The 1974 film, Satan’s Children, tells the story of unfortunate Bobby Douglas (Stephen White).

Bobby is a teenager who lives in a hideous suburban house with his stepfather (Eldon Mecham) and his stepsister (Joyce Molloy), who looks old enough to be Bobby’s mother.  Bobby’s a rebellious kid who doesn’t understand why he should always have to cut the grass while his stepsister hangs out by the pool.  Bobby is sick of the whole scene, man.  When his stepfather yells at Bobby for having a small stash of marijuana in his room, Bobby decides to run away from home.  Seriously, that scene was totally melvin so I don’t blame Bobby.

Bobby goes to a bar, where an old man tries to talk to him until Jake (Bob Barcour) tells the old man to get lost.  Jake tells Bobby that he has to be careful because there are perverts all over the place.  Bobby nods and laughs because Bobby’s not a square.  He knows what’s up.  Jake invites Bobby to come hang out at his place and Bobby is like, “Cool, way too friendly stranger, I’ll get you in your rape van.”  Bobby goes home with Jake and is promptly raped.  With Bobby naked and bound, Jake calls all of his friends over and Bobby is then gang raped.  The scene where Jake and his friends drive the bound Bobby around is pure nightmare fuel and I can only imagine how audiences in 1974 reacted to it.

The next morning, a group of hippies found Bobby lying in a field and they take him back to their commune.  Of course, these folks aren’t just hippies.  They’re also Satanists!  Sherry (Kathleen Marie Archer) wants to let Bobby stay with them while she nurses him back to health.  Joshua (John Edwards), an older member of the group, says that Bobby isn’t welcome because Bobby is probably “queer.”  Simon (Robert C. Ray II), the turtleneck-wearing leader of the group, is also hesitant to allow Bobby to stay and again, it’s because Simon assumes Bobby must be gay.  Simon also makes it clear that he doesn’t want any lesbians in his Satanic cult either.  He just wants people who are prepared to carry out a blood sacrifice….

(I swear, that Satan.  Not only is he the ruler of Hell and the tormenter of souls and the fallen angel responsible for getting Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden and bringing sin into the world, he’s also apparently a massive homophobe!)

While the Satanists torture Sherry for displeasing Simon, Bobby tries to figure out a way to escape.  Fair warning: the majority of the film’s finale involves Bobby running around in tighty-whities, which get progressively more and more mud-stained as the movie goes on.  Seriously, ew!  On the other hand, not one but two people manage to die as a result of accidentally wandering into quicksand.  If nothing else, it’s a reminder that Bobby isn’t the only incredibly stupid person in the movie.

This is a weird movie.  I imagine it was made to capitalize on the notoriety of the Manson Family but, with its extended opening scenes in the suburbs, it instead becomes an ennui-drenched look at how far people will go to escape conventional society.  Despite all the of the truly terrible things that happen to him, Bobby is not a sympathetic or likable character.  In fact, he comes across as being just the type of idiot who probably would get sucked into a cult.  That said, the film is truly a unique (if rather slow) experience and the brutal ending took me totally by surprise.  Like many grindhouse film, Satan’s Children is an oddity that you truly can’t look away from.