Satan's Slave

When the actress they cast to perform nude during the ritual in the opening scene and during a flashback later in the film couldn't show up because she was arrested, producer Les Young immediately volunteered his young wife, Moira, who was the associate producer, without consulting her first. When she objected, he convinced her they had no other options and would lose money if the film was delayed while they searched for another actress. She reluctantly agreed. At first, she was only going to be topless, but the day of shooting, Les and director Norman Warren told her it would be better if she were fully nude to give them more options for framing the shot. Moira agreed, but she told Les she wasn't happy about it. Though they had a closed set, she said later it was very embarrassing having to strip all her clothes off and lie on the ritual table stark naked surrounded by male extras and crew for hours while they filmed. To make matters worse, the extras were all wearing masks so she kept imagining all of them were leering at her breasts and vagina. Her breasts and pubic hair then ended up prominently displayed on screen while another nude actress rubbed her hands all over Moira's body. She joked years later that she can't imagine any other producer ever went as far as she did to help a film. She also said she now had more respect for actresses who performed nude because it was tough to do.

The original UK cinema version was heavily cut by the BBFC with edits to all stabbing scenes, the nude sacrifice, an eye gouging and shots of John's mutilated body. The 1997 Satanica video featured an alternate print which was pre-edited by the director to remove a scene where scissors are traced over a woman and restored many of the original cinema cuts, although the film was then cut by 1 minute 4 secs by the BBFC to edit a whipping scene and much of the bedroom assault. The 2004 Anchor Bay DVD restored all previous BBFC cuts.

Featured in Evil Heritage: Independent Film-Making & the Films of Norman J. Warren (1999)