one of my absolute favorites!

Instant Favorite.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Blood Orgy of the She-Devils (1973)* (out of 4) This Ted V. Mikels film came after THE ASTRO ZOMBIES and THE CORPSE GRINDERS so if you've seen either of those films then you should know what to expect. Mara (Lila Zaborin) is using black magic and some sexy women to kill off some men who are trying to put an end to her but she then has to worry about a couple magicians who plan to use their powers to put an end to the Satan-worshiping. I really love those exploitation gems that would play third on a triple feature at a drive-in. Among the things I enjoy is reading how many films would bomb at one drive-in but they'd change the title, play it again at the same drive-in and this time the film would be a hit. Those who follow exploitation films from this era will know that there are some pretty kinky and wacky titles out there and Mikels certainly hit a grand slam with this one. BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS is a marvelous title but sadly that's pretty much the only good thing going on. There's not any blood. There's no orgy. And there's really not too many she-devils on hand. The title promises sex and violence but the film is actually PG-rated and features very little going on. I'm really curious who this film was meant for because it's certainly a little too dark for kids but at the same time it's way too tame for adults so who on Earth was Mikels making this film for? I can see many people pulling out of the drive-in or hoping into the back seats with their girlfriends because there's just nothing happening here. For the majority of the running time we see Mara giving speeches about the greatness of Satan and usually she's talking in some weird language where you can't even understand what she's doing. The magicians are just downright boring as are all the victims. The film is pure boredom from start to finish simply because there's not a life of energy to be found. Mikels has gained a cult following over the past several years as more and more people check his weird filmography out. I think there's some mild charm about the guy but at the same time there's no denying that he's created some really bad and pointless films and this here is one of them. The best part of the film just happens to be a flashback sequence where several of the people on screen are still wearing clothing from the 1970s.

"Blood Orgy Of The She Devils" - an awesome title, that raises hopes for an ultra-sleazy and gory 70s Explotitation effort full of gratuitous female nudity, chopped off limbs etc. Unfortunately Ted V. Mikels' film, which is nonetheless slightly entertaining for its trashiness, is a very tame, and often boring yawner, that does not nearly come up to what the title promises. As it often was the case with films with an extremely low budget, this was given a title that has little to nothing to do with the actual film in order to lure viewers into theaters. The film itself is an absolutely ridiculous mess, but even though often too boring, it has its amusing moments. The film has a ridiculous and confused plot dealing with witchcraft, which revolves around an occult voodoo circle lead by a witch named Mara. Mara has supernatural powers which she can use to communicate with the dead as well as for other black magic purposes. When she includes a pretty young woman in her unholy circle, the girl's boyfriend and best friend consider a doctor who is an expert for the occult. The doctor, basically the hero of the film, is constantly talking in 'sophisticated' nonsensical phrases about witchcraft. The performances are terrible, but terrible performances are something I can forgive in low-budget cinema. What I missed were the exploitative factors, namely the expected gore and sleaze. The popularity of Michael Reeves' British Horror masterpiece "Witchfinder General" starring the great Vincent Price spawned a number of violent 'Hexploitation' films about witch-hunts, most prominently the notorious (and great) "Mark Of The Devil". Director Mikels also tried to jump on the bandwagon here, and "Blood Orgy Of The She-Devils" therefore includes two flashbacks to the time of witch-hunts, which are incredibly corny, but probably even so the best scenes in the film. Mikels is probably best known for "The Corpse Grinders" of 1972, which has a certain cult status, and which I have yet to see. "Blood Orgy Of The She Devils" is certainly not the nasty Exploitation film the title suggests, but merely a quite tame, and very very silly little film that mildly amuses but bores even more. It somehow reminded me of "Snake People", an extremely odd low budget-production which happened to be one of the last films starring the great Horror icon Boris Karloff. The difference is that this one doesn't star Karloff. "Blood Orgy Of The She Devils" has its amusing moments, and fans of (awful) cult cinema can consider watching it. Others should avoid it. I personally don't regret watching it, as I was somehow entertained by it, however, I made sure to write this review the day after watching it, since I will probably have forgotten it entirely in a week.

You can believe Ted Mikels did in fact reserch witchcraft quite a bit before making "Blood Orgy Of The She Devils"; it has a lot of ideas jumbled into a non-plot trying to get Ted a piece of The "Roosemary's Baby" dollar.Alas, it is all very lame, lacks any unintentional humor, and has none of the bounce of "The Girl In The Gold Boots". Much of Mikel's cast from that klutzy charmer are back, but even the wonderful Leslie McRae gets no chance to display any of the vunerable warmth and charm She had in that film. Hollywood sadly overlooked this stunning beauty who could have been a contender.The rest is just cheap, absurd Ted, though played at a slower speed. On the DVD he talks a lot about his celebrated "castle"; where most of this was shot.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This movie is an excuse to see a series of death scenes, made possible by demonic entities. The first features a woman who looks at her "future in the crystal." She is in an apartment. A man approaches her. Hilarious cuckoo clock music plays as she is being strangled. "Die, die, die", the man says as the music goes "cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo!". Following the assassination of the ambassador to the UN from Rhodesia(!)and the complications of this, a professor describes the days of witch hunting. Religious organ music plays as we see first the torture of the alleged witch, and then her death at the stake. They whip her child for good measure. This would probably be the most disturbing of the death scenes. The next that will come up is similar, yet done in a totally hilarious way. Almost immediately following the witch burning scene, another woman is made by Mara the witch to see her past life in a mirror. Naturally, she sees how she died in this past life. A cleric who seems to be wearing the garments and hat of the Pope begins with an exorcism. The religious music of the witch scene is used again, but is hilariously distorted, and includes what seems to be slide whistle accompaniments. The Pope says these prayers of exorcism, causing her to scream, and quickly gives up, saying "She is lost! Stone her!". So the Pope leads a mob which carries her outside a ramshackle-looking wooden church to some wooded area where the stoning begins; the scene ends with a giant stone about to fall on her. After a brief scene where the professor is told of the great ceremony that Mara the witch is planning, the boyfriend visits Mara to find out about one of his past lives. He too was executed; this time by American Indians who dance around and throw an axe into him. This was appropriate preparation for what Mara had in store for him.