Devil's Partner

The phrase Don't judge a book by its cover certainly applies to this movie. The cover of the DVD shows a naked woman riding a centaur, in a storm, through a cemetery. Forget all of that. You won't see it. It doesn't exist in this movie. It has nothing to do with the movie. The movie is actually very tame. My copy of 'The Devil's Partner' is by Alpha Video. There are some problems with the actual quality of the film. This is primarily in the beginning of the movie. For me, it wasn't bad enough to be a major problem and I quickly forgot about it. With that being said, I really liked the movie and enjoyed it more than I expected. It's an old B movie, and it does have some problems with the plot, but the acting is pretty good and it is an enjoyable, entertaining film. In my opinion 'The Devil's Partner' is an average 1950s B horror movie, is under rated, and is worth viewing.

In a small rural town an unpopular old hermit sells his soul to the devil. He dies and his mysterious nephew subsequently turns up. A string of bad events follow in his wake.

This low-budget occult horror film is pretty decent considering its obvious lack of resources. It has a fairly by-the-numbers set-up but it maintains the interest just the same. Ed Nelson, who plays the evil nephew, is good and certainly looks the part. Interestingly, he uses animals to do his evil bidding - sometimes, possessing them, other times shape-shifting into them. This includes a dog, a horse and a snake. The scene with the horse is the best one in the film. In it, a wino is chased in the moonlight by a black stallion, which catches up with him and tramples him to death.

The movie on the whole is well handled and should please those with a taste for old cheap black and white horror flicks. Although a word of warning – don't be fooled by the cover art that is often used. It has a scantily clad woman riding a centaur…sadly, there's none of this to be seen anywhere.

"Devil's Partner" is one of the few movies I have seen in a long, long time that actually managed to creep me out. The way to see it is all alone in a darkened house in the middle of the night when you can really let it's atmosphere sink in. There's one scene in particular where someone turns out to not be whom he originally said he was, and under the right circumstances it will send shivers up & down the spine of even the most hardened horror movie fan.

It's also deceptively tightly plotted. Turn away at the wrong critical minute and you might lose track of the plot as it arcs it's way in and out of what now seems to be familiar material. The film even gives away it's big secret within the first fifteen minutes but still manages to hold viewer interest for another hour as it unfolds like a nightmare. And one with a creepy musical score played on what sounds like one of those Ondes-Martenot electronic keyboards.

True the low budget & television stock acting probably works against the overall effect, but if you look beneath it you'll find a very demented little study on Southwestern American supernatural horror that would be revisited again & again: "Race With The Devil" (1975), "Brotherhood Of Satan" (1971), "Enter The Devil" (1972), "The Devil's Rain" (1974) all took a cue from "The Devil's Partner". Which was made just as the Italians were exporting their Gothic horrors from Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda, and Antonio Margheriti. The Europeans had their Gothic castles and misty cobweb filled catacombs, we had the equally Gothic arid, barren Southwest. It would be interesting to trace where the American horror tradition of Southwestern settings began.

Others have summed up the plot elements well enough: A youngish, super-slick and super nice guy drifts into a Death Valley town looking for his ne're do well uncle and everything goes straight to hell, and quickly. What makes it work is the way the film was constructed, including the sharp black & white photography making the night scenes lit by the stark lighting more unsettling than it would have been in color. I also mentioned "Twilight Zone" in my header because the pacing of the film is very reminiscent of that show, as are the themes of urban satire, ironic vengeance, and ironic justice.

Just watch the movie. It's only 72 minutes long and a public domain title so you can probably see it online for free. It's turned up on budget line $.50 cent DVDs at the dollar store (under the title "Enter The Devil"; somebody screwed up) and on those ridiculous 50 movie bargain sets. Worth it just to be completely freaked out for those precious few minutes, if you let it.

7/10

Made in 1958, but not released until 1961 (and then in a cut version), The Devil's Partner turns out to be an interesting variation on Faust, despite a number of script and story inconsistencies (and welcome plot twists from the rather bland pressbook synopsis). Helped by sympathetic acting and moody photography, director Rondeau grippingly creates a suspensefully eerie, small-town atmosphere which fully engages the attention while the film is actually unwinding. Ed Nelson does a commendable job in his dual role and is well supported all the way down the line, especially from Byron Foulger in a most unusual part as the local wino. The film also provides a rare opportunity to see the fine television player Jean Allison in a big-screen movie. Much of the film was obviously shot on actual locations. The heat-struck town of "Furnace Flats", New Mexico, seems vividly real. Photographer Edward Cronjager lends the visuals an attractive shine and, aside from one or two lapses, the make-up and special effects are generally convincing. And by the humble standards of the independent "B", production values are fairly impressive.

Enough has been said regarding the summary of this flick. Sure, the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'd even go so far as to say the the makers may have switched stories 20 minutes into filming this movie. The deal with the guy coming back and not seeming to know anyone in the town he's lived in all his life just makes me think there was another version of the story at one time... Maybe not though. Maybe the plot just wasn't thought out enough. But what the movie does have is atmosphere. From the opening shot of a sinister shadow on a decrepit shacks wall with a scared goat bleating in the background , to a faithful pet going berserk and attacking it's master this movie is creepy. All you folks who like these old spook flicks know...That's the important thing. The Alpha Video version is very cheap but is in pretty bad shape especially at the beginning of reels. Sinister Cinema has a better copy but you'll pay more for it. I'd say at the very least get the Alpha Video version. You can't go wrong spending $6.00 and getting a quality spook.