Although I've heard a lot about the films of cult director Ted V. Mikels over the years, I'm not sure I've actually sat down and watched any of his work - until now, at least. Having just endured the cinematic mess that is BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS, I suspect that his career is based on a string of classic exploitation titles that the reality of the movies themselves can't hope to match.
Certainly BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS is nothing like it sounds as a movie. Incredibly this film earned an 18 certificate here in the UK, even though there are only two or three mildly violent scenes in the whole thing and the American rating was PG. However it stands, this is a low budget mess of a film, in which very little happens. Mikels seems to be going for a pseudo-documentary approach at times, having a greybeard professor narrating various 'facts' about witchcraft to his assembled audience, which makes for exceptionally boring viewing.
The 'horror' comes from a couple of black mass sequences that are full of alternate chanting and screaming, although they're filmed in such a way that's completely devoid of excitement, danger, or horror. Mikels is clearly hoping to emulate some of the exploitational 'witch finder' films made a few years previously, particularly MARK OF THE DEVIL, with a couple of moments of tame witch torture, but the histrionic acting and extremely low production values render such moments laughable rather than horrifying.
Certainly BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS is nothing like it sounds as a movie. Incredibly this film earned an 18 certificate here in the UK, even though there are only two or three mildly violent scenes in the whole thing and the American rating was PG. However it stands, this is a low budget mess of a film, in which very little happens. Mikels seems to be going for a pseudo-documentary approach at times, having a greybeard professor narrating various 'facts' about witchcraft to his assembled audience, which makes for exceptionally boring viewing.
The 'horror' comes from a couple of black mass sequences that are full of alternate chanting and screaming, although they're filmed in such a way that's completely devoid of excitement, danger, or horror. Mikels is clearly hoping to emulate some of the exploitational 'witch finder' films made a few years previously, particularly MARK OF THE DEVIL, with a couple of moments of tame witch torture, but the histrionic acting and extremely low production values render such moments laughable rather than horrifying.