Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.0

Satan's Slave Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 29, 2020

Note: This version of this film is available as part of Bloody Terror: The Shocking Cinema of Norman J Warren, 1976-1987.

It might be an interesting bi-continental quiz to ask film fans in the United Kingdom if they recognize the name Herschell Gordon Lewis, while at the same time asking film fans in the United States if they recognize the name Norman John Warren. My hunch (and it’s only a hunch) is that Lewis might fare a bit better than Warren (meaning at least in part that British cineastes might be more globally aware than Americans), but that said, the two men are at least passingly comparable in that each offered exploitation outings that tended to feature both scantily clad (and sometimes naked) women and horror elements in about equal measure. Arrow released the massive The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast* a few years ago which aggregated a bunch of Lewis’ films (there are other compilations available, including The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis* and Shock and Gore: The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis*), and now Powerhouse Films’ Indicator imprint has aggregated a quintet of Warren films to whet fans’ appetites. As with some of Lewis’ efforts, the Warren films are often low budget affairs, but they arguably tend to be a cut above (no gore pun intended) some of Lewis’ films in terms of general production values and even performance acumen. All five films in this set have either already received Blu-ray releases in the United States, or are about to as this review goes live (in the case of Inseminoid), but Powerhouse's website lists this set as offering debuts of the films on Blu-ray for the United Kingdom market.

* Note: The links points to United States releases since there are reviews for some of those which some readers might be interested in perusing, though there are UK releases of both The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast and Shock and Gore: The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

Warren is featured in an apparently relatively recent interview included on this disc as a supplement talking about his early film career and how he had always pined to do a horror outing. He talks about forming a production company with some friends and having explicit conversations about exactly what type of film he wanted to make (while also indicating they had to choose between a horror film or a sex film, opting for the former). Some may feel like Warren and his cohorts may have had a special screening of Rosemary's Baby somewhere along the way during this creative process, since at least parts of Satan’s Slave play rather like retreads from the famous Roman Polanski adaptation of the iconic novel by Ira Levin.

The “Rosemary” in this instance is a young woman named Catherine Yorke (Candace Glendenning), who admittedly might not have been chosen to actually mate with Satan, but who, much like Mrs. Woodhouse in that other film, finds herself surrounded by a whole coterie of people with evil intent. One of the things that made Rosemary’s Baby ultimately so devastating, though, aside and apart from the stunning revelation at the film’s climax, is how it kind of discursively peels back the veritable layers of a conspiratorial onion, so to speak, making it frighteningly and abundantly clear how very alone Rosemary is. Unfortunately Satan’s Slave decides to play things a bit less subtly, and it’s pretty obvious almost from the get go, after a mysterious car accident claims the lives of Catherine’s parents, that her supposed protectors, an uncle named Alexander (Michael Gough), and his son named Stephen (Martin Potter) may have, as they say, ulterior motives.

Satan’s Slave has a couple shocking moments, including an at least attempted rape (depending on the version) and some gruesome pummelings, along with a few shots of naked women being preyed upon as part of some kind of Satanic ritual, but it’s a curiously static affair overall, one given to long expository bouts without much else happening. The film’s locations are rather luxe looking a lot of the time, and Hough is appealingly smarmy as a patrician type who isn’t exactly a deacon in the Church of England.

As mentioned above, Satan's Slave is one of the films in this set which has already had a release in the North American market. Those interested can peruse my colleague Brian Orndorf's Satan's Slave Blu-ray review to compare screenshots, other technical data and each release's slate of supplemental material.

Satan's Slave Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Satan's Slave is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Films' Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1 (it may interest some to note that the North American release's aspect ratio was 2.35:1). Powerhouse Films provided only check discs for the purposes of this review, with no supporting documentation, so I'm not privy to any verbiage that might be included in an insert booklet, but their website has the same generic "2K restoration, newly supervised and approved by director Norman J Warren" listed under its breakdown for every film in this set. If you look at screenshot 19, I've included the explanatory text that pops up under the Play Menu detailing some of the differences between the two versions of the film on this disc. The shared footage between the two (which is far and away the bulk of the footage) looked identical to my eye, but it's kind of interesting to note that the attack scene that was not deemed graphic enough for international exhibition looks considerably worse in its supposed original state in the Director's Cut, where at circa 7:33 it looks like things jump to some kind of dupe element that has some pretty significant damage, including huge lateral scratches (almost gaping holes) in the frame a couple of times, as well as a weirdly skewed palette and rougher grain. There's other roughness on display, including in the opening Brent Walker masthead, and this is a pretty grainy looking presentation most of the time, with some of the darkest moments, like the opening Satanic ritual, looking a little noisy at times. Those dark moments can also exhibit crush. Once the film gets into its main storyline, the palette is rather nicely suffused, though it looked a bit red to me, something that made flesh tones tilt toward purple. There's occasional slight frame instability.

Satan's Slave Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I'm evidently considerably less pleased with the overall sound of the DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track on this disc than Brian was with regard to the track on the disc for the North American market. This is perfectly listenable and certainly gets all elements across, though there's persistent hiss and hum, with crackling also evident at pretty regular junctures. There are also what seem to be kind of inartful edit points in the soundtrack, as in an attack scene at around the nine minute mark. All of that said, the track does deliver the dialogue well enough, without any major issues.

Satan's Slave Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Director's Cut (1080p; 1:28:10)


• Export Version (1080p; 1:29:49)


• Audio Commentary with Norman J. Warren and David McGillivray


• Audio Commentary with Norman J. Warren and John Scott


• Before the Blood (1080p; 28:42) appears to be a more relatively contemporary interview with Norman J. Warren than some of the other material on this and other discs, judging by his evident age and appearance. He gets into quite a bit of biographical detail while also providing tidbits about his films.


• All You Need is Blood leads to a submenu containing:

  All You Need is Blood (1080p; 13:46) is a making of featurette.

  
  

  All You Need is Blood Outtakes (1080p; 32:42) are silent and play to selections from the score.

• Creating Satan (720p; 30:14) is an archival making of featurette. This is one of many supplements in this set that feature interviews with both Norman J. Warren and Les Young.


• Devilish Music (720p; 13:05) features composer John Scott at the piano discussing his score. I have to say as a musician myself, I have really appreciated how so many of these Powerhouse Indicator releases feature supplements devoted to scores.


• Deleted Scenes

  Dream Sequence (1080p; 2:12) is in black and white and has no actual soundtrack, with a brief commentary by Warren included and then some of the score.

  
  

  Tea Party (1080p; 3:05) is also in black and white with a brief Warren commentary.

• Censoring Satan's Slave (1080p; 15:51) steps through several changes that were requested (demanded) by the British censors, but how international exhibitors actually wanted a much more graphic version.


• Trailers

  'U' Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:08)

  
  

  'R' Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:10)

• Image Gallery (1080p)

Powerhouse provided only check discs for purposes of this review, but from their listing on their website this looks like another typically very handsomely packaged release which includes a slipbox and insert booklets.

Satan's Slave Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Satan's Slave has a few moments of angst, but it's a rather tame horror outing despite occasional dabblings into more gruesome territory. This is another Indicator release where the supplements rather than the film may be the main calling card. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.