Race With the Devil

Amazon.com

An alternate title for this movie could easily be RV to Hell. Two middle-class couples take their spankin'-new motor home on a trip to Colorado. While camping out in Texas, the men see something they shouldn't--a human sacrifice by Satanists who somehow manage not to notice their Safeway- sized vehicle until the last minute. The tourists flee from the devil worshippers, getting the monstrous RV hung up in a stream, and so goes the rest of the movie. The local sheriff is in league with the devil, and every town they come to is full of pesky Satanists. The vacationers are nothing if not resourceful, though; when a pair of determined Beelzebubbers cling to the vehicle like barnacles, Peter Fonda pokes at them with an aluminum vacuum-cleaner wand until they give up and fall off! Oddly, halfway through the film, it turns from a fairly routine (if suspenseful) horror movie to a Ron Howard-style car-chase film, with a half-dozen vehicles pursuing the motor home. The vacationers continue to abuse the RV until large chunks of it begin to fall off, fending off their enemies with a shotgun until the nasty surprise ending. With a cast that includes Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, and Lara Parker, it's hard to go wrong (though the women's roles consist of screaming ineffectually, making coffee, and cleaning the earth-toned Winnebago). Yep, this Central Texas-lensed drive-in feature supplies thrills, car wrecks, devil worshippers, and unintended laughs by the bushel... what else can you ask for? --Jerry Renshaw

Description

Frank (Warren Oates) and Roger (Peter Fonda) take off for Colorado with their wives in a recreational vehicle, looking forward to some skiing and dirt biking. While camping en route, they witness a satanic ritual sacrifice, but the local sheriff finds no evidence to support their claims and urges them to continue on their vacation. On the way, however, they find themselves fleeing repeated attacks from cult members.

Customer Reviews:

Good Thriller w/ a few Bad Scenes.......2007-08-31

Satanists are pretty creepy, and somehow this movie fuses rural cultists in the era that brought us Charlie Manson with high speed chases to deliver a very watchable thriller.
Fonda is stiff as a statue as the lead, Warren Oates was far better in "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", Loretta Switt and the other actress plain stink, especially in a contrived library scene.
But if you dig chases/crashes and a weird 70's cult enemy,ENJOY!!

Uneasy Riders..........2007-08-21

Frank (Warren Oates) and Roger (Peter Fonda) and their wives (Loretta "M*A*S*H" Swit and Lara "Angelique, from the original Dark Shadows" Parker!!!!) hit the road for a fun, relaxing vacation. Frank decides to avoid the typical tourist traps, and steers his gargantuan RV onto an unmarked dirt road to find a nice, scenic spot to spend the night. While drinking themselves into oblivion, Frank and Roger witness a seemingly satanic ritual going on about a hundred feet away. They watch as the female cultists get neggid, only to see one of them sacrificially stabbed to death by their masked leader! Just then, Frank's wife (Swit) exits the RV, yelling at the quickly-sobering husbands, thereby alerting the satanists in the process! Uh-oh, time to go! The chase is on as our heroes make good their escape. They seek help from the local sheriff (R.G. Armstrong from Evilspeak, Children Of The Corn, etc.) who pretty much tries to convince them that they are just imagining things. It only gets worse from here, as our unlucky vacationers are plagued by horrific hellions wherever they go! We get plenty of explosions, gun-battles, high-speed combat, and a rattlesnake attack! Will these poor people make it through this ungodly gauntlet? RACE WITH THE DEVIL is a terrific little nail-biter, w/ a dark 70s ending that always makes me happy (in a ghoulish sort of way)...

A classic. Highly recommended for your Grindhouse.......2007-08-20

Thanks to Quentin Tarantino, these days "Grindhouse" has become quite the trendy retro label. Having seen major theatrical release and having been a major commercial success in its day, "Race With the Devil" is actually technically a cut above most of the movies lumped into this category. But I would still say that this movie is very much a gem of the Grindhouse era, and quite successfully fulfills all the aspirations of that era's films.

In fact, I would go so far as to argue that Tarantino's own contribution to his recent "Grindhouse" double-feature, "Death Proof", owes a great debt to "Race With the Devil", and it is certainly one of the films that defines the genre of road-based action that Tarantino was trying to emulate.

This film brings together several strands of popular culture then current in the mid-70s. First of all, there is the kind of unease and near-paranoia about rural America already seen a couple of years earlier in "Deliverance". Second, there is the occult element fueled by the whole occult boom/Satanic panic caused by films like "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby". And third, there is the whole road movie genre, which Peter Fonda had already contributed to in a slightly different way a few years earlier in "Easy Rider".

"Race With the Devil" tells the story of two couples who hop in their huge motor home (Wow, it even has a microwave oven in 1975! I didn't know they were available that early.) and take off for a road vacation driving from Austin Texas and heading for the ski slopes of Colorado. But somewhere in the wilds of rural Texas, while parked for the night, they happen to witness a human sacrifice by some Satanic worshippers. After reporting the incident to the local police, they assume everything is hunky-dory and continue on their way. -- But that's when all the fun starts.

This movie is light on characterization, but heavy on the action -- which is exactly what this kind of movie needs. The movie really succeeds in maintaining a high level of tension throughout, along with an escalating atmosphere of paranoia. -- Who'd a thunk it that there'd be so many danged Satanists among them rural Texas rednecks?

The movie itself looks great, and this DVD also comes with a cool bonus interview with "Race With the Devil" star Peter Fonda today, as well as trailers and a poster & still gallery. Nice work, Anchor Bay!

So in conclusion, I would highly recommend this one for your home Grindhouse. How about a 70s vacation-from-hell double-bill with "Deliverance", or maybe a 70s road action triple-bill with "Vanishing Point" and that other Peter Fonda classic "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry"?

Just make sure to have lots of popcorn handy, and try not to miss the stickiness of those good ol' real Grindhouse floors too much. ;)

If only Loretta could have kept her " hot lips " shut ............2007-07-17

......and not so concerned about driving the damn RV the next morning they wouldn't have been in this mess !!
I have to give this gem five stars because it's just that good . I'm quite fond of horror movies from this era because they freaked us out as kids and make us laugh our fannies off as adults . " Race With the Devil " is truly entertaining , delivers the goods and worth every penny . It has something for everyone . Thrills , action , suspense, proper buriel techniques of family pets while on the road and most importantly - hospitality and tourism of the mid west .
The story starts out normal enough , two couples starting out on a road trip in their stylish Vogue RV bound for Aspen . But with all the great camping grounds across this counrty , they instead decide to pull off the highway.( you know those little access roads you see when your driving along on an interstate and you think to yourself " I wonder what's up there ? " - well now you know ! )After seeing something sinister in the thicket and being blown off by the local fuzz , Frank ( Warren Oates )
declares " We're gonna take care of this when we get to Amarillo .( oh ,
excuse me , Frank calls it Am-eh-rilla )Only they didn't know getting there would be half the fun ! What starts out as a horror movie quickly becomes an action adventure that rivels " Duel " . There are plenty of chase scenes ( I never knew an RV could go so fast ! ) full of cars that blow up in mid air before they actually hit anything and a gratuitous snake wrestling scene that makes you realize that swinging a rattler over your head and beating it on the floor is sometimes the best way to kill it . Add this flick to your movie library and watch it before and after every road trip you take . You won't be disappointed !!

Race with the Devil.......2007-07-12

The movie was just like I had remebered. I had read one review where the viewer said the movie was hard to see and there was a lot of red tones in it. The one I purchased was perfect and I enjoyed seeing it again after all of these years. Great purchase! Great movie!

Average customer rating:

Hammer Great
Christopher Lee cast against type
One of the best that Hammer Horror has to offer...
candidate for digital
Hammer horror's finest hour?

The Devil Rides Out
Starring: Christopher Lee , Charles Gray , Nike Arrighi , Leon Greene , and Patrick Mower
Director: Terence Fisher
Manufacturer: Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

Hammer Productions | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: 6305808163
Release Date: 2000-07-25

Amazon.com

Christopher Lee, long Hammer Studios' house villain, takes a rare heroic turn as scholar and occultist Duc de Richleau, the kind of role that Peter Cushing had made his métier. Lee plays Richleau with a dark elegance and intensity--he's a commanding figure with a trim goatee who discovers that the son of a war buddy has joined a satanic cult lorded over by the quietly malevolent Mocata (Charles Gray, best known as the narrator in The Rocky Horror Picture Show). Director Terence Fisher, working from a literate script by genre scribe Richard Matheson, creates a strikingly handsome period piece (set in 1920s rural England) dripping in dread as Richleau and Mocata battle for the souls of two young lovers on both physical and spiritual planes. The action scenes are well handled and the towering Lee cuts quite a figure leaping through hoards of robed devil worshippers to save a sacrificial victim, but the film peaks in an eerie supernatural battle in which Richleau and his skeptical party confronts Mocata's demons while protected in a giant pentagram. The effects are coarse and dated by today's standards, but the gorgeous period detail, vivid color, and unsettling imagery create a sinister ambiance, and Fisher's mix of psychodrama and swashbuckling action makes for an engrossing thriller, a life-and-death struggle between two masters of the forces of light and darkness. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Hammer Great.......2007-09-01

This marvellous film is one of Hammers best ever. Really only Dracula and The Hound of the Baskervilles are in the same league.

Christopher Lee plays the Duc De Richeau with the same passion he plays normally plays bad guys. Charles Gray is excellent as Mocata, the leader of the devil worshipers. Other noteable British actors that you will know are Patrick Mower and Paul Eddington.

The director is Terence Fisher who consistently proved himself to be the best Hammer director. The film is gripping and if the special effects look very primitive now you should not let it detract from what is otherwise a great film.

This edition has a commentary by Christopher Lee and others which is quite fascinating and well worth getting. Even without the commentary this is still an essential purchase for Hammer and/or horror fans.

Christopher Lee cast against type.......2006-10-06

The Devil Rides Out is probably the best known book that Dennis Wheatley ever wrote. The Hammer film adaptation is pretty faithful to the book. The film version sees Christopher Lee (cast against type) as the heroic Duc de Richelieu fighting a coven of Satanists, led by Charles Gray's evil and sinister Mocata. The film is both eerie and frightening (the encounter with the Ab Human entity in the darkened house being a very good example) as the powers of Light and Darkness lock horns via their respective proxys...
Christopher Lee turns in a superlative performance as De Richelieu and Charles Gray is equally good as his Satanic nemesis - Mocata.
They receive sterling support from the rest of the cast who include Patrick Mower and Barbara Shelley.
Among occult movies, The Devil Rides Out stands out as one of the very best. It remains one of my all time faves and is highly recommended to anyone who has not seen it yet.

One of the best that Hammer Horror has to offer..........2005-10-12

One of the best in the Hammer Horror series. I put this one alongside "To the Devil...A Daughter" and "Satanic Rites of Dracula" as one of my favorites. It's well-written, well-acted, well-staged, and very creepy. An underrated, though no less true, success in the genre.

candidate for digital.......2005-06-04

What a marvelous film--and what a shame that an otherwise superb production in terms of casting, pace, storyline and atmosphere is cursed with second-rate effects that have dated so badly. Christopher Lee once said in an interview that he felt he was probably a little young for the excellent role of the Duc. You certainly won't get that impression though watching his authoritative performance.

Perhaps Steven Spielberg or George Lucas could be persuaded to buy the rights to the movie and remaster the film in digital with an entirely new sequence of special effects that would be worthy of the cast and the production design....

Hammer horror's finest hour?.......2004-12-04

Were I to identify Hammer's finest film, it would almost certainly be a close call between the 1958 Horror of Dracula and this impressive occult thriller from 1968.

In The Devil Rides Out, adapted by Richard Matheson from the book by Dennis Wheatley, the Duc de Richleau (Christopher Lee in perhaps one of his two or three greatest roles) finds himself in a battle with the forces of evil in the guise of satanic ringleader Mocata (a sinister Charles Gray). Terence Fisher directs a riveting and intense "fairy tale for adults" in which darkness and light collide, and God triumphs over the Devil. The suspense and fear are effectively conveyed through Fisher's sharp direction, James Bernard's macabre and sometimes frenetic musical score, and Arthur Grant's brilliant lighting and photography, which comes into its own in the justly famous library scenes in which our protagonist and his allies must defend themselves against a nightlong satanic assault.

Charlie Rose with Elizabeth Drew; Sam Fulwood; Ellis Cose; Peter Bogdanovich (April 29, 1997)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Elizabeth Drew; Sam Fulwood; Ellis Cose; Peter Bogdanovich (April 29, 1997)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Charlie talks to journalists Sam Fulwood and Ellis Cose about the legacy of the L. A. race riots that occurred five years ago in South Central Los Angeles. Next, author Elizabeth Drew discusses her latest book called, Whatever It Takes that looks at the 1996 presidential elections as well as political power in the U. S. Finally, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich tells Charlie about his new book, Who the Devil Made It that contains interviews with history's greatest film directors.

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