The Demons

1973 [FRENCH]

Horror

21
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 17% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 17% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.2/10 10 983 983

rape nun inquisition witch burning torture female homosexuality

Plot summary

A group of nuns become possessed by demons and are then tortured in a dungeon of horrors during the Inquisition.

Director

Jesús Franco Photo
Jesús Franco

Top cast

Anne Libert Photo
Anne Libert as Kathleen
Karin Field Photo
Karin Field as Lady De Winter
Doris Thomas Photo
Doris Thomas as Mother Rosalinda
Carmen Yazalde Photo
Carmen Yazalde as Margaret
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1007.85 MB
1280*566
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 19 min
Seeds 4
1.89 GB
1920*848
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 19 min
Seeds 12

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 4 / 10

Jess Frank's Spanish/French coproduction about a pair of nuns become possessed by demons and tortured, being relentlessly pursued by witch hunters.

The film is an inferior follow-up, regarding a vicious witch-hunter who terrorizes , judges and executes to suspicious villagers. Lord Chief Justice Judge Jeffries (Cihangir Gaffari) of seventeenth century England condemns women as witches to further his political and sexual needs and while in the dungeons takes place brutal tortures executed by his nasty verdugo. The condemned prisoners approach the judge for clemency but are rejected when they don't give in to the lust of the judge . A witch is tied to a pole, as the scarlet flames lick her pale and desperate face while the feeble body is eager to succumb, the vindictive unrepentant witch doomed by the Grand Inquisitor Jeffries and Lady de Winter to die at the stake vomits her last malignant and sulphurous curse to all those guilty of her ordeal. But within the nunnery's thick stone walls, rabid desire and evil possession govern, the burnt witch utters her last words: a death curse against her accusers: Lord (Alberto Dalbés) and Lady DeWinter (Karin Field) to be carried out by her daughters. Terrified by the curse, they set out on a search for the witch's heirs and they meet them to be nuns (Anne Libert, Britt Nichols) and in particular, Kathleen and Margaret who have been raised as Sisters in the Blackmoor convent since childhood. Only one daughter has ¨The Kiss of Death¨. Only one daughter has the power to avenge her mother's death. Which one is granted the power of vendetta? Let the Exorcist Beware, the Demons are Here! Their Lips are Divine but the Kiss is Deadly. They are Sisters with Spirit... Divine and Deadly. Erotic horror... Torture... Witchcraft. Horror will hold you helpless!This 'Les démons' (1973) is one kind of sequel to ' The Bloody Judge' or 'Night of the Blood Monster' or Il trono di fuoco (original title) (1970) deals with a graphic delineation of witch-hunting in England, that's why the story recycles roles, history, and incidents from that film shot three years earlier. Here there's a fired witch, as a result, petrified and with the curse of demise upon the accusers' heads, Lord and Lady de Winter set out to trace the witch's dark bloodline, during the Monmouth rebellion period and overthrowing King James II and subsequently William of Orange taking his place. This film has been framed of painting too violent and bloody a picture of the old times, but its power is slightly remarkable and strongly sordid. The production values is mediocre considering its short budget. There're also some scenes dealing with British historical events, along with a lot of sleaziness, images of naked women and others submitted to cruel tortures . It is a twisted tale of strange desires , betrayals , perverse pleasures , prurient men and corruption. Cihangir Gaffari takes the role of Christopher Lee as Lord Justice Jeffries, giving obviously a worst acting. The Judge Jeffries role was real, in fact he was a nasty witch finder who condemned women as witches and rebels as traitors, while unleashing a reign of fire and fury. Co-stars two ravishing beauties: Anne Libert and Britt Nichols. And outstanding Karin Field as the wicked Lady De Winter, along with Franco's regular Alberto Dalbés as Thomas Renfield. And another Franco usual: Howard Vernon, overacting , as always. Being a Spanish/French production , there're Spaniard actors appearing here and there: Carmen Yazalde, Luis Barboo, Alberto Dalbés, Rosa Palomar and French ones: Anne Libert, Doris Thomas, Andrea Montchal. Special mention for the colorful cinematography by Raúl Artigot , in a luxurious copy adequately remastered , shot on location in Portugal and Castillo de Santa Bárbara, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana.The motion picture was middlingly directed by the prolific Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco or Jess Frank. Most people agreed that some Frank's works resulted to be acceptable , but most of them were botcher films. Jess was a Stajanovist, restless writer, producer, director who realized over 200 pictures. His career spans over 50 years with a few successes and lots of flops, making all kind of genres : thrillers, adventures, action and with penchant for Terror and erotic genre . Jesus used to sign under pseudonym, among the aliases he used apart from Jess Frank or Franco Manera, were the following ones : Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune, James P. Johnson, David Though, among others. Franco used to use ordinary trademarks, such as : zooms , nudism, foreground on objects , filmmaking in DIY style and managing to work extraordinarily quick in very low budget, as well as frequently releasing various titles at the same time. He was a prolific filmmaker, directing a lot of lousy movies. In his beginnings he soon applied all his knowledge and experience as director assstant, musician, editor to his feature directorial debut, Tenemos 18 años (1959). His Succubus (1968) was nominated for the Festival of Berlin, and this event gave him an international reputation. His career got more and more consolidated in the following years, and his endless creativity enabled him to tackle films in all genres, from "B" horror films to pure hardcore sex films. However, making some passable films, such as : We are 18 years old, The awful Dr Orloff, The Bloody Judge , Count Dracula, 99 women, The Blood of Fumanchu, Faceless and a few others. And many of them were heavily cut and with double versions. Rating : 4/10. Inferior and below average exploitation movie. Only for Jess Frank completists.
Reviewed by

Reviewed by BandSAboutMovies 6 / 10

The Demons

"Let The Exorcist beware, The Demons are here!"

One can only imagine that Jess Franco sat in a theater as Ken Russell's The Devils ended and thought to himself, "But where's the sex? I want more of it. I demand more of it!:

After watching a witch burn, we meet two nuns in a convent, the virginal Margaret (Britt Nichols AKA Carmen Yazalde, who appears in The Erotic Rights of Frankenstein, A Virgin Among the Living Dead and is sacrificed in Tombs of the Blind Dead) and her more sex-obsessed sister Kathleen (Anne Libert, House of 1000 Pleasures and Sins of the Flesh).

A rich woman named Lady De Winter (Karin Field, Target Frankie and Return of Shanghai Joe) believes that Kathleen is possessed by Satan and that the two are the daughters of that blackened witch, so she puts her top man, Thomas Renfield (Alberto Dalbés, A Quiet Place to Kill and Espionage In Tangiers) after her. Of course, he falls in love and lets her escape. And even when Inquisitor Lord Justice Jeffreys (Cihangir Gaffari, Dick Turpin and Bloodsport) gives him another chance, Renfield runs back to her and the two are soon tortured into near oblivion.

Meanwhile, Satan himself appears in the convent and assaults Margaret, replacing her innocence with an overwhelming desire to punish anyone who harmed her mother or sister, starting with Lady De Winter, often by kissing them into skeletons. You know, no one loves female revenge more than Jess Franco and he's going all out here, with Margaret seducing her Mother Superior right into suicide and then leaving no man or woman safe from her vengeance.

This is one of the more gorgeous films Franco would make - it was shot by Raul Artigot (The Ghost Galleon, The Cannibal Man, The Pyjama Girl Case) - and he makes great use of his budget. And he lives up to those dreams of a movie that somehow answers, "What if Witchfinder General was more about lesbians?"

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