Race With the Devil
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Movie Reviews of Race With the Devil
Movie Review: Old Time Horror Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Good late night movie flick. The creepy scene at the end is the greatest!Movie Review: Great Movie, Lousy Presentation.
Summary: 3 Stars
I will let others review the film, which is one of the finest American made thrillers of the 1970's. My issue is with Anchor Bay's DVD.
RACE WITH THE DEVIL was a 4:3 open matt shoot which would have then been shown on a theater screen through a mask to produce a 1:85 (or thereabouts) LBX picture. The problem is, folks, that we aren't watching this on a drive-in screen or what have you -- Anchor Bay masked the picture to 1:85, losing about 1/4 of the screen information and shaving the tops of everybody's heads off. They also used a direct to digital transfer process from a negative, allowing Adobe colors to then be arbitrarily assigned to hue tones in the ranges of millions of shades. Problem is that in 1975, Deluxe only used photochemical color that produced ranges of the thousands of hues. Look at how beet-red everyone's faces are.
The promotional spot bonuses are nice and of course any kind of commentary from the contributors on these films is a compliment to any fan of the movie. But unless you have a widescreen high-end 16x9 screen to watch this on, you're better off scooping up one of the old VHS releases shown in the correct fullframe and transferred from a developed print that used the correct color. Specifically you want the Key Video release from 1985, since Ted Turner's Fox Home Video "digitally remastered" the film in 1993, losing some of the rough edges you see on the Key Video release.
That's why the DVD is valued at about $8. It's nice, but only if you have a modern day 16x9 setup and/or don't care about whether or not the picture is an accurate representation of what was originally produced in 1975. One other bit of joyful news: the scene with the satanic ceremony & the *VERY* brief frontal nudity was optically censored as early as the 1985 Key Video releases, and may have been fogged for the theatrical version as well to maintain a PG rating, since in 1975 there was no PG-13 consideration. Anchor Bay did not fog the nudity, the film just came that way.
It's still a classic though, the culmination of the Erotic Witchcraft cult horror boon of the 1970s, and George Miller must have seen it before making THE ROAD WARRIOR.
Movie Review: You just never know...
Summary: 3 Stars
Well, this movie is good in many ways but could have been just a little bit better in its execution.
First of all, the plot itself is the best aspect of the movie and is really the only reason to watch it.
It is very creepy and will make you wonder about certain people when you drive to places you have never been.
There is alot of good acting all around but one of the lead female characters just does not know when to stop screaming and it might get on your nerves after a while.
There is some suspense but it is a little easy to guess who is what before the movie is over.
I can say though that it is interesting enough to watch until the end and you may even watch it a few more times down the road.
It is an original movie but I think it is made to feed on the fears, hysteria and paranoia that some people have about things they dont understand.
But despite this, the plot and acting are both effective and the tension is never really let down.
The only thing I really dont like is the ending.
All I can say is that it could have turned out better and I find what happens at the end a little un-likely.
But that is just my opinion and regardless of that, I would recommend this movie to horror fans who are looking for something a little different.
The car chase on the highway is one of the best scenes in the movie and works very well compared to most other car chase scenes in other films of its time.
It should be considered a classic for the plot, which holds up well even today.
Movie Review: Devil-Worshipping RV Chasers
Summary: 3 Stars
I'll watch just about any movie starring Warren Oates; he's simply one of the most under-rated actors in history. Unfortunately, he's made a few clunkers, such as this over-heated occult thriller. Oates and Peter Fonda are partners in a racing business, and they take an RV vacation with their wives (Loretta Swit and Lara Parker). When they get tired of driving through Texas, they abruptly swerve off the road and randomly park their RV. It's about the least attractive vacation spot since Leatherface's meat shack ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was not coincidentally released a year earlier). Unfortunately, they happen upon a human sacrifice in the Texas dessert. When they're spotted, they take off, but the chase goes on much longer than they expected.
"Race with the Devil" is really a rather silly movie, but it somehow manages to be surprisingly enjoyable. Mostly, it's the stark 70s atmosphere and grindhouse b-movie vibe; plus, the ending car chases are rather good for their time. Of course, the movie is also completely unbelievable - from the multitude of small towns along the highway that seem to be in on the plot to the pathetic attempts of the sacrificers to off the protagonists to the laughable dialogue to the way the actors seem to be somewhat embarrassed by the proceedings. However, if you manage to set aside the silliness, "Race with the Devil" is not half bad - more like 1/3 bad.
Movie Review: Good Drive In Movie from the past
Summary: 3 Stars
I hadn't seen this movie since I was a kid. It is a mix of action, car chase, and horror movie. It stars Peter Fonda and Warren Oates as two buddies who buy an RV and take their wives on a cross country trip. They have a pretty cool dirt bike race between the competitive friends and there is some nice riding in that scene. Also this movie is full of some pretty cool stunts. These are even more cool when you think that back in the day people actually rode those bikes, drove those cars and did all the stunts. In a day of CGI this is just amazing. The story is not Shakespeare but it is fun as the couples run across a ritualistic murder and are then chased by the cult. The paranoia and true fear grows and grows as they race across country in fear of their lives.
This movie is kind of dated but it is still fun to watch. And for those of you who saw it back in the day, I think you will still enjoy it.