The Devil's Plaything

The Devil's Plaything (German: Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern) is a 1973 horror film directed by Joseph W. Sarno. The film is international co-production of Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany. Its uncut version features more suggestively sexual scenes.^[1]

The Devil's Plaything
Directed by	Joseph W. Sarno
Written by	Joseph W. Sarno
Produced by	Chris D. Nebe
Starring	Nadia Henkowa Anke Syring Ulrike Butz Nico Wolferstetter
Cinematography	Steve Silverman
Edited by	Karl Fugunt Dietmar Preuss
Music by	Rolf-Hans Müller [ar; de; fr; nl]
Production companies	Monarex Saga Film
Distributed by	Saga Film (Sweden) Scotia International Filmverleih (West Germany) Ambassador Film Distributors (Canada) Omni Pictures (United States)
Release date	16 October 1973 (1973-10-16)
Running time	85 minutes
Countries	Sweden Switzerland West Germany
Language	English

Plot

In a central European castle, two young girls are summoned to learn about a will making them heirs to the property, on condition that they stay there for a full year. They are received by the hostess, an austere-looking woman named Wanda, who organizes satanic lesbian rites at night that celebrate, in sex and sapphism, the vampire Varga. Coincidentally, on the same day an anthropologist studying local superstitions and her brother were victims of a road accident and asked for accommodation at the castle.

Wanda turns out to be the descendant of a vampire baroness, Varga, burned alive centuries ago by the villagers for vampirism. Through the lesbian priestess Wanda, Varga seeks revenge by eliminating the families of her torturers.

Cast

• Nadia Henkowa as Wanda
• Anke Syring [de] as Julia Malenkow
• Marie Forså [sv] as Helga
• Nico Wolferstetter as Peter Malenkow
• Ulrike Butz [de; fr] as Monika
• Flavia Keyt as Iris

Critical response

Nick Schager of Slant Magazine gave the film one and a half out of four stars, writing, "The Devil’s Plaything exhibits a disinterest in horror and an inability to muster eroticism..."^[2] Ed Hulse of the trade journal Video Business describes the film as "a key title in the history of erotic horror", and writes, "The attractive young leads aren't the surgically enhanced bottle-blondes we typically see these days in Hollywood-made offerings of this type, and their acting is more than equal to the limited demands the script makes of them."^[3]