Elizabeth (Erna Schurer from Scream of the Demon Lover) learns her uncle has passed away and that she is set to inherit his castle. She arrives at the property with her boyfriend Jack (Roland Carey) and soon comes to realize her uncle might’ve been murdered. Before long, we discover that the help is plotting to drive Elizabeth insane by using a drug so they can disinherit her.
It’s a tale as old as time. Or at least as old as movies themselves. Yes, The Doll of Satan (the only film from one-and-done director Ferruccio Casapinta) is another Old Dark House movie. They weren’t really making a lot of these things in 1969, and the proof is in the pudding. It’s a creaky and dull murder mystery. You know, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s in color (the gorgeous cinematography is a huge plus) and it contains some brief (very brief) nudity, it could’ve passed for a movie from thirty years earlier.
I’m a fan of Old Dark House mysteries, and even this one tried my patience. The set-up takes longer than necessary and the plot plods for nearly an hour as fragments of the killers’ scheme are slowly doled out to the audience. Once the drug takes effect and our heroine begins to experience sexual dreams/hallucinations, things perk up slightly. However, the cheesy ending is right out of an episode of Scooby-Doo (complete with heroic canine).
Schurer is quite good in the lead, but the movie makes a serious miscalculation by keeping her largely absent from the action in the third act. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if Carey wasn’t such a dull leading man. It also doesn’t help that the torture dungeon in the basement (which figures prominently in the poster art) barely gets any use. Oh, and despite the title, Satan never once figures into the action. What the hell. Oh well, I guess you can get some laughs from the club scenes which feature some of the whitest white people dancing you’ve ever seen.
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