Originally titled La endemoniada, this Spanish film directed by Amando de Ossorio is a tale of exorcism that while not wholly original, does its best by involving witches and sacrifice and all that goes with it. The film is a little hokey at times, yet simultaneously it manages to be quite eerie and a little disturbing too. That silliness is in the dialogue which is also provided by de Ossorio, the same man responsible for the Blind Dead series. Some of the same types of dialogue can be seen in his other films and yet as a whole, they still manage to work and it never really drags them down, this film included. The only thing that this movie can be accused of is of being too busy. The sub-plot with the priest and the woman he used to love was unneeded and yet despite that, the combination of witchery and possession worked well.

The picture finds a witch getting accused of stealing a child and instead of facing the consequences, she kills herself by jumping out of a window. Another witch visits a young girl named Susan, giving her a talisman and a necklace which makes it possible for the spirit of the dead witch to inhabit her body. Things soon start to change with Susan as she is cursing and behaving badly until finally, she transforms in front of her coven into that old lady. After killing one child and murdering a man the police are getting suspicious, especially when Susan shows up with blood on her dress.

The best thing about the movie was the exceedingly creepy makeup used to transform Marián Salgado who played Susan, into the old woman. When all was said and done, she was the stuff of nightmares. But it was not only the old woman that was scary as the acts she committed were as well, or more succinctly, what she did was quite disconcerting. Although it was not directly shown, the sacrificing of the baby and the mutilation of the murdered man’s nether regions was quite horrific though it was also quite apt for a movie about Satanist witches. For her part, Salgado was pretty good and quite believable as the little demon seed and really stood out from everyone else in the film.

The rest of the cast was decent, whether it was the younger witch as portrayed by Kali Hansa or Lone Fleming who played Anne. Father Juan who was played by Julián Mateos was good enough and yet could have been better if his storyline had been dropped.  Yet in a roundabout way, Father Juan’s tale mattered for it provided him with the strength to do what he needed when the final showdown came between good and evil. In all though, de Ossorio does a good job of getting what he needs from the cast and does an even better job of putting it all together to make a pretty compelling and entertaining movie. Again, there were a lot of dialogue problems though, and that could be chalked up to the poor dubbing and the budget was obviously minimal, but Demon Witch Child stands as a good example of making the best out of what you have.  Definitely worth a watch if one like witches, Satanism, exorcism or just horror in general.

3.5 out of 5