October Horror Challenge 2019 #26: "The Touch of Satan"

It's very rare, but sometimes I watch a Rifftrax commentary or Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode and I think the movie they're mocking might be something I'd like to watch. I remember thinking that about this movie, so I'm going to take myself up on that thought and watch it. Here's hoping I haven't made a terrible mistake.

This movie opens with a brutal murder of a farmer in a small town, and a family with an old lady covered in blood who seem to know a lot about what's going on here (more than the audience does, at least). Soon the movie seems to be a love story about a guy visiting the small town who falls in love with a young woman who just happens to be part of the family from the opening sequence. Soon the young man is trapped in an evil plot involving satanism and witchcraft and murder.

I love the poster for this movie taking a snotty little jab at "Rosemary's Baby." Rude. Kinda hilarious though. And I love how the main character, the young man, just agrees to with this strange girl and meet her family and eat with them and stay the night. That's a good way to get yourself murdered even if you're not in a low-budget horror movie. I love how he doesn't even leave after a creepy old woman mysteriously appears and warns him to leave. WTF? I'd be making tracks out of that place (well, not really,  because I wouldn't have been dumb enough to stay there in the first place). He seriously doesn't leave even after he witnesses a brutal murder and the main character tells him she's a witch and he takes it like it's cute. Dude, what the fuck?

I do have to say, though, that there are some effective scenes. That's what I noticed when I saw the parody. I mean, every murder is violent and gory, and seeing a big crowd of people singing "Amazing Grace" while burning a young girl at the stake is pretty horrific. And if a crowd of people had just tried to burn my kid alive, I'd be more concerned about that than about hurling bible verses about the evils of witchcraft at them. That's messed up. This is one of those times when I kinda identify more with the villains than the "good guys." So yeah, the plot is kinda muddled and messy, but there are some good things about this movie.