The last horror film that Hammer would produce until its revival in the 21st century is a mediocre affair - a representation of its troubled production. This was the second novel of Dennis Wheatley that Hammer produced. The first one was "The Devil Rides Out" in 1968, which was a far superior film to this. Wheatley had been so proud of that film that he provided Hammer the rights to his novel "To the Devil a Daughter" absolutely free. Something that the cash-strapped studio badly needed by the mid 1970s.
It was to be the last... Wheatley was reportedly so frustrated by Hammer's adaptation of "To the Devil a Daughter" that he wrote an angry letter to Hammer, telling them that they would never be allowed film another one of his novels again. Christopher Wicking wrote the screenplay based on Wheatley's novel and deviated completely from the novel. But then his script was deemed inadequate, after filming had began, and the film continued without a script. While Wheatley was disgusted, and branded the end product obscene., Wicking, meanwhile, did not recognise the film he had written, which had been chopped and changed so much.
The film is a jumbled mess, and you can clearly see that it had trouble in production. Christopher Lee in 2002 stated that it was a decent film until the very end, which he believed to be obscene and poorly done. The ending is infamously one of the most anticlimactic in the history of horror film. To be honest, I was just glad it was over. There are some shocking moments that grant the film some kudos, namely the strange Devil foetus, or whatever it was, that appears near the end.
I can see, from reading the trivia here on IMDb and from watching the documentary about it (Yes, the film is that notorious that they even made a documentary - "To the Devil... The Death of Hammer" about how bad the experience was) that this film left an awful sour taste in the mouths of everybody involved, including Christopher Lee. It is a shame that this was the culmination of Hammer's horror.
It was to be the last... Wheatley was reportedly so frustrated by Hammer's adaptation of "To the Devil a Daughter" that he wrote an angry letter to Hammer, telling them that they would never be allowed film another one of his novels again. Christopher Wicking wrote the screenplay based on Wheatley's novel and deviated completely from the novel. But then his script was deemed inadequate, after filming had began, and the film continued without a script. While Wheatley was disgusted, and branded the end product obscene., Wicking, meanwhile, did not recognise the film he had written, which had been chopped and changed so much.
The film is a jumbled mess, and you can clearly see that it had trouble in production. Christopher Lee in 2002 stated that it was a decent film until the very end, which he believed to be obscene and poorly done. The ending is infamously one of the most anticlimactic in the history of horror film. To be honest, I was just glad it was over. There are some shocking moments that grant the film some kudos, namely the strange Devil foetus, or whatever it was, that appears near the end.
I can see, from reading the trivia here on IMDb and from watching the documentary about it (Yes, the film is that notorious that they even made a documentary - "To the Devil... The Death of Hammer" about how bad the experience was) that this film left an awful sour taste in the mouths of everybody involved, including Christopher Lee. It is a shame that this was the culmination of Hammer's horror.