Nunsploitation Watch: To The Devil A Daughter (1976)

Watched:  09/15/2025

Format:  Criterion

Viewing:  First

Director:  Peter Sykes

It's hard not to see To The Devil a Daughter (1976) as existing due to Rosemary's Baby's wild success, a dash of 1970's-style Satanic Panic, and a dollop of Hammer's latter-era horror output like The Devil Rides Out (this is a Hammer co-production).  It's based on a novel by Dennis Wheatley from the 1950's, so good on the printed word leading the way here.

For reasons that kinda make sense if what I understand about Hammer's financial state in the 70's, a German company was involved in financing and production.  

The movie stars an American, Richard Widmark, who made his name in noir - especially with Kiss of Death, with which he's still widely associated - and then went on to participate in a wide-range of movies and roles.  Widmark plays a writer who has written a sensationalistic best-seller about Satanism, who is represented by former Bond-girl Honor Blackman, his pal in London,* and her boyfriend, David.

Denholm Elliot plays a wealthy fellow whose daughter is played by a 14-year-old Natassja Kinski.  Elliot was wrapped up with the Satan-worshipping cult led by Christoper Lee(!).  Thanks to Elliot's wife having joined the cult, Lee had obtained Kinski at birth and wraps Elliot up into their nefarious plan.

Basically, Kinski is raised inside a convent that looks Catholic but is, in fact, it's all about that Astaroth, and has maybe the funniest Satanic emblem in cinema history - an inverted crucifix with someone nailed by the feet doing the splits.  

Apparently Catherine (Kinski's character, who dresses as a nun) has been raised completely within the cult, and believes it to be the dominant religion and Astaroth her God.  She's part of Lee's plan to bring his preferred dark lord to Earth.

Now is as good a time as any to mention that if you've ever wanted to see Christopher Lee's bare ass, this movie's your huckleberry.

On the whole, this movie is fine for a while, and then it rushes a bunch of stuff in the third act, and we all know how much I love "magic" in movies, and this is that.  Things just happen.  What felt semi-grounded becomes very silly, up to and including a muppet who... you know what?  I am not typing that.  

While I do my damndest to be open minded, apparently Kinski was 14 when she made this movie, and suffice to say, no one under 18 should have been cast for what is required of her here.  In general I try to be cool about how people in other lands and from other times do things, but we knew better than this in 1976, so I don't really know what the story is here.  I'm not... mad?  But I also think you could use a solid warning before getting on a list for watching the movie.  And retroactively, I'm kind of baffled this happened.

Especially as the movie is absolutely not worth it.  The ending is just silly, and badly scripted.  Which apparently everyone working on the film knew but that was the script, and this was Hammer trying to pinch pennies.

I can't recommend this one.  And I had hopes for it.  But, honestly, I find these movies with a person fighting magical cults to be kind of... all the same in a weird and unsatisfying way.

*I endorse being represented by Honor Blackman, if you can swing it