Adam Baran

The Devil’s Daughter is a campy TV-movie Rosemary’s Baby-knockoff from 1973 which stars Belinda Montgomery as Diane Shaw, a woman whose mother once did it with Satan, but then pulled the old “full-custody” bit, refusing him access to her daughter by sending her to school in Boston, a city not even Satan wanted to visit. Anyway, dude wants his daughter back, and enlists veteran Oscar-winning actress Shelly Winters to get Diane to marry some evil demon dude she’s been betrothed to. Shelly’s gotta “make it work,” to use the lingo of that other Devil in Disguise Tim Gunn, and using some basic Rosemary’s Baby witchery, she eventually does. It’s got some fabulous fun seventies TV movie atmosphere, and a twist ending that you’re likely to see a mile away, but that’s handled in the most pleasant way possible.

Nothing is more enjoyable than watching Shelly Winters’ go from doing her super nice, humble Place in the Sun routine to her full on Ma Barker madwoman bit. She was without a doubt the queen of the Grand Dames Guignol/Horror Hag genre though Bette Davis may have been the one who started it all in the first place. Who Slew Auntie Roo?, What’s the Matter With Helen?, Bloody Mama, The Mad Room, Wild in the Streets, and Poor Pretty Eddy, contain probably the best of her campy late sixties/early seventies performances, but the Devil’s Daughter definitely needs to be on that list. She’s just fantastic in it. There’s also a small, but crucial role played by Joseph Cotten. Can you guess what it is?

Worth picking up, as it’s just been released on DVD last week.