Au service de Satan

This is actually not as bad and absurd as it may seem. The story makes sense, and sects are a phenomenon that humanity has suffered from through all ages, for good and for worse, adding constantly a touch of mystery and terror to history, as life would be too commonplace without it. Here the mysterious sect is a band out in the wilderness of the Texas deserts close to Mexico, and there are quite a few Mexicans involved. Things get serious as a professional lady anthropologist is connected in the case, they try to save her by sending her away in time, but it is too late, and she is too curious.

These films and stories of satanism always end in the same way, Dennis Wheatley wrote a number of novels about it, and they never depart from the same pattern. Neither does this film. It is intriguing, fascinating and partly exciting, but afterwards you just brush it off your clothes.

Enter the Devil (1972)

** (out of 4)

This low-budget horror film was shot in New Mexico where it is also set. The film tells the story of a bunch of people who disappear without a trace and a local state trooper's attempt to track them down. It turns out that a Satanic cult are behind the kidnappings.

ENTER THE DEVIL is a film that doesn't have much of a cult following but the title puts it along side countless other "devil" or "Satanic" movies that were released after the success of Roman Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY. Is the film a masterpiece or something that everyone should check out? Absolutely not but at the same time there are some interesting things that make it worth viewing.

To me the best thing about the film was its music score by Sam Douglas. There's honestly nothing to the score that I would call original but at the same time it does help build up an atmosphere and it just feels dirty like the setting of the picture. I also thought there were some effective shots of the Satanic group walking through the night with their torches lighting up the blackness of night. These two things mixed together were quite good and I'd say much better than some of the other things that we saw in countless pictures like it.

As far as the story goes, it's certainly not that original and in fact it really runs out of gas around hte hour mark. There isn't enough going on in the picture to completely hold your attention but I will say the ending came as a shock and especially considering how blunt it was. Performances are what you'd expect from a film like this but for the most part I'd say the direction by Fred Q. Dobbs was good.

ENTER THE DEVIL isn't going to win any major awards but it's an interesting little film that horror fans should check out.

Back in the early 70's when Charlie Manson and chums had just killed the hippie era cultist horror was in vogue. Race With The Devil was probably the artistic high point of the genre,but obscurities like Enter The Devil and Blood Sabbath are arguably of more generic interest to geeks like myself, dwelling more on the aesthetic aspects of crazy cults. There's a lot of aesthetic and thematic potential in the whole cult set up, hoods and robes, chanting, obscure rituals and fires, then there's the whole issue of singularity of purpose and the subsumed individual, someone can be just about anything on the outside but when it comes to their cult affiliation they become just a piece of the one persona. Other films delve deeper into the themes, but Enter The Devil gets good mileage out of the aesthetic and smartly sets things in the eerie isolation of the New Mexico desert for greater effect. It's simple slow burning stuff for the most part, Deputy Sheriff Ozzie Perkins investigating a disappearance and finding that the plot thickens as he goes, there's a good dusty atmosphere and sense of nagging unease punctuated by short sharp shocks, then things rev up with a nail biting two punch driving the film into its final block. There are clichés at hand, like Mexicans being either goofy or feisty, white guys being mostly horny and bigoted and the female lead being largely ineffectual, but somehow the character interactions work nicely, building up a solid feel of place and time both compelling and gently unsettling. The generally likable acting helps, beautiful Leslie Culver is charming enough as the research professor on hand to explain things, Joshua Bryant a helpful and friendly motel owner and Happy Shahan gruff and decent as the Deputy Sheriff. They all gel pretty well, as do the other players, making the slower moments pretty pleasing and producing a quiet, mundane feel that renders the climax all the more effective. I don't know whether the print I saw was the cut US release that got a PG certificate and re-released on Something Weird DVDR or full length (I think it was a S. African VHS but the run time falls between the two listed on IMDb) but the big shock scene in this is marvellous stuff, not graphic but real mean spirited and unsettling, really blows you out of the comfort zone prior established. The actual climax has its problems, but its short and sweet and shouldn't deter anyone who has managed the rest. Little in the way of bloodshed or action but definitely a good 'un, well worth a look for 70's horror fans.

A woman doing research for her in-progress reference book on cults of the world ends up in a rural Southwestern U.S. dust-bowl where, ironically enough, an extremist offshoot of the Christian faith has been busy with their human-sacrificing rituals.

ENTER THE DEVIL, believe it or not, is an immeasurably more professional item than you will generally find within the ambit of early 70s drive-in horror. The Something Weird video release I viewed is sourced from a terribly worn print...it looks like snow flurries on the screen through nearly the entire movie. Still, that may well be the only way we can currently enjoy this suspenseful little rarity, which sort of plays like a mixture of RACE WITH THE DEVIL and THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.

The arid desert location filming brings a unique, lost and lonely atmosphere to the proceedings which are, at times, rather uneventful...still, this is a surprisingly well-made lower-berth picture which deserves a look(and, hopefully, a better looking print).

5.5/10

The action of "Enter the Devil" takes place on a barren Texas wasteland dotted with dirty little towns and mercury mines.A red-robed Satanic cult is kidnapping unlucky victims and sacrificing them in the name of the Devil.Meanwhile a beautiful doctor Leslie Culver is researching the book about devilish cults."Enter the Devil" is a slow-moving and wonderfully dry horror movie set on the desert.There is a brilliantly conveyed aura of utter isolation that kept me intrigued.If you like strange horror/western hybrids give "Enter the Devil" a look.An obscurity that deserves to be seen and appreciated by countless fans of 70's horror.Enjoy your stay in Dry Lake.8 out of 10.