Vier im rasenden Sarg

Never mind the nasty dismissal in the annual paperback guide to movies by critic Leonard Maltin and cronies. This is classic, exhilarating *and* suspenseful drive-in entertainment, man!

Real-life good friends Peter Fonda and Warren Oates play buddies Roger and Frank, who embark on a vacation with wives Kelly (Lara Parker) and Alice (Loretta Swit) that includes, or will include, activities such as camping, motorcycle racing, and, hopefully, skiing. Frank has even procured a state-of-the-art RV for the occasion. Unfortunately for this quartet, Roger and Frank end up witnessing a Satanic ritual & sacrifice taking place across a river. The Satanists (supposedly played by actual Satanists) realize they've been witnessed and thereafter relentlessly pursue the heroes.

Actor / director Jack Starrett ("Slaughter", "Cleopatra Jones") stepped in on short notice to replace original director Lee Frost (Frost and co-writer / producer / actor Wes Bishop being familiar names to exploitation aficionados) as 20th Century Fox was dissatisfied with what Frost was turning out. And the results make for a fine viewing experience. The tension just builds and builds throughout the whole thing. Just get a load of the sequence where the nervous Kelly sees, or seems to see, menace in every strange face around her. This will have the audience thinking, "Just how many people are in on, or could be in on, this whole damn thing?" You'll wonder, too, if there's *anybody* trustworthy in the cast of characters.

Particularly exciting scenes are those where Roger and Frank have to rush to get their vehicle going again before the villains can catch up, and where they and their wives must deal with an attack by a pair of rattlers. But best of all is the invigorating, breathless climactic action featuring some extremely impressive human and vehicle stunts. Leonard Rosenman's music score is ominous through and through, and there's one Hell of a distinctive looking tree to serve as an enduring image. Fonda, Oates, Swit, and Parker are immensely likable, and the supporting cast includes old pro R.G. Armstrong as the sheriff, Bishop as Deputy Dave, Phil Hoover as the creepy looking mechanic, and Paul A. Partain (Franklin in the original "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre") in a bit part. The movie features one of the most priceless of the downbeat endings common to 1970's cinema, ending this on a perfect note.

"Race with the Devil" is must viewing for anybody looking to discover the drive-in favourites of decades past.

Nine out of 10.

As low budget horror movies go, "Race With The Devil" has aged well. The plot is simple--two couples en route to Aspen for a long overdue skiing vacation, end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and witness a human sacrifice. The rest of the film deals with their attempts to escape their pursuers, who happen to be modern day witches! Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit (M*A*S*H) and Lara Parker (Dark Shadows) are the couples in question, and R.G. Armstrong is the local sheriff they enlist to help them. All the performances are fine, especially the vastly underrated Oates, who is only now receiving the acclaim long due him, (he has since passed away) and his acting is as compelling as ever. The just-released DVD includes a commentary from producer Paul Maslansky and Lara Parker, a retrospective documentary with Peter Fonda, trailer, still and poster galleries and radio spots. Enhanced for widescreen TVs the film looks great, and is a great one to watch late at night (if not alone) when you feel the need for a few genuine scares.

Two couples are on vacation and driving around in a huge motor home. They are Roger (Peter Fonda), Kelly (Lara Parker), Frank (Warren Oates) and Alice (Loretta Swit). One night while camping they see a Satanic ritual where a young girl is murdered. The members of the cult find out and the couples spend the rest of the movie with witches after them to kill them.

The story is a little silly and the dialogue is pretty bad but this is the type of movie that used to pack them in at drive-ins. It's full of action, fast-moving and has likable (if one-dimensional) characters. It's basically a chase movie disguised and marketed as a horror film. The killing in the movie isn't that explicit and the nudity in it is purposely blurred out-some people think it was edited from theatrical prints but it was always that way.

The acting doesn't really matter--I mean who's seeing this for the acting? Still all four actors give their all to this. The only thing that bothered me was Swit and Parker screaming nonstop when anything happens and letting Fonda and Oates "save" them. It's quite amusing to see Parker being attacked by witches in this one since she played the evil witch Angelique in the "Dark Shadows" TV series in the late 1960s. The climax is either a perfect one or a lousy one. I'm torn between the two myself.

Quick and fun with a really incredible car chase at the end.

I'm very pleased with this little occult road-movie classic from the 70's. It's fun and moves at a decent pace. Of course you have to wait for more than an hour before the racing starts, but the climactic last 20 minutes make up for it. Two couples on a holiday with their mobile home are witness to a satanic ritual killing during one night. Naturally, the local authorities have some difficulties believing all this, and soon the two couples find themselves being harassed and eventually chased by several cult-members. I liked the sense of paranoia this film has. Just about everyone in this movie could be a satanic cult-member. I liked the ending too. And Peter Fonda was cool as always. This time he used the word "terrific" a lot as an expletive, instead of "groovy".

My brother told me about "Race With the Devil" many years ago after he had seen some of it on a late night T.V showing. The way the film was described to me, made me curious in wanting to see it. I had to wait a while for the film to be shown again as obtaining it on video was going to be hard. BBC 2 eventually showed "Race With the Devil" in 1997 at about midnight. I was quite impressed with the final results. Warren Oates is the best actor in the film - he is most under-rated - but the other main cast members are OK. The film has a pretty good atmosphere and is well paced with a fair bit of incident. Nothing is quite what it seems at first glance. The ending comes after quite a build-up and I found it to be all the more shocking. This wasn't the kind of film that was expected to be a box office success but it is still a neat little film.