Jaws of Satan (1981)
A priest must face the powers of Satan as punishment for a Druidic curse.
Genre
Characters/Groups
Dr. Maggie Sheridan - Gretchen Corbett
Elizabeth Perry - Nancy Priddy
Kim Perry - Christina Applegate
Mrs. Carson - Mary Lyons McEvoy
Denise Williams - Denise Cannon
Troubled Young Man - Rick Dowling
Blue Collar Worker - Pat Purcell
Loud Lady at Party - Jane Berman
Teens at Sawmill - Chris Carney and Melanie Van Reeman
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
Trainman and Carnie Kid are playing dice in a train car transferring Greyhound dogs to a race track and a snake to a carnival. Carnie Kid tells Trainman the reason he is in the circus is so he can hook up with new women in every town. Trainman goes into the train car with the Greyhounds to check on why they are barking and the door suddenly closes behind him. The lock breaks on the box holding the snake and it attacks the Trainman, who falls out of the train. The Trainman's dog bites Carnie Kid in the hand and then runs away. The door to the other train car opens and Carnie Kid's snake slithers up to him and bites him in the face. The train then suddenly stops.
"And the angel seized the serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years...after that he must be loosed for a little while." Revelations 20:2,3
Father Farrow thanks Mrs. Carson for dinner and jokingly compares a saint to a pig. He sits and reads a book and as he goes to warm his hands by the fireplace, the fire goes out. At a dinner party, Evelyn greets Matt Perry and Kim Perry and Matt tells Kim, Evelyn is a real witch. Elizabeth Perry tells Matt, Mayor Thorpe is boring everyone with a campaign speech and Kim tells Elizabeth this party is better than her last one. Evelyn explains to Kim how her magic works. Matt asks Evelyn if his dog track will be successful and Father Farrow interrupts and criticizes gambling and Matt counters with a remark about the church not paying any taxes. Matt introduces Father Farrow to Evelyn and she brings up the history of his ancestors who personally killed witches and burned temples. Evelyn takes Father Farrow's coffee cup and after inspecting it, drops it and faints. Later Father Farrow walks Evelyn to her car and she tells him he is in danger and sensed the presence of Satan in his cup. Father Farrow makes a joke of the matter and walks away. As a Farmer and Farmer's Son are collecting wood, the Farmer is bit by a rattlesnake. Farmer's Son runs over and kills the rattlesnake as The Snake watches. Denise Williams asks Sheriff Tatum about the runaway train that was found in Greene County. Sheriff Tatum tells Denise they found Carnie Kid dead along with the engineer, with the brakeman being the only survivor. Nurse Peggy is watching the report by Denise while sitting next to Trainman, who is in the hospital and Trainman starts to whisper snake. Dr. Maggie Sheridan walks in and Nurse Peggy tells her Trainman has been trying to say something.
Dr. Sheridan says hello to Nurse. Father Farrow walks in to check on Trainman and Dr. Sheridan tells him Trainman's condition is getting worse. An orderly wheels in Farmer as Farmer's Son walks beside his gurney. Dr. Sheridan sees the Farmer and an Intern tells her what happened. She goes to the mortuary and Dr. Owens offers her some home cooked chicken before showing her the bodies of the train engineer and Carnie Kid. He tells her the engineer had a massive heart attack and the Carnie Kid died from a snake bite. Dr. Sheridan suggests they make a public announcement, but Dr. Owens warns her it could cause a panic and ruin the opening of the dog track and anger Matt. She suggests they bring in a snake expert and Dr. Owens mentions Carnie Kid also had a virulent case of Syphilis. Paul Hendricks arrives and is confused when Dr. Sheridan is there to greet him due to his assumption that Dr. Sheridan is a man. He then makes the remark that Dr. Sheridan might be overreacting. They visit the Farmer's hospital room and Farmer's Son tells Paul about the rattlesnake incident. Farmer's Son shows Paul the rattlesnake corpse and Paul continues to think Dr. Sheridan is overreacting. She takes him to see the corpse of Carnie Kid, and after she can't find the body, she asks the Orderly where Dr. Owens is and the Orderly tells her he got a call from Mayor Thorpe. The Orderly then tells her Dr. Owens released the body of the Carnie Kid to Freeburg Crematorium.
Father Farrow tells Troubled Young Man that smoking weed won't solve his problems and suggests he come to church more often to relate his problems to God. Evelyn calls Father Farrow and tells him, his enemy has arrived and they agree to meet later that night. As Cabbie is taking Paul back to the airport, Cabbie is pulled over by an ambulance. Dr. Sheridan gets out and shows Paul the body of Evelyn and Paul is shocked by her wound. Deputy Jack tells Sheriff Tatum that there is a snake at Willard's Hardware. Sheriff Tatum goes to Willard's Hardware and shoots the snake. Dr. Sheridan lets Paul borrow her car and he drops her off at her home. As she is undressing, a snake slithers in her bedroom. She takes a shower and as she crawls into bed, the rattlesnake slithers onto her bed. She calls Paul and he runs to her car and The Snake appears to order the rattlesnake to slither towards Dr. Sheridan. Paul breaks into Dr. Sheridan's house and uses a snake tong to grab the rattlesnake and then shoots it. Dr. Sheridan starts to cry and after Paul slaps her, she slaps him back and they hug. In the morning, Mrs. Carson asks Father Farrow if Evelyn stopped by the night before and then tells him Evelyn is dead. Father Farrow goes to see Dr. Sheridan and asks her how Evelyn died. She and Paul tell Father Farrow, Evelyn was killed by a snake.
Father Farrow goes to see The Monsignore and The Monsignore tells him the Bishop came to speak with him about Father Farrow, who is apparently not well liked in the parish. Dr. Sheridan goes to speak with Mayor Thorpe and he ignores her advice to warn the public. Father Farrow tells The Monsignore about what Evelyn told him and The Monsignore tells Father Farrow, his father didn't die in the war, but committed suicide. He continues that while researching family history, The Monsignore found a history of violent deaths every third generation since O'Farough, who was a follower of St. Patrick. O'Farough was known to have burned the shrines of the Druids and destroyed their sacred oaks, until the Druid High Priest put a curse on O'Farough. The Monsignore tells Father Farrow that he must have faith and Satan wants his soul. A couple of Teens at Sawmill are kissing when they are attacked by a rattlesnake. The Teens at Sawmill are put into an ambulance and Deputy Jack asks Sheriff Tatum what is going on and Sheriff Tatum tells him Mayor Thorpe doesn't want the public to know. Deputy Jack goes to search for snakes and when he sees some rustling in the brush, it turns out to be a little girl. Sheriff Tatum finishes searching the sawmill and radios Deputy Jack, who is attacked by a snake and Sheriff Tatum finds Deputy Jack dead with a snake bite to the face.
Father Farrow presides over the funeral of Evelyn, which is attended by Sheriff Tatum, Mayor, Thorpe, Matt Perry, Elizabeth Perry, Kim Perry and Mrs. Carson. After the funeral, Father Farrow's cross falls from his necklace and The Monsignore shows him a book written in Gaelic consisting of a Farrow family history. He tells him there was an ancestor named Timothy who was a Priest and third generation son who died a natural death, and apparently killed the demon that was in the form of a snake. The Snake appears and starts to chase Father Farrow and The Monsignore. The Snake ignores The Monsignore and chases Father Farrow into an empty grave. As Father Farrow is trying to climb out of the grave, he grabs a rod iron fence and a portion breaks off that is in the shape of a cross. Father Farrow holds it in front of him as a weapon, and The Snake is repulsed. The Monsignore eventually collapses and dies from a heart attack. Dr. Sheridan and Paul hold a town meeting and he tells the people he doesn't know why the snakes are attacking people. Mayor Thorpe and Matt walk into the building and Mayor Thorpe demands to know what is going on. Mayor Thorpe says any talk of a snake is a waste of time and Blue Collar Worker asks if the body of a kid at the lake was ever found. Dr. Owens lies and says Evelyn died of anaphylactic shock from a bee sting. After Mayor Thorpe tells the people to calm down and go back to work, Father Farrow tells the people he was attacked by a snake earlier. Mayor Thorpe says the meeting will continue in private and walks into his office with Matt, Dr. Owens, Dr. Sheridan, Paul and Father Farrow. Matt takes over and tells Dr. Sheridan and Paul they have 18 hours to find and kill the snakes and threatens them to keep quiet if they don't accomplish their mission or they will be sent to the local jail on a trumped up charge.
Paul and Sheriff Tatum take a helicopter to search for the snakes, while Dr. Sheridan drives her car. A Biker sees Dr. Sheridan drive by and starts to follow her, while Paul and Sheriff Tatum lead a group of people to search a rocky area. As they come across snakes, Paul notices they are heading in the same direction and Sheriff Tatum tells him there are caves in that direction. The Biker forces Dr. Sheridan off the road and then does it again. He pulls out a gun and orders her out of her car and as he is about to sexually assault her, The Snake appears and the Biker runs away and Dr. Sheridan gets into her car. The Snake shatters her window, but she manages to get away. Matt gets a call and is upset that the Biker failed and tells the person on the other end to tell the Biker to leave town. Paul and Sheriff Tatum go into the cave and find the discarded skin of The Snake. Father Farrow tells Dr. Sheridan and Paul The Snake is Satan, but Paul thinks it is just a snake. Kim sneaks out of her house and goes to get her cat Bandit. Matt complains about the curfew and Elizabeth tells him not everyone is obsessed with the dog track. Kim comes back inside and is grounded for a week by Elizabeth for going outside when it is dangerous.
At the opening of the race track, Senator arrives with Matt and Mayor Thorpe. Kim ignores her grounding and rides her bike to the track opening, but hides in a janitor closet when she sees Matt. She is bitten by a rattlesnake and taken away by Matt. Sheriff Tatum drops Paul off at the cave and Paul finds The Snake, but slips and falls unconscious. A Female Medic tells Matt, Kim is reacting twice as fast to the snake venom and the Male Medic calls for an an adrenaline shot. Mayor Thorpe tells Matt he is going to tell the people there won't be an opening of the race track, and when Matt tries to stop him, Mayor Thorpe ignores him. Father Farrow puts on his vestments and receives a call from Dr. Sheridan who tells him Paul is in the caverns. Dr. Sheridan goes to the caverns while Father Farrow gives his church service, but leaves mid service. He walks to the caverns and calls out to Satan and finds Dr. Sheridan on an alter with The Snake above her. Male Medic tells Female Medic, Kim's heartbeat is almost normal and they can transfer her to the hospital. Father Farrow moves Dr. Sheridan from the alter and takes her place. Paul regains consciousness as Father Farrow speaks Latin while holding the cross and The Snake erupts in flames. Father Farrow then leaves the cave with Dr. Sheridan and Paul as The Snake burns.