“Satan Wants Winners” - Satan's Children (1975)

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...

“You’ve Got ‘City’ Written All Over You” - The Demons of Ludlow (1983)

Here at Senseless Cinema, we are already well acquainted with the masterworks of Wisconsin-based filmmaker Bill Rebane -- see, for example, Invasion from Inner Earth (1974), Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1975), The Alpha Incident (1977), The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), The Game (1984), and Blood Harvest (1987). Today we will examine perhaps his finest film, The Demons of Ludlow (1983), a supernatural horror movie that combines the best of hit films like Poltergeist (1982) and The Fog (1980).

Some of your universe's critics, as usual, do not appreciate Mr. Rebane's work. For example, reviewer coliver calls the film "a confusing morass of time periods and storyline that threatened to put me to sleep." Reviewer FilmFatale writes, clearly blasphemously, "Really, really terrible, even for Rebane." And reviewer preppy-3 calls the film "A no-budget mess."

Read on for a much more accurate appreciation of The Demons of Ludlow...

“Dynamite the Door, Eh?” - Corpse Eaters (1974)

It is time to revel in the gory Canadian thrills of 1974's Corpse Eaters, reportedly created for $36,000 by a drive-in theater proprietor using his hard-earned nickel mining savings.

As usual, some of your universe's critics are uncharitable about Corpse Eaters. For example, reviewer Hezakiah4 writes, “Go to a field and count cow pies; it will be much more worth your while than scoping out this flik.” Reviewer Logan-22 writes, “The Corpse Eaters is hilariously awful, incompetent, yet strangely compelling in that way only bad '70 movies can be.” And reviewer Coventry writes, “In short, it simply doesn't deserve to exist.”

Read on for an accurate appreciation of Corpse Eaters...