Race with the Devil (1975)

I saw this movie in a walk-in theater with my dad when it came out. I really liked it, and I was always a horror movie fan since then. Lara Parker, from Dark Shadows, was a face I really didn't recognize until years later, after watching the movie again. Loretta Swit, from "MASH"? I think this was before "MASH", if not at the very beginning. Peter Fonda was already a star, and my dad thought the man was shitting gold bricks! If they ever did a remake, I'd suggest the actor (hell...he's Goldburg, Goldblum, or something like that) as the Warren Oates character. But, I don't think there's even a remake working for this one yet. As simply done as this movie was, I think "they" might want to use too many special effects, CGI, etc....

If they do, I suggest something: Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Fmovies: Ah, it's always great to discover a forgotten gem like this for the first time. Staring Peter Fonda and Warren Oates, the story involves them and their wives going on a cross-country vacation in their new RV. They decide to spend their first night parked in a secluded section of woods and just before going to bed, they witness a brutal, satanic ritual off in the distance. When they are spotted, the chase of their lives begins. Simply put, Race with the Devil was an entertaining flick. The ritual was suitable creepy (I loved the shot of the fire being started, as well as the flaming tree later on) and the chase scenes were tense, exciting, and action-packed (great stunt work). The "can't-trust-anyone" theme really helped to develop the foreboding atmosphere, all leading up to a chilling finale. I recommend checking the movie out before the remake hits screens in 2008Â…you won't regret it! By the way, Race with the Devil was clearly an influence on From Dusk Till Dawn.

As low budget horror movies go, "Race With The Devil" has aged well. The plot is simple--two couples en route to Aspen for a long overdue skiing vacation, end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and witness a human sacrifice. The rest of the film deals with their attempts to escape their pursuers, who happen to be modern day witches! Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit (M*A*S*H) and Lara Parker (Dark Shadows) are the couples in question, and R.G. Armstrong is the local sheriff they enlist to help them. All the performances are fine, especially the vastly underrated Oates, who is only now receiving the acclaim long due him, (he has since passed away) and his acting is as compelling as ever. The just-released DVD includes a commentary from producer Paul Maslansky and Lara Parker, a retrospective documentary with Peter Fonda, trailer, still and poster galleries and radio spots. Enhanced for widescreen TVs the film looks great, and is a great one to watch late at night (if not alone) when you feel the need for a few genuine scares.

Race with the Devil fmovies. Wow, what a great little flick. Race With the Devil is a seventies road movie/satanic horror film about a group of holidaymakers who get more than they bargained for when they witness the brutal murder of a young girl by a group of devil worshippers. The film is an obvious influence for modern horror films such as From Dusk Till Dawn and The Devil's Rejects, and also serves as a great prelude to later seventies classics including The Hills Have Eyes. There isn't anything particularly nasty in the film, which actually helps it as it allows more time to be spent on the plot and characters. Race With the Devil was clearly never meant to be a shocking horror film, as most of the movie is spent dealing up suspense, and this is good also as it ensures that Ride With the Devil is one exciting trip through the wastelands of America. The plot never really delves into the reasons why the satanic cult sacrifices people, and this is indicative of the time in which the movie was made. The fact that they're cult members is incidental to the fact that they're chasing our leading group of characters.

Director Jack Starrett does an amazing job of creating paranoia for our central quartet. The director ensures that we never really know where we are, and who to trust; and this serves in making the suspense all the more potent. The acting isn't brilliant, but cult stars Warren Oates and Peter Fonda make for enjoyable leads as they try their best to stay alive. The rest of the cast, including the central women, do their jobs well and this film pretty much delivers what you would expect from a seventies horror thriller on the acting side. Race With the Devil spends its first hour building up to an absolutely great climax, which features car chases, gunfights and even good old-fashioned brainpower. The film is slow burning (yet interesting) up until this point, but once it hits the hour mark – it really takes off. The car chases are well filmed, and the way that Starrett always keeps our focus on the lead characters makes sure that we are able to get behind them, and the chase pans out as it should. On the whole, this is a very enjoyable thriller that has shamefully been lost over the years. While watching, I was surprised at how this hasn't been tagged for a remake yet - so you can guess how I felt when I discovered that, actually, it has...

"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!

For years I've listened to nitpickers attack the ending. "Why didn't they just drive away?" If you recall, the attendant at the last gas station they stopped at warned, "You got a busted headlight on that thing". Not to mention half of the front end torn off, exposing the engine compartment.

Fonda's character pulls off the road to repair the headlight "while there's still enough light to see what I'm doing". The cultists last contacted them at the roadside construction project, and followed them to where they stopped -- at twilight.

When night fell, they either smashed the other headlight or disabled the engine by quietly pulling a cable or belt. In the dark, with no headlights, surrounded by hills and dales and rocks and streams and trees, that big behemoth isn't going anywhere, if it's even still running.

The couples originally see their $26,000 Vogue as a castle on wheels -- king of the road. "We don't need anything. We are self-contained, baby!" They quickly realize that it is in fact a lumbering, vulnerable deathtrap that makes them easy prey in isolated, unfamiliar territory. This refusal to accept that they are so out of their element -- in a race that they can't possibly win -- is the movie's entire point.