Three frustrated single women (Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer) inadvertently call forth the Devil (or a devil) in an idyllic small town. The entire cast is very good, with Jack Nicholson being an especially inspired choice as the satanic Daryl Van Horn. Veronica Cartwright also stands out as the town busybody. The film is most interesting in the beginning, as it appears that we will be watching a sly criticism of conventional morality, but the script quickly goes astray. It appears as though Cartwright is intended to be an intolerant Phyllis Schlafly type, but that doesn't really work since she becomes the victim of magical forces from the instant Daryl enters town, making her a very sympathetic figure instead. We should have been given an opportunity to revel along with the three friends in the break from conformism that their unconventional relationship with Van Horn provides, but since we viewers are aware that Van Horn is actually persecuting Cartwright's character without provocation, they merely come off as ignorant dupes of a duplicitous male instead of examples of female empowerment. By the end of the movie, we are watching a very conventional (though not scary) horror film as the three women try to send the devil back where he came from. I haven't read John Updike's novel, which was the source for the screenplay, but it is difficult to imagine that the film is an accurate dramatization of his themes.