In the wake of real-life horrors such as the Manson murders and cinematic assaults such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Last House on the Left (1972), regional filmmakers felt empowered to present confrontational and controversial nightmares on screen. One of the most disturbing and creative of these is Satan's Children (1975), a Florida-based production showing the dangers young people faced every day in the 1970s -- dangers like Satanic cults, gang rape, quicksand, and even marijuana.
Of course, some of your universe's reviewers don't understand Satan's Children. For example, reviewer preppy-3 writes, “Basically a boring, stupid and offensive film.” Reviewer gerrymackenzie writes, “The cinematography, sets, wardrobe and hairstyles are as ugly as the underlying message of the film.” And reviewer I_Ailurophile writes, “'Satan's children' is horrible and worthless, and no one should ever watch it.”
[Before we get into the details of the film, a trigger warning is in order, as Satan's Children depicts casual homophobia and disturbing scenes of rape. As a confrontational film about the youth of the 1970s, it pulls only a few of its punches.]
Read on for an exploration of this powerful and controversial film...