  Perhaps Sony will reissue it in a two-disc collector’s edition with commentary.