original production:
The Devil's Sisters
(1966) 90 minutes, Black and White
Mustang Productions / Thunderbird International Pictures
Story & Screenplay: William Grefe, John Nicholas
Music: Al Jacobs
Music Arranged and Performed by Dell Staton
Cinematography: Julio C. Chávez
Editing: Julio C. Chávez
Produced by Joseph Fink, Juan Hidalgo-Gato
Directed by William Grefe
With: Sharon Saxon (Teresa), Fred Pinero (Antonio Sanchez), Velia Martinez (Carmen Alvarado), Anita Crystal (Rita Alvarado), Ramiro Gómez Kemp (Robert Fernandez), William Marcos (José Rodriguez), Beryl Taylor (Mrs. Hernandez), Mildred Rodesky (Marta), Babette Sherrill (Ester), Toni Camel (Dolores), Joan Jacobs (Victoria), Nora Alonzo (Emilia), Tammy Simms (First Girl), Michael DeBeausset (Englishman), Mark Harris (Henchman)
***
SYNOPSIS (from pressbook): A thinly disguised treatment of a bizarre news story that made international headlines in 1964. The film is based on testimony given during the long trial of three sisters who operated a white slave ring throughout Mexico. They were charged with the deaths of more than thirty-five young girls. The enslaved women who numbered over two thousand ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-five were subjected by the evil sisters to a tyranny of torture and depravity. Humiliated by the man she loves, Teresa (Sharon Saxon), young and romantic, leaves town to seek a new life in the city of Tijuana. Encouraged by a help wanted item in the morning newspaper, Teresa makes her way to a secluded hacienda at the edge of town. There she falls prey to the blandishments of Rita Alvarado (Anita Crystal). Believing herself employed as a domestic, she follows the manservant Jose (Bill Marcos) to a beautifully furnished room. Instead she discovers, soon afterward, that she is being held captive in the windowless room.During the days that follow, Teresa's spirit is broken. She is beaten and starved and eventually forced by Rita and Jose to accept the attentions of many men. Teresa is surprised one evening when among the visitors to her room one turns out to be the young man whom she had loved before coming to Tijuana, but whose indecent advances she had spurned. Antonio Sanchez (Fred Pinero) is a police officer now, and apparently corrupted by the powerful influence of the three sisters. There is a dramatic scene. Antonio is enraged to find the same innocent girl who had spurned him selling her favors in a bordello. Not wanting trouble with the police, Rita hurriedly packs Teresa off to "the barn," a lonely place in the country where sick, pregnant, and rebellious girls are emprisoned pending their sale to "girl buyers" who come from afar seeking new merchandise. Scourge of the place is Marta (Mildred Rodes), a sadistic, cigar-smoking tyrant. Along with the other girls, Teresa suffers daily privations and tortures. She meets Carmen Alvarado (Velia Martinez), who gives her stern warnings against trying to escape. Soon the time arrives when it is Teresa's turn to be "sold." Teresa and another girl are taken to the ranch house where Carmen exhibits them to a "girl buyer." While the man is inspecting them, the other girl cracks him over the head with an empty wine bottle. For this, the girls are whisked away. That night they are made to dig their own graves while Carmen watches. But the other girl makes her escape. She is run down with a truck, tossed in the open grave, and burned with gasoline. Teresa is returned to the barn. She is stripped and bound with barbed wire and left to die. The girls revolt. One of the guards is killed. Teresa makes her escape, but she is pursued by Carmen's chief executioner: After a long chase, she is caught in a swamp, turns in desperation and shoots the man. Teresa makes good her escape, reaches a small settlement. There she tells her story to the police. They immediately investigate. A fierce gun battle ensues. When Carmen's accomplices are slain, she escapes to the barn. She is overpowered by the girls, threatens then pleads with them, but is beaten to death before the police can reach her.
COMMENTS:
* Our sincerest thanks are due Andy Scheonhorn for uncovering this "lost" K. Gordon Murray film, and sharing with us the stunning poster image, and other artifacts. Suffice it to say that although the film's origins and contents remain an enigma at present, it is definately a "Trans-International" release. In fact, we have undercover cult film detectives working on the case right now! Needless to say, anyone out there with further info on this obscurity should immediately drop all important activities and send us an e-mail!
* The extraordinary one-sheet poster from SISTERS OF THE DEVIL contains crudely compelling "F. Freeland" artwork, in the style of Gustav Dore's etchings for Dante's INFERNO! While Freeland's primitive pen-and-ink drawings are no match for Dore's voluptuous etchings, the impression intended is created, the homage successful. To compare styles, visit one of the many sites devoted to Dante's Inferno artwork, including:
SIMON ROCK'S COLLEGE LIBRARY "Dante's Inferno Site"
SIMON ROCK'S COLLEGE LIBRARY "Dore's Inferno Site"
PICTURES OF HELL: BIBLIA VIVADA with DR. DOMINGUEZ
THE COMPLETE DANTE'S INFERNO AS ILLUSTRATED BY GUSTAV DORE
by "Kevin Kelm, the Dark Prince of HTML
Illustrator Freeland's assuredly cryptic trademark, "FF", appears on many of the K. Gordon Murray German fairy tale posters (starting with RUMPELSTILTSKIN), and on all of the horror film releases. The imagry is certainly grim, suggesting this was an "R-rated" release, or perhaps even un-rated.
* (06-28-04) And here is another SISTERS OF THE DEVIL sighting! (from "Bonnie")
"I was surfing the other day and ran across your website. Cool, man - Murray reminds me of a slightly less twisted Ed Wood. Anyway, I saw this poster for SISTERS OF THE DEVIL hanging outside the old-timer drive-in I used to frequent in my younger days. They showed all the second, third and fourth-run stuff and the semi-porn and exploitation stuff. I noticed it because of the style but never saw the movie because my best friend didn't go the movies that weekend (he had the car, the license), I think he got grounded. The next week it wasn't at the Fairyland or anywhere else in KC. If I'm not incorrect, it was in June, 1970. Hope this helps!"
* (07-08-04) Raleigh writes us:
"...my wild guess is that SISTERS OF THE DEVIL might be a reissue or under-promoted release of MUNDO, DEMONIO Y CARNE (THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL, 1958), a Mexican film directed by Jose Diaz Morales, or possibly SEVEN SINS (1959), by the same director. There was also a 1968 film called THE SINNERS written by Morales. MUNDO, DEMONIO Y CARNE was produced by the same company that offered the Aztec Mummy Films, as well as SPIRITISM (Cinematográfica Calderón)."
Our resident Mexican film expert, David Wilt, maintains that MUNDO, DEMONIO Y CARNE is a "lurid melodrama with no fantasy elements", but this does not mean that Murray wouldn't try to market the film as horror nonetheless (witness BLOODY SEA)!
* 
UPDATE 01-07-07: Thanks to Daniel Griffith, who spoke with director William Grefe during the making of the new documentary, THE WONDER WORLD OF K. GORDON MURRAY, we are finally able to verify that the film released in 1968 by K. Gordon Murray under the title SISTERS OF THE DEVIL is in fact Grefe's 1966 crime thriller THE DEVIL'S SISTERS. Full production credits and synopsis can now be added, as well as a terrific poster image. From the synopsis, THE DEVIL'S SISTER sounds like one wild sexploitation picture, and we can only hope a print turns up one day.
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(01-26-07)
David Wilt offers this further information about THE DEVIL'S SISTERS: Ramiro Gomez Kemp and Velia Martinez appeared in some 1940s Mexican movies (together, so perhaps they were married or something). Gomez Kemp (at least) was Cuban so I suspect that this movie was shot in Florida (where Grefe usually worked anyway). The real-life case this movie was based on was also the subject of a novel by Jorge Ibarguengoitia, "Las muertas" (or 'The Dead Girls') plus a highly-regarded Mexican film, LAS POQUIANCHIS (1976), although the film was not based on the novel. A review of LAS POQUIANCHIS follows:
LAS POQUIANCHIS(CONACINE-Alpha Centauri, 1976) Dir: Felipe Cazals; Scr: Tomás Pérez Turrent, Xavier Robles; Story: Tomás Pérez Turrent; Photo: Alex Phillips Jr.; Panavision and EastmancolorCast: Diana Bracho ("Adelina" aka Chela), Jorge Martínez de Hoya Rosario), Salvador Sánchez (reporter), Pilar Pellicer (Santa), Malena Doria (Chuy), Leonor Llausás (Delfa), Ana Ofelia Murguía (Eva), Enrique Lucero (Mere), Alejandro Parodi (judge), María Rojo (Lupe), Tina Romero (María Rosa) Notes: CANOA, EL APANDO, and LAS POQUIANCHIS have been called the "trilogy of violence" of director Felipe Cazals. All three films are grim, unpleasant depictions of environments in which hate, fear, and violence coalesce. LAS POQUIANCHIS was based on a notorious real-life case which came to light in Guanajuato in 1964. In addition to the film by Cazals, other works inspired by the case include a 1966 movie by William Grefe (THE DEVIL'S SISTERS, set in Tijuana but apparently shot in Florida), and a novel ("Las muertas" by Jorge Ibargüengoitia), which was later adapted into a 2001 opera by Enrique González-Medina!
Although it is a fine film with an amazing cast of talented "new wave" performers (most of whom made their screen debuts in the '60s or '70s), LAS POQUIANCHIS is formally fractured--intercutting between scenes set in 1964 (the investigation and trial), 1951 and later (the story of two sisters sold to the Poquianchis), and 1975 (prison interviews with those convicted in the case)--in very '70s-cinema style. There is also a major (and irrelevant) sub-plot about the failure of agrarian reform, tenuously linked to the Poquianchis story (campesino Rosario "sells" two of his daughters into prostitution). The Rosario sub-plot is also in black-and-white, to further separate it from the "main" story. Frankly, all of these scenes could have easily been removed without significantly affecting the impact of the film. Nonetheless, the movie is quite powerful and engrossing, a sordid rather than glamorous or exploitative view of prostitution. In 1964, a mob of police, reporters, and bystanders converge on a clandestine brothel operated by sisters Chuy and Delfa. A small group of filthy, disheveled women is released from captivity, and decomposed bodies are unearthed on the grounds. The scene shifts to 1951, when Delfa and her assistant give Rosario cash and drive off with his teenage daughters Chela and María Rosa, whom they say will work in a decent restaurant and receive a fair salary. Instead, the sisters are taken to the "Las Poquianchis" bar and brothel. Quickly realizing the nature of the business, Chela and María Rosa refuse to participate; the recalcitrant girls are then beaten and raped into submission. Although Chela--now dubbed "Adelina"--adapts to her new life, María Rosa continues to be rebellious and suffers beatings and imprisonment as a result.
The Poquianchis' clients include influential politicians, but this doesn't protect them from shifts in public policy. Although Chuy says "I'll fix it. With my money, I can make white black, and black white," the enforcement of the ley seca [dry law] results in the closure of the Bar Poquianchis. They pack up and move across the state line to open another bar. While Chuy and Delfa are away (making a religious pilgrimage!), Lupe frees the whores from the punishment cells, urging them to escape. However, henchman Chaparro foils the attempt. A short time later, Delfa's son Tepo arrives from the USA and is shocked to find Lupe badly beaten. Before he can help her, Tepo is shot to death by federal agents. The scandal causes the brothel to be closed again, and the Poquianchis and their "employees" relocate to a farm. At the farmhouse, things rapidly go awry. The prostitutes are locked into a large, bare room, with no toilet facilities, and receive dry tortillas and beans to eat. They begin to bicker; prostitute Graciela talks back to Delfa and is beaten to death. Another whore, unable to contain herself due to illness, soils the floor of the room and is killed by the others on Delfa's orders. Finally, María Rosa collapses and the infuriated Delfa orders the prostitutes to attack her. Adelina clubs her own sister to death, repeatedly shouting "Puta!" (whore) The police later raid the farm (it's unclear who tipped them off), free the imprisoned women, uncover the buried corpses, and arrest Chuy, Delfa, and their accomplices. The trial quickly degenerates into shouting and shoving matches between the defendants, witnesses, and officials. The Attorney General calls and orders the judge to wrap up the matter promptly. A news broadcast summarizes the results: the three sisters were sentenced to 40 years in prison, 17 others--including Lupe and Adelina--were convicted as accomplices and some received sentences of 26 years each. - David Wilt |
