dmdavidsonhome I first saw The Touch of Satan at the Dublin (Georgia) Drive-In Theater following the 1980 re-release under the title Night of the Demon. It was then released under the original title on VHS video. I have read that it was directed by none other than Tom Laughlin, Mr. Billy Jack himself, despite the director's name being Don Henderson. I am aware that some people do direct films and write books using a false name but I have not seen where this credit has ever been officially given, implied or acknowledged. I am well aware that this film has been laughed-at, low-rated, panned, condemned, damned, parodied, spoofed and razzed by many. many people, but I still like it. There is just a certain something that makes it enjoyable to me. Michael Berry (Jody) seems to have gone on to a career working on film crews as an on-set medic, among other things. Lovely Emby Mellay (Melissa) seems to have simply just disappeared from the face of the earth after making this one movie. The location filming in Santa Ynez, California is one of the positives the film has. The scenery is lovely. The music was also quite good, too. The film also features some early makeup effects work by the talented Joe Blasco. I miss going to the drive-in and this is one film that transports me back to those days. I just wish that this DVD had been made from a better quality print of the film, if not remastered. It even looks a bit like a DVD that was ripped directly from a VHS video copy. That aspect makes me wonder just why the DVD is priced a bit higher than perhaps it warrants. Maybe it is also the fact that the film is so hard to find in other formats other than on MST3K. But I would much rather watch the film just as it was originally made and intended to be seen and relive the good old days of the drive-in. As for it being a "bad" or "awful" film, I have seen quite a few huge-budgeted films, featuring big-name casts that I enjoyed a lot less than The Touch of Satan.

Lee Eisenberg Apparently, most people who have reviewed "The Touch of Satan" here only saw the "MST3K" version, as the original version is too crappy to watch. I now add my name to that number. As with most of the movies featured on that show, it's a litany of incompetent dialog, poor direction, and a barely comprehensible plot. No wonder Mike, Servo and Crow had such a hilarious time with it! The lousy excuse for a plot has a young man - named Jodie! - hooking up with a farm girl who (surprise, surprise) turns out to be the Devil. But most of the movie consists of scenes in which one person talks and then the other person takes WAY too long to answer. There's that and inexplicable usages of "Amazing Grace" (that one British Parliament member outlawed the slave trade for THIS?!). Oh, and the girl's grandmother looks like, to quote Crow, an overcooked turkey.In conclusion, the movie on its own is a total zero, but the "MST3K" version is 10/10.

Gafke A young man named Jody drives across country and decides to stop and have lunch in a small town where, he's been told, a "chromichidal maniac" is on the loose. He meets a young pretty girl named Melissa, falls instantly love and follows her home for dinner. Dinner turns into a weekend and we slowly (very slowly) learn that Melissa is no ordinary seventeen year old girl. She's a 120 year old witch who sold her soul to Satan, and the incredibly wrinkled woman she claims is her great grandmother is actually her little sister...and a "chromichidal maniac" to boot. Seems Melissa sold her soul to save the weird old chick from being burned at the stake by an angry mob 120 years earlier. Now, it seems, nothing can save Melissa from the curse...except perhaps for Jody's love. Will he sell his own soul to save her? Who cares?This 70s effort is filled with bad acting, a terrible script and a story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The flashbacks to the 1850s still manage to look like the 1970s and the angry mob is more of a slightly irritated gathering. Everyone looks stoned and delivers their lines in half hearted monotones, eyes glazed and faces expressionless. And Jody has got to be the stupidest kid yet to appear on screen. He hangs around even though he's clearly not wanted and continues to hang around even after things begin to get menacing. Not even the sight of Gramma-Sister eviscerating a cop with a scythe can scare him away for long. No, he's too much in love with Melissa, a drab farmgirl with minimal beauty whose claims of Witchy-ness cannot penetrate Jody's thick skull and sound any sort of alarm bells. And who the hell are those people that Melissa is living with? They're not her parents, but they're in on the Dreadful Truth, so what gives? This is just one of the many glaring plot holes that litter this lackluster film. Not even the horrific murders and the fiery finale could keep me from nodding off. This movie just kind of plods along like a cinematic sedative until it finally peters out and ends with no fanfare whatsoever. Guaranteed to cure insomnia.

tfrizzell A young man (Michael Berry) on a cross-country trip to California stops one day to have a little lunch and meets a beautiful but highly suspicious farm girl (Emby Mellay) in "The Touch of Satan", one of the very worst movies ever put on celluloid. Naturally Mellay is not what she seems, she is really a 120-year-old witch who sold her soul to save her sister as she was being burned at the stake by an angry mob that believed she herself was a witch. Mellay makes a deal with Satan to save her sister, but pays her soul in return. Rumors around the spooky town come up and the suspense builds for Berry, but in the end will he try to destroy the curse or will he lose his soul as his love (or lust really) grows for Mellay? Whacked situations, a squeaky soundtrack, sophomoric performances, bargain-basement visual effects and a crummy script make this production one you should avoid unless you like those movies with camp value. I don't. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).