Race with the Devil (1975)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Starring Peter Fonda and Warren Oates as the likeable leads, 'Race with the Devil' is about two vacationing couples who find themselves pursued by a satanic cult after witnessing a ritualistic murder. With a strong beginning, the film unfortunately never quite capitalises on its spine-tingling premise, and true sequences of horror and terrorisation you may expect from the plot description never quite come to fruition. The plot meanders at a stately pace after the sacrifice and escape, trying to envelope proceedings with paranoia and fear at every opportunity. Every local seems to be part of the creepy cult, and yet they seem intent on playing games with their victims rather than outright laying on scares or kills. But 'Race with the Devil' makes up for any flaws and narrative shortcomings with a tensely staged car chase in the finale. Vehicular destruction and admirable stunts present themselves in the final scenes, and its pleasing to see the cultists finally shift into their endgame and come at the protagonists with aggressive determination. There are deaths, explosions, and barrel rolls to keep up the tension, and just when it seems the main cast has escaped the clutches of evil, a surprising and clever twist makes us realise the true horror the film alluded to earlier: everyone in the vicinity including police is seemingly ensnared in devil worship. The final image is a creepy downer reminiscent of The Wicker Man, and makes 'Race with the Devil' a low-key recommendation. 7/10

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.

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.

Very enjoyable occult/action thriller with a genuinely creepy devil worship scene (the chanting is very scary), an effectively downbeat ending, and a sense of paranoia and dread throughout. You're never sure when the devil worshipers will strike next, or which supporting character might be one. There is a scene at a swimming pool that is very effective in showing the justified paranoia of the main characters when they sense they're being stared at and they grow increasing uncomfortable. The music and stillness of the scene works very well.Fonda has his usual earnest, freewheeling, and laid back personality which disguises a fast-witted man of action, Oates has a somewhat tired, "just woke up" quality that is very watchable and easy to relate to, but he is also capable of getting righteously angry and ready to fight, and the two female characters...well, they just kind of stay in the background, look pretty, flash their toothpaste-ad smiles and do some research into Satan. They could have been better written.The background music, while very effective in the scary parts, has a generic, TV-movie quality in the slower scenes, and some of the supporting characters are kind of silly (like the sheriff, deputy and librarian).There is a good sense of action, with lots of chase scenes and some motorcycle riding (although there maybe should have been a motorcycle chase scene with the satanists).All in all, a somewhat dated, but much better than average occult/action film which still holds up very well today.