To the Devil a Daughter

Infobox_Film
name = To the Devil...A Daughter


caption =
director = Peter Sykes
producer = Roy Skeggs
writer = John Peacock (screenplay)
Dennis Wheatley (novel)
starring = Richard Widmark
Christopher Lee
Honor Blackman
Nastassja Kinski
Denholm Elliott
music = Paul Glass
cinematography = David Watkin
editing = John Trumper
distributor = Hammer Film Productions
released = March 4, 1976
runtime = 95 min. (USA)
country = United Kingdom / West Germany
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:50196
imdb_id = 0075334|

"To the Devil... A Daughter" is a 1976 horror film made by Hammer Film Productions, directed by Peter Sykes. It stars Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, Nastassja Kinski and Denholm Elliott. The original music score was composed by Paul Glass.

The film was adapted from the 1953 novel of the same name by Dennis Wheatley. It was the second of Wheatley's "black magic" novels to be filmed by Hammer, following "The Devil Rides Out", released in 1968. It was marketed with the tagline "...and suddenly the screams of a baby born in Hell!" The film is generally noted for three things: the full frontal nude scene of Kinski; Hammer's attempt at a supernatural thriller, in the style of "Don't Look Now" or "Rosemary's Baby"; and the fact it is the last "Hammer Horror" produced.

Plot summary

Occult writer John Verney is asked by his friend Henry Beddows to pick up his daughter Catherine from the airport. Catherine is a nun with The Children of the Lord, a mysterious Catholic order located in Bavaria and is allowed to come to visit once a year on her birthday. But after Catherine arrives, Beddows then insists that she stay with Verney. But the order under the sinister Father Michael Rayner make all efforts to get Catherine back and marshal black magic to stop Verney as he protects her. Verney learns that the order really harbours a group of practicing Satanists who have prepared Catherine to become an avatar of Astaroth upon this, her eighteenth birthday.

Cast

* Richard Widmark (John Verney)
* Christopher Lee (Father Michael Rayner)
* Honor Blackman (Anna Fountain)
* Denholm Elliott (Henry Beddows)
* Michael Goodliffe (George De Grass)
* Nastassja Kinski (Catherine Beddows)
* Anthony Valentine (David)
* Derek Francis (The Bishop)

Production notes

* This was the very last Hammer Horror film made to this day.
* This was Michael Goodliffe's last film just shortly before he committed suicide while suffering from depression.
* If Nastassja Kinski was born on the 24^th of January, 1961, as German records and her own suggest, she would have been 15 years old at the time the film was released.

External links

*imdb title|id=0075334|name=To the Devil a Daughter
*amg title|id=1:50196|name=To the Devil a Daughter
* [http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/Q-T/to_the_devil.html Review from dvdmaniacs.net]