[Update 03/28/2021: Need to redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots
also.]Co-written by Dario Argento and directed by Michele Soavi, the man behind the clever CEMETERY MAN, THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER is kinda like ROSEMARY'S BABY except that there is no sense of doom. It's set in the country and the woman isn't raped by a big demon, but instead a large pelican-buzzard looking thing that eats worms out of the gaping hole on the woman's neck.
The film opens in 1970 with members of a Satanic cult killing hippies off screen. We then move to 1991 where an old codger is nearly run over by a woman. Being an idiot, the woman takes the man to her house where as soon as she falls asleep he implants an icky bug in her nose! What the fuck?! The bug does some freaky stuff inside her and a killer handkerchief (yes, you read that correctly) starts running around possessing people. People die and the devil worshipers set up shop in the girl's basement. They pass the time by chasing people around and eventually use some hooks to rip a different woman's face off. That part isn't as exciting as it sounds.
Soavi made this between the barely entertaining THE CHURCH and before his masterpiece CEMETERY MAN. It has it moments, but overall I was pretty bored. The biggest problem I had was I couldn't determine if the main girl was just a complete idiot or her future was already predestined, either way removes any chance of the movie being suspenseful. No gore, long-winded story that really went nowhere, only one painted hippie boob exposed, low body count and a nearly two hour running time. I wanted to like it, since I enjoy Satanic cult movies, but I can't recommend it. Just watch ROSEMARY'S BABY again instead.
