History Film / TouchOfSatan

[[quoteright:182:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/touch_of_st_3100.png]]

''The Touch of Satan'' is a 1971 horror film. It was directed by Don Henderson, and it starred Michael Berry (in his only film role) and Emby Mellay (in one of two movie appearances). The film was shot in 1970 in the Santa Ynez, California area and featured the early work from makeup artist Joe Blasco. The film was relatively obscure until a 1998 appearance ([[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E08TouchOfSatan this episode]]) on the series ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', where the film was mocked for its low budget and bad acting.

The movie begins with the murder of a farmer by an elderly insane woman with terribly burned facial features. After stabbing the farmer and accidentally setting his barn on fire (yes, it really is accidental), the woman stumbles home to her family. The family, an older couple and a young teenage woman, argue about the best way to handle the situation and make vague references that the elderly woman may have killed people in the past.

The scene then switches to the main character, a young man named Jodie who is on an open-ended car trip across America to find himself and discover whether or not he wishes to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer. Jodie stops at a small pond to have lunch and meets Melissa, the teenage girl from the previous scene.

Decidedly ''not'' related to the Creator/OrsonWelles movie ''Film/TouchOfEvil.''
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!!Tropes used in this film:

* AmazingFreakingGrace: A ''perfectly'' appropriate witch-burning song and note that it's used ''four times'' in total.
* AmbiguousSituation: Who Luther and Molly are in relationship to Melissa and Lucinda is never revealed. It could be speculated that one of them may be the child or grandchild of either Lucinda or Melissa, but it is never confirmed.
* AxCrazy: Melissa's "grandma" Lucinda, [[spoiler:actually her sister]]. It's implied she was already evil, but the burns she suffered pushed her over the edge.
* BurnTheWitch: Played straight. In mid-1800s California -- about a century-and-a-half after witch trials had largely ceased to be a thing in most of the west, and even longer since burning was generally used to dispose of suspected witches -- no less.
* CassandraTruth: Even when she tells him point blank, even when she gives him a dream of the past, even when the people Melissa's living with agree with her, Jodie refuses to believe Melissa's a witch. This may have something to do with the fact that Jodie isn't very bright.
* CoolCar: Jodie's 1971 Ford Maverick with the Grabber package is pretty cool.
* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite the poster art shown as this page's image, the movie does not contain an exorcism. The ending does technically feature [[spoiler:Jodie releasing Melissa from Satan's influence]], but this is done via the two having sex rather than an exorcism ritual.
* DealWithTheDevil: Melissa made one to save her sister, [[spoiler:and Jodie makes one too at the end]].
* DevilButNoGod: At the very least, the Devil is a lot more active. He speaks out loud to people, makes deals with them, and grants them incredible magical powers and immortality. God, on the other hand, doesn't do much of anything, not even to save His people from the witches and their curse.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Melissa is finally freed from her enslavement to Satan after using the last of her magic to kill her murderous sister, but without the magic to keep her young she rapidly returns to her real age and nearly dies. Jodie sells his own soul in order to save her, thereby starting the whole thing over again.]]
-->'''Servo:''' So... in the end, Satan wins, I guess.\\
'''Mike:''' Yep, pretty much a shut-out for Satan.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Jodie doesn't care for his middle name, Lee, very much, if the one time he talks about it is any indication. For some reason he's okay with his girly first name, but doesn't like his perfectly normal middle name.
* FailedASpotCheck: In the flashback scene, we hear an AngryMob marching on the house while chanting "Burn the witch!" Melissa actually asks her father "What is it?" ''multiple times'', to which Crow [[DeadpanSnarker responds]] "It's a mob chanting 'Burn the witch!' Have you no deductive skills at all?!"
* {{Fanservice}}: Melissa is quite fetching in her miniskirt and goes topless in the un-MST'd film.
* FourthDateMarriage: Not quite marriage, but close enough especially since he didn't even make it to four entire days. He'd known Melissa for all of three days before he [[spoiler:declares he loves her in spite of her soul belonging to the Devil, then subsequently sells his own soul to keep her alive.]]
* GenderBlenderName: Jodie prefers his first name over his more normally masculine middle name, Lee.
* IHaveManyNames: I Have Many Voices, too. Satan speaks to people using their own voice.
-->'''Devil:''' I am a friend and companion of the night. I rejoice in spilled blood and the baying of dogs. I wander among shades and tombs. I am Gorgo, and Mormo, of the thousand-faced moon.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: The "great grandmother" of Melissa really has no reason for murdering other than this.
* IronicEchoCut: At the start of the movie, a farmer being killed transitions to Melissa and her family laughing pleasantly. Presumably, inverting the trope was the intent.
* MadwomanInTheAttic: A literal example, nearly. Lucinda doesn't live in the attic, but she is a madwoman usually shut up in her room.
* {{Malaproper}}
--> '''Gas Station Attendant:''' See, the way I got it figured, this job was done by one of them ''fromokaidal'' maniacs, and we ain't got none of them around here
* MayDecemberRomance: Melissa is 127 years old, while Jodie is still a young man.
* NeverMessWithGranny: By Jodie's math (which places Melissa at 127 years old), Lucinda may be the ''oldest woman alive'', or indeed ''to ever live''. She commits two murders over the course of the movie, and is implied to have killed several times before.
* NoImmortalInertia: [[spoiler:Melissa, after gaining salvation at the end of the movie, rapidly ages to her real age.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Melissa. Her "parents" are actually her great-grandchildren (maybe, it's not made entirely clear). Lucinda is about 130 years old, and ''actually looks it''
* ProductPlacement: It's almost certainly incidental, given the film's tiny budget, but when Jodie and Melissa visit the store, there's a large "Carnation Ice Cream" sign in the middle of the shot for a long time.
* PublicDomainSoundtrack: ''Amazing Grace'' is re-used a lot.
* RealAfterAll: The whole movie is spent making it out as if the family is just insanely religious and aren't able to realize that Lucinda is just mentally unstable. Then it's abruptly revealed that Melissa and Lucinda really are witches and ''the Devil'' gets involved out of nowhere as Lucinda is being burned at the stake.
* ShoutOut: The IHaveManyNames speech above is a reference to Creator/HPLovecraft's "The Horror at the Red Hook". The speech is paraphrased from [[spoiler:an incantation used by Red Hook cult]].
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: When Melissa makes her deal, the witch-hunting mob is right there listening to her conversation with the Devil, and don't do anything to stop it.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Melissa and her sister are accused of being witches. In the process of burning them, Melissa's call is answered by Satan, and she becomes an actual witch who curses all the people who would burn her.
* TorchesAndPitchforks:
** A mob like this is what sets off the whole generations-spanning curse, as Lucinda is nearly burned as a witch and Melissa sells her soul to save her.
** The mob is made out to be a bunch of unintelligent, superstitious boobs (by both the movie and Mike & the Bots)...even though Lucinda really is a witch, and the curses people are falling to were actually caused by her. So they're really not as irrational as they're made out to be.


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* BurnTheWitch: Played straight. [[CriticalResearchFailure In mid-1800s California]], no less.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite the box art shown as this page's image, the movie does not contain an exorcism.

%% * UnfortunateNames

''The Touch of Satan'' is a 1971 horror film. It was directed by Don Henderson, and it starred Michael Berry and Emby Mellay in their only roles. The film was shot in 1970 in the Santa Ynez, California area and featured the early work from makeup artist Joe Blasco. The film was relatively obscure until a 1998 appearance ([[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E08TouchOfSatan this episode]]) on the series ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', where the film was mocked for its low budget and bad acting.

* BurnTheWitch: Played straight. [[CriticalResearchFailure In mid-1800s California]], no less. They also seem to have the ''plague'' in these parts.

* {{Fanservice}}: Melissa is quite fetching in her miniskirt and has goes topless in the un-MST'd film.

* ZettaiRyouiki: Melissa rocks the 70's tiny skirt and gogo boots variation for her trip into town. Sadly, she trades this in for a strange "Buckskin Bill" type outfit soon after.

* FourthDateMarriage: Not quite marriage, but Jodie's known Melissa all of a day, maybe two before he [[spoiler:declares he loves her in spite of her belonging to the devil and subsequently sells his soul to keep her alive.]]

* TorchesAndPitchforks: A mob like this is what sets off the whole generations-spanning curse, as Lucinda is nearly burned as a witch and Melissa sells her soul to save her.

* GenderBenderName: Jodie prefers his first name over his more normally masculine middle name, Lee.

* Fanservice: Melissa is quite fetching in her miniskirt and has goes topless in the un-MST'd film.

''The Touch of Satan'' is a 1971 horror film. It was directed by Don Henderson, and it starred Michael Berry and Emby Mellay in their only roles. The film was shot in 1970 in the Santa Ynez, California area and featured the early work from makeup artist Joe Blasco. The film was relatively obscure until a 1998 appearance ([[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E08TouchOfSatan this episode]]) on the series Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000, where the film was mocked for its low budget and bad acting.

* ShoutOut: The IHaveManyNames speech above is a reference to "[[Creator/HPLovecraft The Horror at the Red Hook]]". The speech is paraphrased from [[spoiler: an incantation used by Red Hook cult]].

* ProductPlacement: When Jodie and Melissa visit the store, there's a large "Carnation Ice Cream" in the middle of the shot for a long time.

* ShoutOut: The IHaveManyNames speech above is a reference to [[Creator/HPLovecraft The Horror at the Red Hook]]. The speech is paraphrased from [[spoiler: an incantation used by Red Hook cult]].

* ShoutOut: The IHaveManyNames speech above is a reference to [[Creator/HPLovecraft]]'s ''The Horror at the Red Hook''. The speech is paraphrased from an incantation used by Red Hook cult.

* ShoutOut: To Creator/HPLovecraft in the IHaveManyNames speech above.

* CoolCar: Jodie's car is pretty cool.

''The Touch of Satan'' is a 1971 horror film. It was directed by Don Henderson, and it starred Michael Berry and Emby Mellay in their only roles. The film was shot in 1970 in the Santa Ynez, California area and featured the early work from makeup artist Joe Blasco. The film was relatively obscure until a 1998 appearance ([[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E08TouchOfSatan this episode]]) on the series MysteryScienceTheater3000, where the film was mocked for its low budget and bad acting.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Melissa is finally freed from her enslavement to Satan, but in the process she rapidly ages up to her real age and nearly dies. Jodie sells his own soul in order to save her, thereby starting the whole thing over again.]]

* {{Malaproper}}: "See, the way I got it figured, this job was done by one of them ''fromokaidal'' maniacs, and we ain't got none of them around here"
** Tom: Is that right? I should check my ''dictionotomy''.

* NoImmortalInertia: Melissa, after gaining salvation at the end of the movie, rapidly ages to her real age.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Melissa. Her "parents" are actually her great-grandchildren. Lucinda is about 130 years old, and ''actually looks it''

* RealAfterAll: A rather stupid example as the whole movie is spent making it out as if the family is just insanely religious and aren't able to realize that Lucinda is just mentally unstable. Then it's abruptly revealed that Melissa and Lucinda really are witches and ''the Devil'' gets involved out of nowhere as Melissa is being burned at the stake. Her sister turns out even worse, and takes her revenge on every person every opportunity she gets.

* DownerEnding: Melissa is finally freed from her enslavement to Satan, but in the process she rapidly ages up to her real age and nearly dies. Jodie sells his own soul in order to save her, thereby starting the whole thing over again.

'''''The Touch of Satan''''' is a 1971 horror film. It was directed by Don Henderson, and it starred Michael Berry and Emby Mellay in their only roles. The film was shot in 1970 in the Santa Ynez, California area and featured the early work from makeup artist Joe Blasco. The film was relatively obscure until a 1998 appearance ([[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E08TouchOfSatan this episode]]) on the series MysteryScienceTheater3000, where the film was mocked for its low budget and bad acting.

* AxCrazy: 'Grandma.'
* BurnTheWitch: Yup, played straight. [[CriticalResearchFailure In mid-1800s California]], no less. They also seem to have the ''plague'' in these parts.
* CassandraTruth: Even when she tells him point blank, even when she gives him a dream of the past, even when the people Melissa's living with agree with her, Jodie refuses to believe Melissa's a witch. This may have something to do with the fact that Jodie isn't exactly a physics professor.
* CoolCar
* DealWithTheDevil
* DevilButNoGod
* DownerEnding
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Jodie doesn't care for his middle name, Lee, very much, if the one time he talks about it is any indication. For some reason he's okay with his girly first name, but doesn't like his perfectly normal middle name. Could be spelled "Leigh" for all we know, though.
** Bearing in mind that Jodie was originally a boy's name, and didn't become popular for girls until much later.
* [[FailedASpotCheck Failed A Listen Check]]: In the flashback scene, we hear an AngryMob marching on the house while chanting "Burn the witch!" Melissa actually asks her father "What is it?" ''multiple times'', to which Crow [[DeadpanSnarker responds]] "It's a mob chanting 'Burn the witch!' Have you no deductive skills at all?!"
* IHaveManyNames: "I am a friend and companion of the night. I rejoice in spilled blood and the baying of dogs. I wander among shades and tombs. I am Gorgo, and Mormo, of the thousand-faced moon."
** I Have Many Voices, too. The devil specifically speaks to people using their own voice.

* MadwomanInTheAttic: A literal example of this trope.

* MayDecemberRomance

* NoImmortalInertia
* OlderThanTheyLook: Melissa and her family.
** Just Melissa. Her "parents" are actually her great-grandchildren(?). Lucinda is about 130 years old, and ''actually looks it''
* ProductPlacement: Crow: Suddenly I feel like having some '''CARNATION ICE CREAM!'''
* PublicDomainSoundtrack: ''Amazing Grace''

* TorchesAndPitchforks
* UnfortunateNames
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Though it can be assumed that Melissa's "parents" are her descendents, it's never actually spelled out exactly who they are in the film.