Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: Race With the Devil (2005) |
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Review of Race With the Devil
- 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.
Description
- 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
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Comments for Race With the Devil
- Posted on 2008-09-27
Enjoyable road movie
RACE WITH THE DEVIL is a really enjoyable road movie. I saw it over thirty years ago at the cinema and thought it was great then. I bought the R1 dvd from Anchor Bay some time ago and it's a great dvd and far superior to the UKR2 dvd which is cut by 25 seconds due to the snake attack in the RV. As well as that the R2 dvd is full screen with no extras. Buy the R1! The film is one of a rare breed compared to nowadays, I won't give anything away, but just see the film. Excellent entertainment.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-09-06
The things nightmares are made of !
It the mid 1970s I saw this movie and it gave me the same nightmare for many years.
The scene at the campgrounds where everyone is staring at them stuck with me for a long time.
A very scary movie for any age at any time !
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-08-04
The Vacation from Hell
A drive-in classic and nothing more. Oates and Fonda and company witness a sacrificial killing and that start a chase across the highway of Colorado and deadly conclusion. Yes, it is absurd on its surface. You just have to toss your disbelief out the window and it's a fun ride.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-06-08
Devil-Worshipping RV Chasers
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.
Score: 3
- Posted on 2008-06-05
Fun, cheap guilty-pleasure drive-in classic!
This movie rocks. I don't care what anyone says. It's a blast. It was made on a shoe-string budget and, at times, it shows but overall this movie has a cool story, good actors, plenty of action, and some spooky moments. It does have some hilarious moments like when Warren Oates and Peter Fonda are toasting each other, "here's to the best damn vacation we might have in our whole lives!" Hilarious! Five minutes later they're being persued by Satanic maniacs. Isn't that always the way life works out? One minute you're toasting with some chardone and the next minute, yep, chased by a death cult in rural Texas! What is it with Texas and their crazy cults anyway!? lol....Peter Fonda and Warren Oates have been in other movies before. The thing I like about these two is that they really were friends in real life and LOVED working together. It shows. They are believable as friends and it's fun to watch. The wives are a bit screwball, especially Fonda's!
We've got:
snakes attacking out of cupboards
mechanics at gas stations 'repairing' windshields with duct tape
satanic police officers
people swimming in an outdoor pool in freezing cold winter conditions
crazy satanists who like to party at a local hillbilly, cajon bar dive
one hella-beat-up motorhome!
Peter Fonda racing Warren Oates on dirtbikes
naked Satanists making some damn strange noises and making sacrifices
cryptic devil messages left on the backs of RV's
Lara Parker doing what Lara does best, SCREAMING bloody murder the whole flick!
More dirt bikes
Satanic pursuits
Oh and, by the way, remember that A-hole jerk from the Stallone film, "First Blood?" The guy who tried to shoot Rambo from a helicopter and ended up falling to his death? He directed this movie and starred in it! He was one of the zillions of cult members after our heroic characters!
One of my favorite lines from this movie (hope I'm getting this right!) was when Oates and Fonda are drinkin' outside the Winnebago and they are basking and bragging about their business success, money, and situation as friends. "Look at us, we built it man! We really built it, man!" lol
This movie is full of camp and goofiness but it is also very cool, exciting, and worth watching over and over. Enjoy!!
Score: 5
