Demon Witch Child (1975) User Reviews

It's that old devil, called...the devil again

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 5 December 2018]

It's another Exorcist rip-off, but then who cares because it's a pretty entertaining one too. Fernando Sancho fans please note: He does not eat any chicken in this one.

A creepy old woman desecrates a church, steals a chalice, and probably lays a cable on the floor on the way out, causing more problems for an overstretched police force who are trying to track down a kidnapped baby. The young priest in charge of the church is disturbed and thinks that its the work of satanists, whereas the police think it's some young people who are bored with drugs and sex. Good thinking, coppers!

The old woman is the head of a satan worshipping cult and is quickly arrested by the police (which is confusing considering what they were just saying). Turns out the old witchy woman has also kidnapped the baby and wont talk, throwing herself out of a window while her second in command curses the police (including the eighties band led by Sting). Curses, eh? Better keep an eye on that young girl that's the daughter of a local judge - she looks like a typical possible possession case.

What unfolds is kind of like The Exorcist as the girl starts cussing everyone left right and centre, spouting out their secrets, making door handles move on their own, writhing about the floor and turning the top half of her body round the wrong way. You get the usual science/religious conversations from the parents/priest/police/psychiatrist involved, but there are a good few differences that set this one apart.

For one thing, there's an entire sub plot regarding a relationship the priest had with a girl before he became a man of the cloth. I know folks take breakups bad sometimes, but this girl becomes a drunken hussey and blames everything on him! She doesn't stop there either, which i guess sets up the priest for one of those 'crisis of faith moments' near the end of the film.

What's also creepy is the little girl transforming into the old woman (while still being a little girl) and getting all murderous on the population. Reagan out the of the Exorcist just lay in bed waiting for victims - this kid goes out and cuts their tallywhacer off. That would give the impression that this film is gory by the way. It's not at all.

I put this up near the top of the Exorcist rip-off pile. There's an effective burning sequence, the girl climbing down the side of a building, and all sorts of devilly jazz.

Exorcist Knockoff, But a Decent One

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 10 December 2010]

A person breaks into a church, and steals a chalice while leaving behind a mess and a Satanic calling card. That would be bad enough, but just wait until a little girl gets possessed and becomes the Demon Witch Child! Written and directed by Amando de Ossorio. He has made a number of low budget horror films, particularly in the "blind dead" series.

Interesting score, vaguely reminiscent of Claudio Simonetti's work.

The girl, Susan, is very weird, like a small child trapped in a preteen's body. Some of this may be due to the off dubbing, though. Her extreme innocence does seem logical in comparison to her transformation, making it seem more extreme. Very nice makeup effects, too. (Was this you, Pablo Perez?) (Interestingly, the actress playing Susan was the Spanish dub for Linda Blair in "The Exorcist").

There are some "Exorcist" similarities, but it is not a blatant ripoff, even if this film was clearly inspired by it. When the priest gets called either "queer or impotent", that is pretty amusing.

There is some completely erroneous nonsense about inheriting languages through genes, which may remain dormant for generations. I cannot imagine that any credible scientist would ever say such silly things.

Absolutely deserves a decent DVD release. Whoever owns the rights, if any, and the original negative needs to get this one released to us in a clean copy. Someone call Dark Sky! They are the people for the job.

This terrifying Spanish exploitation displays possession, witchcraft , eerie scenes and horror

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 16 November 2021]

An acceptable Exorcist rip-off , though it contains some cheesy special effects and mediocre direction . La Endemoniada or Demon witch child or The possessed (1975) contains chills , thrills , disgusting Satanism and bizarre shots of possession . An old witch (Tota alba) seeks revenge through the daughter (Marián Salgado) of the commissioner who had her thrown in prison . Soon the little girl's head is spinning around, and an old priest (Julian Mateos) is called in to perform an exorcism. As the priest attempts to free from possesion with sinister visions resulting in fateful consecuences . As the young girl is really possessed by a malevolant spirit until a surprising and astonishing final . Good and evil battle for possession of the innocent! .If you were TERRIFIED by "The Exorcist"...HORRIFIED by "Beyond the Door"...Now see the GREATEST SHOCKER of them all!!!

This is pretty entertaining witchery stuff about young girl turns possessed by a woman from a witches cult , while seeks vendetta . This is the Spanish answer to American horror hit , The Exorcist by William Friedkin . Atmospheric horror movie contains terrifying scenes when appears witchery , necromancy and possssion scenes and taking place brutal killings , terror, and confusion around her family and the townfolks . Although there are some lousily made scenes , including primitive special effects . It's a slight fun with passable make-up , naive FX , acceptable set decoration and functional art direction . The fable is sometimes silly and laughable , though a few effects and intriguing set pieces are professionally made . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by the possession images , though sometimes are a little bit cheesy . While not a hit during its original run, the film became successful when reissued nearly 45 years later . Main and support cast are decent . Julian Mateos plays the priest trying to unravel the mystery suffering from the effects. While the starring child was acceptabily incarnated by Marián Salgado , she was hired by Amando de Ossorio due to she dubbed Linda Blair in the Spanish version of El Exorcist . And other secondary actors giving brief but acceptable performances such as Fernando Sancho as Police Inspector , Angel del Pozo as the father ,Roberto Camardiel as Managing Editor, Fernando Hilbeck as doctor who prescribes strong treatment , Lone Fleming , and , of course , Tota Alba as the creepy witch . In the film appears known Spanishtrash actresses as Kali Hansa as Gypsy Witch , María Kosty as Esther , Julia Saly nicknamed La Pocha , Montserrat Prous as a Nurse and Lone Fleming as Anne Crawford . All of them starred several exploitation films during the 60s and 70s . The Exorcist by William Friedkin spawned countless imitations , and clones all around the world , as in Spain was made four at the same time : this ¨Endemoniada¨ 1974 by Amando de Ossorio with Julián Mateos , ¨The Spiritist¨ 1975 with Vicente Parra, Maria Salerno and ¨Exorcismo¨ by Juan Bosch with Grace Mills , Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina and ¨El Juego Del Diablo¨ 1975 with Imma de Santis by Jorge Darnell .

The motion picture was professional though regularly directed by Amando De Ossorio . Amando began in films as a writer and assistant director and continued his career by making short films and industrial documentaries . He was one of the main directors of the Spanish horror boom in the 70s, specially for his quartet of films about the living dead Templars which started with his first great success and immensely popular ¨Tombs of the Blind dead¨ which to be continued by a trilogy : ¨Return of evil dead¨ , ¨Ship of Zombies or Blind dead 2¨ and ¨Blind dead 3 or The night of the sea gulls¨ . Amando owns his own studio and created and/or designed many of the simple special effects sequences you see in any of his many imaginative undertakings . Amando who passed away in 2001 was a good craftsman who realized a lot of amusing as well as entertaining films . He displayed a varied career and specialized on all kind of genres as Western in "Rebels in Canada" and "Grave of the Gunfighter" , Monster movie as ¨Serpent of sea¨ and , of course, Terror as ¨Malenka¨ , The possessed¨ and ¨night of witches¨ . Ossorio also studied painting and photography , moreover, he also made his living as a painter of creepy images of the Knights Templar in his later years.

Pretty original "Exorcist" rip-off

[lazarillo · 13 March 2007]

These kind of movies are usually dismissed as "Exorcist" rip-offs, which is not entirely accurate as they often lacked the budget and talent to "rip-off" a mega-budgeted Hollywood spectacle like "The Exorcist" even if they wanted to. What they really did was take advantage of all the notoriety and publicity surrounding the American film to make something that usually wasn't any good, but was often a lot more original than they have been given credit for. An old gypsy witch is accused of kidnapping a baby. After she dies in custody, her daughter arranges for her soul to possess the neglected young daughter of the local magistrate. Like Ravin in "The Exorcist" the possessed young girl floats in the air and starts speaking in foul-mouthed, adult voices, but she is also far more active, leading the sacrifice of the kidnapped baby to Satan, and luring the male lover of her governess to a park where she kills him,castrates him, and gives his genitalia to his poor girlfriend as a present! Her eventual exorcist meanwhile, like Father Damien Karras, is a local priest facing a crisis of conscience, but a far more ridiculous one--a woman he earlier jilted for the priesthood has become a prostitute.

I, in no way, want to imply that this is a good movie. Amando Ossorio has become somewhat of a cult director, but while he may handle atmospheric horror well in his "Blind Dead" series (or even the much-maligned "Night of the Sorcerers"), he is well out of his element here with this kind of more visceral horror. The script is (obviously)very stupid, the special effects are generally inept, and the atrocious English dubbing makes the whole thing completely risible. The movie should be commended though for its originality (relatively speaking)and its sheer audacity (the infanticide, the castration etc.). Most of the objectionable material, it should be said, is done off-screen (probably more due to budget limitations and censorship than good taste), but it unusual to broach such disturbing subject matter at all in a commercial film. The make-up on the little girl is also pretty good, and is aided greatly by the fact that the young actress looked pretty creepy (and a lot like the old witch) to begin with.

So does all this add up to a recommendation? Well . . . I guess if you like these "Exorcist" rip-offs like I do, you could do worse.

Mediocre Exorcist clone

[gwar666 · 4/10 · 14 June 1999]

This film apparently was a Spanish attempt to cash in on the success of The Exorcist, which came out the year before. To sum up the cliche'd plot, a cult of Satanic gypsies kidnaps a little baby boy, and the police arrest an old gypsie witch that they suspect has the child. The witch jumps out of a window to her death, but manages to possess the police chief's teenage daughter. The girl starts getting a foul mouth on her, and later transforms into a teenager version of the old witch and sacrifices the missing baby to Satan and then proceeds to kill a few more people for good measure. After the little witch tries to kidnap her baby cousin to sacrifice, finally a priest tries to exorcise her leading to the rather pointless ending.

Overall, the movie was very slow and had little originality to offer. The violence wasn't particularly gory or graphic and there aren't many special effects to speak of. The only good thing I can say for this movie is that they did a good job of making the transformed version of the young girl look a lot like the old witch.

Enjoyably Camp Exorcist Rip-Off By Amando De Ossorio

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 5/10 · 5 March 2010]

Amando De Ossorio absolutely deserves the status of an icon of European Horror / Cult-cinema for his AWESOME 'Blind Dead' Quadrilogy alone. Starting with "La Noche Del Terror Ciego" ("Tombs of the Blind Dead", 1971) Ossorio's films about the blind, blood thirsty Templars are absolute must-sees for all Horror/Exploitation fans, and the eponymous Blind Dead are positively some of the creepiest creatures ever to appear on screen. That being said, I have to say that the other films by Ossorio I've seen so far are not nearly as essential as his "Blind Dead" films. It must be said, however, that I haven't yet seen "Las Garras De Lorelei" ("Grasp of the Lorelei", 1974), which, according to some is supposedly even better than the Blind Dead films.

Ossorio's "La Noche De Los Brujos" ("Night of the Sorcerers", 1973) can easily be skipped (in spite of a sexy female cast), and this little slice of Occult Horror isn't much better. "La Endemoniada" aka "The Possessed" (1975) is one of many European "Exorcist" rip-offs, and while the film has some qualities, I would not call it missing a lot if a fellow Eurohorror fan decides to skip it. As all Ossorio films, the film has atmosphere and a moody score, as well as some pretty cool makeup. Sadly, these qualities cannot quite hide the facts that "The Possessed" simply copies all the shock effects from "The Exorcist" (which is a flaw that I can forgive) and that it tends to get monotonous and is, in some parts, more unintentionally funny than it is creepy.

Little Susan (Marián Salgado) is the daughter of a district attorney, who orders the arrest of an incredibly ugly old witch, who leads a satanic cult responsible for child-sacrifices and other evil deeds. When the old witch jumps out of a window and dies, her evil followers have little Susan possessed by her spirit...

As flawed as the film may be, one has to admit that the mixture of possessed girl and old witch (basically a half-bald little girl with an aged, weird face) looks incredibly creepy and also quite disgusting. Ossorio has always been a specialist for make-up effects, and even when they look kinda cheap, as it is the case here, they still look effective and creepy. The possessed girl also fires some pretty cool obscene lines (almost all of them insulting present adults). The unintentional fun factor is pretty high, especially the adults' daffy reactions to the girl's possession are laughable. Even so, the film has its creepy moments too. Marián Salgado, who plays the possessed little girl, would later be part of Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's masterpiece "¿Quién Puede Matar a Un Niño?" ("Island of the Damned" / "Who Can Kill A Child?", 1976), which is positively one of the greatest and most terrifying Horror films ever made. The cast also includes Lone Fleming, who played the female lead in the first two "Blind Dead" films, and Fernando Sancho, who is the police captain here, and who played the fat Mayor in "Return of the Blind Dead". Julián Mateos, who plays the 'Exorcist' Catholic priest here, might be known to European cult-cinema fans for playing the leading role in Sergio Corbucci's Western "I Crudeli" ("Hellbenders", 1967). The love-story between the priest and his former girlfriend, whom he left for priesthood, is probably the most unnecessary part of this film. Apart from the countless scenes ripping of "The Exorcist", the film features some additional shock sequences that are pretty original. How often do you see possessed demonic witch children carry around the severed testicles of a victim in a napkin, and give them to their shocked nanny as a present?

Overall, "La Endemoniada" has its moments, and my fellow fans of Amando De Ossorio should be entertained while watching it. However, it may just as well be skipped. For a truly great European Horror film about a possessed girl, check out Massimo Dallamano's "Il Medaglione Insanguinato" ("The Night Child") from the same year 1975. If you decide to watch "La Endemoniada" I strongly advise to search for the Spanish language version, as the English version provides the most horrendous dubbing I've ever encountered. Then again, this might also increase the fun.

Boring and dull Exorcist rip-off from Spain

[Bogey Man · 2/10 · 2 May 2003]

Spanish director Amando de Ossorio (RIP) is famous for his living dead templar horror films that began with "Tombs of the Blind Dead" in 1971. This film, "The Possessed" (1975), is a cash-in of William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" (1973) and a very bad one. It has a creepy looking teenage girl cursed by some witch or wannabe and then she naturally creates horror around her while her parents and authorities start to investigate a priest about exorcism, Satan and so on..There's nothing special or original in the plot, nor in the whole film either.

The film has two pretty scary looking actors and I mean the witch and the lead girl who both have the face required to play in this kind of Satanic tale. The old witch make-up is also convincing and these little things are almost the only positive things that can be said about this slow and tired piece of Spanish film.

The protagonist priest is the only one that has even a little depth in him as we get to learn something about his past. This is nice and gives also some potential to criticise some more or less hypocritic things that can be related to being a priest and denying one's human feelings and needs. But nothing is used so ambitiously, the priest only gets to develop slightly higher than the other characters but nothing else.

The special and horror effects are also very bad and few. There's no gore or on-screen carnage as usually in these films, only some very badly acted scenes of demonic violence and one rather pointless (off screen) castration commited by a devil. The atmosphere is only very rarely anything interesting, and practically always involves either the girl or the witch and their faces. One laughably bad "horror scene" is straightly from "The Exorcist" (among many other elements in the film) and has equally bad "trick effect" as Italian Joe D'Amato's exploitation sickie "Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals" from 1977.

The English dubbing is awful as well as some of the dialogue. The dialogue thinks the audience is very stupid and so every "important" thought of a character is said and spoken out so that nothing is left to the imagination, like "How the hell you have my voice?" as an example of this hilarious stupidity!

"The Possessed" is a very bad and uninteresting piece of horror film and definitely among the worst examples of "rip offs" in general. Only the very few things mentioned make this to the 2/10 level which means that I won't ever return to this film again but will keep on watching other films by the director who definitely is capable for more.

Surprisingly Macabre and Grotesque

[montferrato · 6/10 · 26 May 2021]

Cons: Well, as it is clear, it is one of those rip offs of the famous movie by William Friedkin. Also, the budget is extremely low, and it shows. Some of the actors are really bad. And i mean awful bad. Cheesy? Of course! It was to be expected.

Pros: Amando de Ossorio is in charge of the team. He needs no presentation for experienced and hardened horror movie fans. While the movie is certainly cheap, it does have a weird, grotesque, macabre atmosphere. The shocking infanticide in the name of Satan, a postmortem castration performed by a murderous girl, some strong profanity, and a catholic priest with an exotic past and a crazy ex-girlfriend.

Yes, i know.

It is bad, but highly entertaining if you are not expecting a " masterpiece".

The make-up of the girl is very weird. It somehow reminds me of Sam Raimi " Evil Dead".

This movie is from 1975. Evil Dead is from 1981.

So, Amando de Ossorio stabs William Friedkin, and Sam Raimi stabs Ossorio.

I love these creative, original rip offs!

A strictly so-so "Exorcist" cash-in

[Woodyanders · 5/10 · 26 August 2008]

The vengeful spirit of the old and evil witch Mother Gautere (the hideously grotesque Tota Alba) possesses the body of innocent little girl Susan Barnes (the extremely homely and irritating Marian Salgado) in order to get revenge on Mr. Barnes (the bland Angel del Pozo), a widower politician who had Mother Gautere arrested and put in jail by the police for kidnapping a baby for a satanic sacrifice. "Blind Dead" series auteur Amando de Ossorio's flat, plodding direction and trite'n'talky script both crucially fail to provide the necessary tension and momentum required to make this fright feature an effective and absorbing shocker. Vincent Minaya's plain cinematography, the crummy dubbing, the primitive (not so) special effects, and the shoddy make-up don't help matters any. Only the nicely eerie and elegant score by Diego and Victor manages to be up to par. The solid cast do their best with the mediocre material: Julian Mateos as morally upright priest Father Juan, Lone Fleming as concerned housekeeper Miss Crawford, alluring brunette hottie Kali Hansa as a wicked gypsy witch, Daniel Martin as honest newspaper reporter William Grant, Maria Kosty as spiteful whore Esther, and ubiquitous rotund spaghetti Western regular Fernando Sancho in one of his customary hard-nosed police chief roles. The possession stuff is pretty run-of-the-mill: we get the usual levitations, excessive nasty swearing, and a manifestation of slimy toads. In one amusing scene Susan castrates a guy after strangling him. This movie also scores a few points for its surprisingly downbeat ending. But overall it sizes up as a merely adequate and acceptable timekiller.

Gypsies, tramps and DEMON WITCH CHILDREN!!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 19 July 2006]

Amando de Ossorio will probably always be my Spanish horror-hero because he made the utterly amazing "Blind Dead"-quadrology and also the even more amazing (but sadly obscure) "Lorelei's Grasp". His horror films, even the less good ones, are hugely atmospheric and often manage to come across as genuinely creepy even though the subject matter is far-fetched and implausible. This theory works for "Demon Witch Child", too. The film itself isn't impressive and certainly not very original. A young girl possessed by satanic forces that cause her to speak foreign languages and make her body to float in thin air? Now, where have we seen that before? Yes, this basically is the umpteenth European imitation of William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" but, please, don't allow this to spoil the fun. It's an adorably weird exploitation effort, with quite a collection of deranged characters and inexplicably compelling sub plots. In a quiet little community, a gypsy woman is suspected of kidnapping infants and commits suicide by jumping out of the police station's (closed) window. She avenges herself by using her witchcraft powers to possession over the eminent politician's nine-year-old daughter. In this younger body, the old witch can carelessly continue sacrificing newborn children to Satan… Her concerned father and nanny call in the help of a young priest, but he's in the middle of being stalked by a girl who can't accept that he chose God over her. This last part describes a completely irrelevant but entertaining sub plot, by the way. Believe it or not, but the scariest thing about this movie is the young actress who plays Susan! And not even during the sequences where the gypsy witch possesses her soul! No offense to her, but Marián Salgado looks almost naturally uncanny and definitely NOT like an innocent schoolgirl! The elderly actress who plays the actual witch looks pretty creepy too, but at least she was supposed to have this effect. Sadly enough, "Demon Witch Child" disappoints in the gore department. There's no exploitative bloodshed and Amando de Ossorio only hits at gruesome events, like a castration and a brutal baby killing. Perhaps the lack of budget is to blame, but that sure didn't stop our director when he made the "Blind Dead" movies. The possession-effects are nice and cheesy and the eerie music is very efficient. Personally, I have a weakness for shameless rip-offs (I usually enjoy them even more than the real thing) but most horror fans will likely enjoy this film, as long as they're not too demanding.

Some weird images and not much sense

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 30 March 2008]

Weird exorcist inspired horror film from the man responsible for the Blind Dead films. The story has something about an old witch using the daughter of a politician to get revenge...and then something. It wasn't 100% clear. Creepy at times because of the imagery rather than the story this is a lost little film that probably isn't really a loss being lost. That said I'm going to try to watch this again down the road when its not 2am. Whether you should take a stab at seeing this I'm not sure. Its images aside I'm not sure there is enough to recommend it, though if you get it in a multi-film DVD set like I did I'd give it a shot.

Creepy Spanish Exorcist spinoff is great in its original form

[naschy-163-376497 · 8/10 · 6 April 2020]

It's a shame that films like this, to quote Rodney Dangerfield, get no respect, partly because they are low-budget and partly because Americans often see them in grainy, cropped, badly dubbed versions. But this disturbing tale of witchcraft and possession, helmed by genre stalwart Armando De Ossorio, is actually quite shocking and carries a heady political context with the demise of dictator Franco greatly influencing artists at the time. This film combines elements of the Exorcist with cultural concerns at the time regarding the increased freedom resulting from Franco's final days negatively affecting youth in Spain. The cornerstone of the film is the old witch played by Kali Hansa, who incredibly is a sexy and beautiful actress and does a remarkable job here. She is forced to kill herself after questioning from a police detective threatens to reveal the source of her magic, so with the help of her younger accomplice she possesses the police detective's 12 year-old daughter. The transformation of the little girl into the old women is suitably shocking, and her behavior is more matter-of-fact than Regan's in The Exorcist, having a conversation with her mother about being a "pig" and just wanting what is is her boyfriends pants. Her logical discourse with a conflicted priest about sexuality is pretty brilliant as well. And unlike most American horror films, Spanish horror films of the period, likely because of Franco's rule, carry a nihilistic tone and their conclusions are rarely happy. Demon Witch Child is no exception. There is a still substandard but at least widescreen version available on Cod Red DVD which is now out of print, but it is still dubbed which to me detracts from the overall impact of the film.

As Exorcist rip-offs go, this one isn't bad

[The_Void · 6/10 · 6 April 2008]

Spanish horror director Amando de Ossorio will always be best known for his Blind Dead series and rightly so because they're good films, and also because most of the rest of the stuff that he directed isn't up to much. Italian and Spanish filmmakers would often make their own versions of popular American films, and it's not surprising that Exorcist rip-offs almost became their own sub-genre after 1973. The Possessed is clearly yet another copy of Willian Friedkin's groundbreaking horror hit, and while it's not very good and has nothing on the earlier classic; to my greatest surprise, this film is both not bad and definitely one of the better Exorcist rip-offs. The plot focuses on the daughter of a politician who becomes possessed. Sometime earlier, an old woman suspected of being a witch is accused of kidnapping young children and kills herself by jumping out the police station window. The politician's daughter later has an encounter with a strange woman who gives her a necklace. It's not long before the girl is speaking foreign languages and turning her head round one hundred and eighty degrees...

Despite being a rip-off, this film actually has a few good ideas of its own. The idea of the girl being possessed by a witch rather than some demonic force actually works quite well and the film has a couple of subplots, such as the one that sees the token young priest being chased by a girl against his wishes. This plot doesn't have much to do with the film's central idea, but it's interesting and amusing. It also seems like director Amando de Ossorio was trying to have a swipe at the church through a lot of the events in this film - including the subplot with the girl and the priest. The film was obviously made on a shoestring budget and as such there isn't much room for anything spectacular. The special effects are largely inept and unconvincing and the acting is matched by some truly atrocious dubbing. The only real notable cast member is Marián Salgado, and she is only notable for the fact that she was cast in the film because she was the Spanish dubbing actor for Linda Blair in The Exorcist (a nice touch in my opinion). Overall, The Possessed is lacklustre, but it's not a bad way to spend ninety minutes and it is one of Amando de Ossorio's best films outside of the Blind Dead series.

another Exorcist rip off

[trashgang · 4/10 · 8 February 2010]

Again and again in the seventies when a movie had success some countries were trying to make rip offs, remember the Italian Alien rip off, remember Beyond The Door and remember this flick. But I think you won't be able to remember it because it is an OOP. Never released on DVD. Although it has a following due the reason that it is directed by Amando De Ossorio. Is it a good movie? I just don't know what to think about it, why, the scene's were the possession takes place are rougher in language and performance than the Exorcist but the effects are extremely cheap. I was never frightened, okay it's more then 30 years old but some horror flicks are older and still delivers me the creeps. Anyway, the woman who dubbed Linda Blair in the Spanish version plays the lead here (Marian Salgado). Some actors are believable some are laughable, watch the witch been shot at the end, the way she falls, my god! Anyway, because it's an OOP it's worth watching. Try to catch it, good luck.

"This is the princess of the Old Ones."

[Backlash007 · 14 October 2007]

Demon Witch Child is Amando de Ossorio's answer to The Exorcist. It involves an evil witch who is killed and later takes possession of an innocent little girl to continue her misdeeds. Most people are aware of de Ossorio through his Blind Dead movies. To be honest, I didn't realize he had other horror outings. So this was a surprise to me when I picked up a "Grindhouse" box set which featured Demon Witch Child. After viewing it, I wish I still didn't know de Ossorio made other films. Not only is it a terrible film, but it is also on the boring side. A cardinal sin in my book. It never once shows the promise or atmosphere that Tombs of the Blind Dead had. Unfortunately, I still feel that de Ossorio is an overrated director.

SEASON OF THE DEMON WITCH CHILD

[mmthos · 2/10 · 7 November 2021]

It was a sad, sad season when this sorry spawn of "The Exorcist" was spun. This Spanish cheapie is just a tacky telenovela with satanist overlay. The child is barely that, on the edge of puberty, but with an infantile attachment to her Teddy Bear, which comes in handy to stow the satanic phallic symbol given her by that nice gypsy lady who appeared out of nowhere, dressed, coiffed and made up like something out of a Viennese operetta. The English translation, is the most stilted and least conversational possible, directly from the original Spanish, which is itself a model of stupidity.,The girl's father has the stringiest comb-over smashed across his head ever seen on screen, and, in the midst of all the paranormality, he, a doctor, and a priest (natch), discuss molecular theory, inherited memory, Plato's Anima Mundi, strong chemical tranquilizers on their bearing on his daughter's psychopathological crisis. Effects, if you can call them that, are entirely ineffective: objects thrown and furniture pushed from off camera to suggest demonic presence, and worse. And after all this mess, exorcism, with one half hic of a cup, comes off way too quick-n-ez.

Don't mess with old crones

[lastliberal · 3/10 · 9 August 2007]

Interesting little Spanish horror flick that promises much more than it delivers.

An old crone (Tota Alba) is abused by the police (Fernando Sancho) and enters the body of the young daughter of the police commissioner (Ángel del Pozo). There really are not the special effects that you find in another possession movie that is more familiar (The Exorcist), even though that is what they want you to think.

The young priest (Julián Mateos) performs a short exorcism to drive Satan out.

No real blood or violence except for a castration where you don't really see anything.

Incompentency

[jordondave-28085 · 3/10 · 9 May 2023]

(1975) The Possessed/ La endemoniada DUBBED HORROR

European horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio from Spain has satanic worshipping old witch kidnaps baby for a ritual. Because witnesses saw her kidnap the baby, the police only take her and no one else while hanging around with her so-called followers. She then kills herself by jumping out of a four story window, only to transmit her evil spirit to the young daughter of the detective who was investigating the kidnapping baby case. This poor copycat of "The Exorcist" also involves a priest who could've had a relationship with an old flame and so and so... It wouldn't be a movie without making the authorities totally incompetent when they just take in the old hag as opposed to everyone else who were hanging around with her. Also, because it's a movie- in this case an hour and a half, they had to make other characters to be incompetent as well.

Fair Spanish stab at The Exorcist

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 25 January 2021]

DEMON WITCH CHILD (1975, original title LA ENDEMONIADA) is a Spanish stab at THE EXORCIST, and one of countless knock-offs of that Hollywood hit churned out by Spain and Italy during the 1970s. If you've seen any of these you'll know they're often unintentionally amusing and it's fair to say none have the power or impact of the Friedkin original, although they're entertaining to say the least. This one was directed by Amando de Ossorio, the director best known in the west for his excellent BLIND DEAD series, and thanks to his presence it's worth a look.

It begins with a police commissioner (who I'm going to call 'captain combover' thanks to his unfortunate hairstyle) arresting an old gypsy woman after a Lindberg-style baby kidnapping. The witch kills herself in custody, but the rest of her coven get revenge by possessing the cop's daughter. The unfortunate girl soon exhibits the usual antisocial behaviour, is able to mimic adult voices, and periodically transforms into the old witch to commit murder. It's graphic in terms of content rather than gore, with baby murder and castration the order of the day, and the FX are quite primitive, but I feel it has a certain charm if you like your demonic possession movies.

Exorcism

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 29 December 2022]

Like nearly every other genre director in the Old Country, Amando De Ossorio had a possession movie in him and if their films feel purer than their American counterparts, it may be because they're all true believers, raised in countries that had way more religion in their blood than the freer - and yet often more repressed - New World.

Our titular demon witch child is possessed by a witch named Mother Gautère (Kali Hansa) who starts this movie off by destroying a church, stealing a chalice and killing herself in the name of Satan by jumping out of a police station window rather than revealing where the baby she's kidnapped is, telling the forces of law and order that the child would be dead by the time they found it. Meanwhile, young Susan (Marián Salgado), the daughter of head inspector Barnes (Angel del Pozo) is given a pendant that instantly begins her possession. Avoid all gifts from hippies as you would tanis root from old Hollywood actors.

Perhaps she can be saved by Father Juan (Julian Mateos), the priest who left behind love and condemned a good woman to a broken heart and a life on the streets? Or maybe the maid Anne (Lone Fleming) can get through to her. Well, no on either account and young Susan neatly slices off the penis of Anne's lover and presents it to her in a napkin, along with crawling the walls like a prepubescent Dracula.

What strange coincidence that when The Exorcist came to Spain, Salgado was the voice of Linda Blair.

Pathetic and cheesy but incredibly funny

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 6/10 · 1 September 2014]

I saw this film under the title 'Demon Witch Child'. It's basically a film about a Satanic cult and they kidnap and kill a baby for Satan. The detective responsible for the suicide of the cult leader has his pre-teen daughter possessed by the ghost of the leader, and now she is cursing, swearing, using unreal powers and terrorizing the adults in town. It's up to a priest, a man and his girlfriend to save the girl before her soul goes to Satan.

Totally lame, no? Well, it gets worse! The boyfriend has his manhood snipped off by the possessed girl and sent in a gift-wrapped box to his girlfriend! The soundtrack was actually very impressive but the acting, special effects and English dubbing were all horrible. I think the bad reviews it's been getting aren't deserved though; yeah it's not scary and it's incredibly cheesy, but it's still a funny rip-off that you can enjoy laughing at.

I enjoyed it

[lthseldy1 · 6/10 · 7 August 2001]

although there were some rip offs from "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist", I enjoyed this movie. I liked the ending the best. This movie was about a sweet young girl that ends up being possessed by an old witch that was once the prime suspect of an infants disappearance. She then kills herself and her soul ends up in the young girl causing her to curse, dismember parts of peoples private places, turning into an old lady and murdering people. It had it's cheezy moments like when she would strangle her victims (being as little as she was trying to get her hands around some grown mans next and trying to kill him?)But overall, it was a good movie to watch.

WITCH CHILD IT IS!

[Serpent-5 · 13 March 1999]

I saw this horror film as a second feature to DRIVE-IN MASSACRE at the late Bel-kirk Drive-in when I was a kid. The film had this strange looking little girl who gets possessed and even castrated her mother's boygfriend. Really ugly film, and it's from the spanish film guy that made RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD, and SHIP OF ZOMBIES. The film was cheezy and looked real old back then (1979 release). It was an improvement over the main feature which was good at making the other cars at the drive-in leave early.

Passable Spanish "The Exorcist" clone.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 15 January 2010]

A witch Mother Gaultier gets her revenge on the police commissioner who had her jailed by possessing his daughter named Susan.The exorcist is badly needed!"La Endemoniada" aka "Demon Witch Child" is a Spanish clone of "The Exorcist" made by the creator of "Blind Dead" tetralogy Amando de Ossorio.Pretty grim and violent possession flick with gruesome sacrifice of an infant.Check out especially the following scenes:Susan's constant cursing and her levitation,her transformation into Mother Gaultier and her spider-walk down the outside of her house.Marian Salgado's only other movie credit is attached to one of the great classics of Spanish horror:Narcisco Ibañez-Serrador's "Who Can Kill a Child?"(1976).7 out of 10.

High weirdness

[jameselliot-1 · 6/10 · 2 September 2019]

The Exorcist was an expensive Hollywood production. Demon Witch Child follows the same basic idea, a possessed girl and a priest trying to save her. The low-budget, cheapness, lack of polish and overall crude look actually works in its favor. The makeup is very creepy.