La endemoniada (Demon Witch Child, 1975)

2025: Post #20
Watched February 15th On the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray IMDB
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Unranked on TSZDT and TSPDT

89 minutes. Exorcist ripoff from one of Spain’s great horror directors that gives you everything from Friedkin’s classic but delivers it economically and with a little more focus on the young girl as opposed to the struggle of the parent. 

De Ossorio is most famous for Tombs of the Blind Dead and his blind dead series. There are four or five and my favorite one is The Ghost Galleon, but I digress. De Ossorio was a legend of Spanish horror and was tasked with delivering a pretty straight Exorcist ripoff. No major twists here, it’s just a retelling of the classic movie from two years earlier. 

But I had a great time with Demon Witch Child. This was far and away my favorite from the Spanish horror trio from Vinegar Syndrome. It had a nasty spirit to it, and they wrote the young possessed girl to be creepy. They also really gave her the spotlight. Of course The Exorcist is about the possession, but a lot of it is about the mom’s struggle to heal her sick daughter. In classic exploitation fashion the filmmakers cut a lot of fluff and just got into a young girl getting possessed after her dad kills the leader of a coven or maybe a cult. They sneak a little possession gadget into her stuffed animal and the proximity is enough for the dark lord to do his bidding. 

89 minutes is the perfect runtime for this faithful homage to the source material. There’s a priest, a nasty creepy little possessed kid, some business, and a small twist ending. Perfect genre film.