Vier im rasenden Sarg

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.

Let's hop into the wayback machine and return to the North Cedar Drive-In Theatre in Spokane, Washington, circa 1975. It's hot and muggy and my best friend and I are seeing maybe the fortieth movie of the summer, sitting in my Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser or his 12 year old F-250 (I can't remember which). We sit back to watch Race With the Devil, an obvious B-grade horror flick we've heard great things about from friends.

I haven't seen Jack Starrett's RWD since that night in the summer of '75, but I distinctly remember how good it was, how merrily hell-bent-for-leather the action was, and the way it tied into our goofy fear of Satanic cults and human chains thirty years ago. If you were around the greater Spokane area (now there's an oxymoron!) way back when, you must have heard the stories coming out of Rathdrum, Idaho, north of Coeur d'Alene. This flick was shot in the southwest, but with all the rural versions of urban legends clanking about the Idaho Panhandle, Race With the Devil seemed like a home movie.

I believe the movie made a gob of money that year.

I recommend Race With the Devil in no small part for the fact that it's obvious the people involved are having a great time, a must for a low-budget movie. It has the pacing and the chills to scare teenagers wearing long hair and bell bottoms and, I'm sure after I order a copy from Amazon, it will put a grin on the face of this paunchy, middle-aged nostalgist.

Another 70s movie that anyone who's a fan of the time period should watch. Another movie that I probably wasn't old enough to watch when I did.

It manages to be a creepy movie that's suspensful. Was probably only beanded a horror because it was made at abtime when there were a lot of cult activities in the news. I'd say it's more a thriller.

I honestly don't think it's aged badly. It also has the benefit of not needing the "we've got no mobile signal" line that modern movies suffer from.

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.

"Race With the Devil" is an excellent blend of spine-tingling horror, riveting suspense, and slambang action. I had heard good things about this one, and I definitely got what I was looking for. In fact, I got too much because this is one spooky movie and is the type of film that I love because it's a great movie, but hate because it sends my paranoia levels spiralling through the roof. In it, four vacationers are traveling in their badass RV and end up getting drunk out in the middle of an isolated countryside. The two guys see something that piques their interest across the river at night and spy on it, thinking they're watching hippies have an orgy. What they don't expect is the Satanic ritual sacrifice that takes place right in the middle of it all, and they don't make a very clean getaway. Before you know it, devil-worshippers are coming out of the woodwork everywhere they end up at, chasing them all over the state. It is a very creepy and believeable film, and I've got to commend a movie that makes car chases exciting when I can't remember the last time I ever gave a crap about a single one. An exhilarating, fast-paced movie that is an edge-of-the-seat thrill ride! I highly recommend it!