Her Parents?
Who are Melissa's 'parents'? Molly and Luther? Where did they come from?
shareThe world may never know. Seriously, I'd like an explanation too, but I doubt we'll ever get one.
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MovieChat Forums > The Touch of Satan (1971) Discussion > Her Parents?
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I think they are sinners and the "walnut" ranch is their own personal hell. Because it seems Luther's tasks are fairly Sisyphusian in nature. I mean, come on, since when do walnuts feed on hay?
sharehaha, you guys are funny. i check back to this board every so often to see what other people say. i might have to agree that they could be grandchildren or something. ahhh, the mysteries of life.
shareI thought they were the same parents as from the flashback, but I was really confused about all the aging discrepancies. It seemed the whole family would not die, but the parents went from middle-aged to slightly older, Lucinda went from young woman to really really old lady, and Melissa did not age at all.
shareThey weren't her parents, as her parents were portrayed by completely different people. They were probably descendants of Lucinda.
I very much doubt that they're descendants of Lucinda, since both Luther and Molly call her 'Lucinda' and not Grandma or Mama. Plus, who would breed with a confirmed witch who'd been saved by the devil? Maybe they really are condemned sinners that the Devil sent to the farm to help Melissa out and pretend to be her parents since she looks like she's in her late teens still. After all, if they were descendants of Lucinda, they wouldn't necessarily be automatically condemned themselves and could leave the walnut farm at any time if they felt like it. But if they were people who'd sold their souls to the Devil too, he might have sent them there to be Melissa's assistants. Which really begs the question - why was Melissa so important that he didn't let her age? Was he saving her for something really big? If so, why was she still living on that stupid farm instead of out wreaking terror on the world in the Devil's name? It's pretty puzzling. And sad to think of a non-aging Melissa and Jody being the heralds of the Apocalypse.
sharePeople don't really comprehend just how much Lucifer enjoys Walnuts.
Imagine you were an immortal king.
But YOU LOVED Earth food.
Wouldn't you have a few "Satanic Ranches" growing Satan-Approved piglets, Satan-Approved cattle, Satan-Approved lettuce, etc...
Or switch it to a slightly different mental angle.
Imagine you are a space alien.
But YOU LOVED Earth food.
Wouldn't you want Space Alien approved "Ranches" and "Farms" growing the Earth produce that you could safely harvest without other Earthlings pestering you?
And since you have supernatural powers (Satanic or Space Alien) would you not insist on having your employees getting the best healthcare plans (immortality plus fast-healing)? So to put it simply, Satan likes Walnuts and Melissa is an immortal (WITCH) Walnut Farm Supervisor.
It's one of the reasons I kind of like this movie.
The characters may pause excessively, but the untold plot subtext points are kind of interesting to ponder over.
Immortal Witch Melissa has been around for over a hundred years, yet the townspeople have not successfully killed or banished her. No priest has exorcised her. Nobody has posted large metal signs with Immortal Witch Melissa's face on it and declared, "If you wander near this woman, you will be killed by her fake-family." They never threw her down a deep well and dropped a big heavy rock in after her. There is a bunch of untold story there that can be expanded upon without falling into the classic "Devil Movie" cliche paths.
I'm gonna name my band, "The Descendants of Lucinda" if I ever get one.
It has a cool ring to it.
Also, they have to be pretty far removed from society. Last thing someone would be talking about would be how Melissa stays forever young.
Though how long had Lucinda been killing? It seemed like she maybe had been doing this pretty frequently. That many murders, one has to wonder how the family kept her in check for so many years.
It's interesting that they don't chain her or tie her up to prevent her from getting out. It reminds me of Cinematic Titanic's riffing on 'Blood of the Vampires,' where a family's cursed Vampire-turned Mother is kept in a secret basement. She craves blood...yet they don't see fit to chain or tie her up until she gets wild enough for them to whip her and THEN put her in chains.
There just are plenty of films where people can't seem to realize that 'the person is too far gone...kill them and end the nightmare!!'
"I...Drink...YOUR...MILKSHAKE!!" -Daniel Plainview, "There Will Be Blood"
[Plus, who would breed with a confirmed witch who'd been saved by the devil?] ---You'd be surprised then...
http://www.cgonzales.net & http://www.drxcreatures.com
Well, given their age I figure that they were Melissa's children (her real parents died of old age long ago).
She started calling them her mom & dad to fool any townsfolk that came around (like she called her sister Lucinda her Grandmother even Lucinda was her younger sister). Needless to say, having the witchery ability to set people aflame at a thought and curse townsfolk would've made it easy to keep her children pretending to be her parents.
This is exactly what I thought. And the kids were rather like her servants and publicly played along as her parents. When she told her “dad” it meant a lot that he was ok with her going to town with the new dude, I felt like she was saying that to her son.
shareI always assumed they were her grandchildren. With the way she tells them what to do. I think they just do the parents/daughter thing for guests. They are definitely not the parents from the flashback.
shareI like the idea that they were cursed by Satan to work a walnut "ranch" that has a pond where the fish live.
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