Lucifer's Women

Plot

In 1954, Dr. John Wainright, who once worked in academia but now performs as an illusionist, releases a book on reincarnation where he claims to be the reincarnated mesmerist Svengali. His publisher, Sir Stephen, privately admits that he is the reincarnated leader of a Satanic group called the Society of the Bleeding Rose. Stephen convinces John that his role is to restore the cult’s psychic energy through human sacrifice. The ritual’s aim is for Stephen to transfer his soul into the body of the sacrificed person during a double suicide, with both deaths needing to happen at the moment of orgasm for the transfer to succeed.

John first picks up a prostitute named Mary, kidnaps her, and indoctrinates her into the cult, turning her into a slave to Satan. He then tries to court Trilby, a naive and virginal exotic dancer he meets at a nightclub where he performs his magic act. Meanwhile, Trilby’s roommate Barbara, a drug-addicted prostitute, and her pimp Roland both plan to seduce Trilby because they are captivated by her beauty. Trilby starts to distrust John’s motives.

Later, Barbara and Roland talk Trilby into a threesome. John arrives and breaks up the encounter, and Roland insults him. John locks eyes with Roland, apparently placing him under a spell. Soon after, Roland is struck and killed by a car while crossing a street.

Through supernatural experiences where he communicates with Svengali, John learns that Trilby is an eternal energy source—a goddess—and that Svengali intends to use her for the cult’s benefit. John begins to feel regret, but Svengali’s spirit threatens him. Feeling genuine affection for Trilby, John rushes to the nightclub to warn her. In her dressing room, he tells her he caused Roland’s death and that it is unsafe for her to be near him, as he will kill her while possessed by Svengali.

Trilby does not believe him and thinks he has taken drugs. After leaving the nightclub, Trilby finds John, now possessed by Svengali, sitting in the back seat of her car. He stares into her eyes and puts her under a spell. That night, John performs a magic show at a high-society party, sawing Mary in half.

At the same time, the cult holds its ritual in a large mansion with the kidnapped Trilby. The ritual ends with Stephen and Trilby having sex on an altar, Trilby holding a knife to stab Stephen at the moment of orgasm. During the ritual, Mary becomes jealous of Trilby and possessive of Stephen, her master. She intervenes, stabs Stephen herself, and then commits suicide.

With the ritual a failure, Svengali leaves John’s body. Freed from the burden, John escapes the house with Trilby. From a balcony, the spirits of Svengali, Mary, and Stephen laugh and watch.

Release

The film premiered in San Francisco on December 18, 1974, under the title Svengali the Magician. It was subsequently re-released in 1977 under the better-known title, Lucifer's Women, screening in Seguin, Texas on July 27, 1977. Jeanne Miller of The San Francisco Examiner panned the film as a failure 'on every level,' criticizing it for its focus on exploitation and sex over its horror elements. In 1978, director Al Adamson salvaged footage from Lucifer's Women, reworking it into the separate feature Doctor Dracula, starring John Carradine. As a result, Doctor Dracula shares some cast members and sequences with Lucifer's Women, though it features a different plot.