The Adventures of Bobby with Gay Rapists and Hippy Satanists A strange movie from strange people. It seems that the director himself, working on the film "Children of Satan" has not decided what he shoots and what he shoots. And who is this Joe Wizicki? All his activity in cinema is this one film that was released in 1975.
The central character of the film is a teenager Bobby. The life of a young man is not sugar: at home the dictatorship of an overbearing father and the molestation of a sexy sister, and after going out, he becomes creepy as popular with a certain kind of citizens. And it would seem that bad in popularity, but it is popular with adult uncles looking for sweet boys. How much worse? And after the "ass party" (as one of the gay gang called it), he is humiliated and the victim gets to the fans of Satan. The plot is already one of the advantages of the film, because it is very bold and peculiar.
After watching it, it is not clear what the film was about. About how hostile and dangerous the world behind the walls of the house for American teenagers in the 70s? To take revenge on those who have hurt you? It's about finding your place, whatever it is? Or about the communities, which were very numerous and widespread in the 70s, that they are not as terrible as they are described in the media? If the film is about cults and associations, then why spend so much screen time on Bobbie? If the film focuses on Bobbie, why spend so much time covering the cult? Don't know. I don't think Joe Wizicki does either. Most likely, the meaning was laid such that Satanists, bikers or hippies are not such enemies of the people, and people like most “normal” people, they also have their own norms, rules and taboos. And also that in such communes one can feel one’s own, that’s how Bobby, who was oppressed at home, but who found his place among the children of Satan, found his home, a place where he is loved.
What meaning would not be laid in the film, if it was laid at all, and the tape still turned out not whole, not modified. If the film is about the children of Satan, then many questions remain unsolved, due to what they live if they do not work? If the film is about living in communes as an alternative to living in “normal” families and society, about freedom of choice – everyone decides who will be worshipped, who is Satan, who is God, then how to explain that there is no freedom of choice for children of Satan? How do they differ, for example, from people who have an Orthodox brain? Children of Satan, by the way, they are completely strange guys, they are more like hippies than Satanists! Looking for meaning in films like this, in typical exploitation tapes 70s is generally strange. Here and here, it is not clear what the director wanted to say, but the picture still looks with interest.
"The Children of Satan" is a sham. This slob is everywhere. The appearance of Satanists, as already written above, looks more like hippies, and given the responsibility they approached the shooting of the film, it is logical to assume that they are dressed so because they are personal clothes of the actors. Simply decided not to bother about buying costumes, their rental at film studios and theaters and even more so about attracting costumers, designers or fashion designers to work on the film. That's what the Hippy Satanists did. In the shooting of complex scenes, the authors went the simplest and most infantile way - showing the audience how another character of the film looks at this very action, but without showing the action itself. The installation is terrible, you can see the thick work of a lumberjack waving from the heart. The characters are poorly worked out, and there is no time for them at all. For such a story 87 minutes is not enough, scenes of reprisals against rapists are shown in passing, but they could potentially be the most spectacular and spectacular in the picture.
Operative films stand on two pillars - violence and sex. Why is Joe Wizicki so cold about violent scenes? And then there is the question of the presence of nudity in "Children of Satan", where is it? Why did the whole movie show the viewer only the ass Bobby? After all, there are enough young and sexy girls in the tape, who quite once in the course of the film were in scenes where it would be just right to see them naked. After all, what only one sister is worth, an extremely hot thing that so begged for good old-fashioned sex with elements of violence! Strange approach in a grindhouse film. Even so, Bobby's sister is another plus of the tape.
For all the professionalism of the film crew, director and actors, “Children of Satan” does not cause anger and feelings of complete failure. He's got a lot to blame for. If you count, it turns out that the number of shortcomings exceeds the number of advantages of the tape, and this is already visible. But Joe Wizicki's work looks fascinating, and the technical flaws are amusing. The plot of the tape is interesting, now there is much lack of such freedom as this film has. And the additional charm of the picture gives the graininess of the picture, filled with scratches and bubbles, the impression of watching the film in some grindhouse cinema on 42nd Street in 70s.
"Children of Satan" is an extremely strange and specific film. You can advise him to fans of operational films, those who like 70s, who do not disdain studio films shot by debutants.
5 out of 10