Hammer initially planned this to be part of a TV Wheatley anthology called The Devil And All His Works. Despite being, quite frankly, a mess that often looks as if scenes are missing, it nonetheless has some very memorable moments of horror, a well achieved atmosphere of nastiness, and a quick summary of its great production difficulties may make you marvel at the film turning out as well as it did! The shots of a horrid demon baby in the mirror really frightened me and stayed in my mind for weeks afterwards. I distinctly remember as a child being allowed to watch it and finding it rather uncomfortable and disturbing, a rather different kettle of fish to the Dracula and Frankenstein Hammer movies I was used to seeing, and my dad certainly wasn’t too impressed with me watching it, even though I think the most lurid scene was cut out. Yet there’s still something rather unsettling about this very un-Hammer-like horror movie from Hammer obviously inspired by the success of The Exorcist and the buzz around The Omen which was currently in production, even if as a film it doesn’t come anywhere near Hammer’s previous Dennis Wheatley-based horror The Devil Rides Out. The synopsis I have written above of the first third of To The Devil A Daughter probably sounds a little confused, and in fact it is, to the point where, after several viewings over the years, I’m still not entirely sure of what the hell is going on in this movie, or the role of certain characters. Elsewhere, a demonic baby is born, and it seems that Rayner wants to re-baptise Catherine on her birthday as a vessel for the resurrection of Astaroth………. Several years ago Henry was forced into the cult’s doings, but when he witnessed his daughter involved in a diabolical ceremony he broke away, and now places Catherine in the care of Jim Verney, an occult novelist and and an expert on Satanism. He sends his godchild Catherine Beddows to London to join her father Henry for her 18th birthday.

Twenty years later, and Rayner is in Bavaria, the head of a Satanic order deceptively called ‘The Children Of The Lord’. Michael Rainer is ex-communicated from the Church of England for attempting to bring a personification of the Devil to Earth.

REVIEWED BY: Dr Lenera, Official HCF Critic Starring: Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliott, Nastassja Kinski, Richard Widmark Written by: Christopher Wicking, Dennis Wheatley, Gerry Hughes, John Peacock, Peter Sykes

Dennis wheatley to the devil a daughter