moonspinner55 A young (but still mustachioed) Tom Selleck gets top billing in this tacky United Artists thriller that begins as a devil worship tale but instead evolves into a story of ancient witchcraft coming between a present-day wife and her husband, with overtures of reincarnation and torture. An art historian in Manila visits a curiosity shop and comes across a 370-year-old painting of three witches being burned at the stake; he takes it home, hoping his wife will be delighted by the uncanny resemblance between she and one of the witches. Dumbbell opus does have some curious parallels to 1976's "The Omen": a devil dog with 666 on his spiked collar and a mysterious housekeeper who has a forceful hold over the Mrs. Playing a slow-witted sap, Selleck is fairly convincing (not exactly a compliment to the future star), while Richard LaSalle's melodramatic background score seems lifted from any number of made-for-TV movies on the same subject. *1/2 from ****

JoeB131 So a production company in the Philippines decides to cash in on the Exorcist craze, and makes a movie about witches and stuff. So an American Art dealer finds a picture of a 16th century witch burning where the head witch looks like his wife, and the other witches look like other women he runs into. And after some whacky encounters his wife is possessed by the witch who wants to kill him because his ancestor burned them. Or something. This movie is made on the cheap and the best thing I can say is that Selleck is swinging for the fences in his acting. The rest of the cast, American and Filipino alike, seem like they are waiting for their checks to clear. "Oh, I'm topless in this scene? Do I get paid extra for that?"

GL84 After buying a strange painting at a sale, a man begins to suspect something sinister is occurring after noticing his wife's resemblance to a figure in the painting and comes to realize that a coven of witches are involved and tries to stop them before he becomes a victim of their wrath.This was an admittedly fun witchcraft movie, though it does has a few minor areas of improvement to really work itself out of it's overall hum-drum feel. That's the main fault of the pacing in this one feeling just so dreary that nothing really exciting happens, with everyone tending to talk about the proceedings since the film plays it off as a mystery about painting and the reincarnation which can be fun but overall it tends to just drag the pace out. That said, the mystery angle here is actually inviting due to being a rather creepy mystery surrounding the painting, the few action scenes are rather well-done and it's certainly got enough horror elements to keep it enjoyable. Plus, any film that opens with topless female whipping definitely has it's head in the right direction. Overall, not bad but has some problems.Rated R: Violence, Language and Nudity.

Scott LeBrun "Daughters of Satan" is nothing special, but is still hard to resist on the level of an entertaining "late show" feature. It *is* irresistible to see a young and studly Tom Selleck in a horror film, a Tom Selleck who's already sporting that famous moustache.He plays James Robertson, an art expert working in the Philippines who purchases a painting for himself depicting the burning of three witches. One of the witches bears an uncanny resemblance to his wife Chris (Barra Grant). And that's just the beginning of the weirdness to follow, as both James and Chris start to encounter strange individuals, including Kitty (Tani Guthrie) and Juana (Paraluman). Also on hand is eternally jolly Filipino icon Vic Diaz as an art dealer as well as Vic Silayan as helpful doctor Dr. Dangal...not to mention a Rottweiler who's friendly to Chris but who always gives cat man James a hard time.The opening sequence very much lets us know right from the start where this is heading, so suspense is limited. This film, produced by Aubrey Schenck ("Frankenstein - 1970", "Robinson Crusoe on Mars") and directed by TV veteran Hollingsworth Morse (now *there's* a name for you), is more about enveloping the audience in an appropriately odd and dreamy ambiance. It has some violence here and there and voyeurs will appreciate the breast shots from our leading lady. There's a lot of great scenery to enjoy, and a very '70s but effective music score by Richard LaSalle.The movie is an acceptable diversion, as far as it goes, but it does rather get bogged down in talk sometimes. Still, some of the actors, especially Guthrie and Paraluman, are fun to watch, and Selleck is good as the frustrated, puzzled hero. Grant is less satisfactory (although she does look fine). Plus, the movie is worth sticking with just for the kind of downbeat ending common to cinema of the 1970s.If you're a genre fan who loves seeking out obscurities such as this one, you should have a fairly good time with it.Six out of 10.