Plot
A farmer is murdered by an elderly insane woman with a burned face. After stabbing the farmer and accidentally setting his barn on fire, the woman stumbles home to her family. The family, an older couple and a young woman, argue about the best way to handle the situation and make vague references that the elderly woman may have killed people in the past.
The scene then switches to the main character, a young man named Jodie who is on an open-ended car trip across America to find himself and discover whether or not he wishes to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer. Jodie stops at a small pond to have lunch and meets Melissa, the teenage girl from the previous scene. They banter briefly and she convinces him to come visit her family on their walnut farm, despite the intense distress this offer causes her parents. The young couple grows increasingly close, despite the frightening presence of the elderly woman and various clues dropped along the way that Melissa is, in fact, a 127-year-old witch and the birth sister of the elderly insane woman, whom she has told Jodie is her great-grandmother.
When the old woman murders a deputy policeman in front of Jodie, Melissa confesses that she is a cursed witch and is possessed by Satan. Jodie refuses to believe this, so Melissa reveals in a dream-sequence that her sister, Lucinda, was burned as a witch by an angry mob of villagers in the 19th century. Melissa was so distressed by the sight of her sister being burned at the stake that she offered her soul to Satan in order to gain the power to save her. Satan agreed and allowed Melissa to save Lucinda. Melissa was given eternal life and youth as a result of this bargain, but the gift was a curse as she watched her now-insane sister grow old and homicidal.
Lucinda tries to kill Jodie, but Melissa uses her powers to stop her, and Lucinda dies in a fire that she started. Jodie eventually believes Melissa and has sex with her, effectively "freeing" her from Satan. Unexpectedly, however, she instantly ages to her "actual" age, and Jodie sells his soul to Satan in order to restore Melissa's youth and save her life. The movie ends with the realization that each are bound to Satan and that Melissa's attempt to save herself has only managed to draw Jodie into the evil contract as well.
Mystery Science Theater 3000
The film was featured on the movie-mocking show Mystery Science Theater 3000 's episode #908, which first aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 11, 1998. [4] Writer / performer Paul Chaplin calls the episode "Pause-ville," referring to the languid pace of dialogue and action in the movie. Chaplin also points out it's never made clear what the relationship between Luther and Molly, who operate the walnut farm, and the witch Melissa is. [5]
Critics ranked the episode highly. Paste writer Jim Vorel placed the episode #26 [a] . Vorel writes, "The Touch of Satan is another one of those films where it’s tough to imagine anyone outside of an MST3k audience watching it; the kind of movie that would presumably have just fallen off the face of the earth if not for being revived in the cultural consciousness by the show." Vorel calls the movie "a grainy ‘70s tale" with "weak characters and hilariously incompetent dialog." [6] In an article at Vulture, writer Courtney Enlow lists The Touch of Satan as one of the series' 25 essential episodes. [7] A Den of Geek article lists the episode as one of the thirteen best MST3K featuring a horror movie. [8] Critics consistently point out a pair of odd turns of phrase from The Touch of Satan: the Strickland family farm being referred to as a "walnut ranch" and Melissa pointing out that the pond is "where the fish lives." [9] [10] [11]
The MST3K version of The Touch of Satan was included as part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 5 DVD collection, released by Rhino and re-released by Shout! Factory in May 16, 2017. The other episodes in the collection are Time Chasers (episode #821), Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (episode #1003), and Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (episode #1006). [12]
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