Demoniacs, The (1974)

This schlocky French tale – originally released as Les Démoniaques –  opens in the 19th century with two young blonde women (Lieva Lone and Patricia Hermenier) surviving a deliberate shipwreck and fending off the sexual advances of the horny pirates known as “wreckers” – led by Le Capitaine (John Rico) – who lured their ship onto the rocks.

The two women are stripped, raped and left for dead.

They are then rescued by the strange guardians – a female clown (Mireille Dargent) and a Rasputin lookalike (Ben Zimet) – of a cursed and ruined gothic church, where they are granted supernatural powers by the devil (Miletic Zivomir) and become “demoniacs” to wreak their revenge against the pirates.

The story is weak and hackneyed, and the acting is awful – but the photography is superb, the locations are picturesque, and the ending is very creative.

There is far more nudity than violence in the film, with the most graphic scene depicting Tina (Joëlle Coeur) – the only female member of the wrecker/pirate gang – masturbating.

Demoniac #1
Lieva Lone
Demoniac #2
Patricia Hermenier
Tina
Joëlle Coeur
Le Capitaine
John Rico
Le Bosco
Willy Braque
Paul
Paul Bisciglia
Louise
Louise Dhour
The Exorcist
Ben Zimet
The Clown
Mireille Dargent
The Devil
Miletic Zivomir
Maryse the barmaid
Isabelle Copejans
Sailors
Yves Collignon
Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
Raphaël Marongiu
Sylvio Dieu
Gilbert Schnarrbach

Director
Jean Rollin