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Race With The Devil [1975]


RRP: £9.99
Our Price: £4.19 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

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 holidaying couples 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 aluminium 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 half a dozen vehicles pursuing the motor home. The holiday-makers 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, Amazon.com


Hell of a road movie
Review date: 2008-11-21 Rating: 8 out of 10

Playing a similar role to his character in easy rider Peter Fonda is acted of the screen by the excellent Warren Oates. The story of devil worshippers chasing the hapless Fonda and Oates in their massive camper van really has its moments. Once the film gets moving it presents some excellent scenes of paranoia notably at the camper park and a scene in a country and western bar. The director Jack Starret plays an amiable gas station attendant and is also the head satanist. the climactic scene where all appears well is right up there with Carrie. Not a classic by any manner of means but well worth a look.

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Reviews


Witchcraft on wheels
Review date: 2008-10-30 Rating: 8 out of 10

Two couples(and their adorable dog) are on their way to a skiing holiday, when they stop off for the night. The two men Roger(Peter Fonda) and Frank(Warren Oates) notice some strange goings on and soon realise they are witnessing a full scale satanic ritual complete with human sacrifice. They are spotted by the satanists, but manage to get away. They arrive in a nearby town, and the two men return with the police to the scene of the crime, whilst the women(Loretta Swit and Lara Parker) stay behind, only to find an occult spell pinned to their vans back window. Soon they are being pursued across America by the unstoppable Devil worshippers.
This is a great 70's film, part road movie, part horror movie, and full enjoyment factor. It is a very creepy film, as the foursome start to realise how far the influence of the cult reaches and how much danger they are in. This being a 1970's film the couple are very fond of eachother and unite against the peril they face(if this was made now, they would probably all be sleeping with eachother, and bitching constantly). The ending is the highpoint, shocking and abrupt. There must have been a few gasps from the audience when it was originally shown. The performances of the main four protaganists are uniformally good, and theres nice support from R.G Armstrong as the local Sheriff.
So, an excellent film, as good as I remembered it from watching it in the early 80's. 4 out of 5

Hell on wheels!
Review date: 2007-12-22 Rating: 8 out of 10

"When you Race With the Devil, you better be faster than Hell!" screams the trailer for one of the all-time great irresistible chase movie premises: vacationers Warren Oates and Peter Fonda inadvertently witness a ritual killing and find themselves and their wives pursued in their RV by a bunch of unrelenting Satanists. And these aren't any old Satanists - these are Texan Satanists, and darn well connected ones too. Pretty soon it's looking like the whole of the Lone Star State is part of a Satanic conspiracy, and thankfully it's one that involves lots of car crashes. While it doesn't make quite as much of the idea as it perhaps could and the great ending completely defies logic, it's still as much fun as it sounds. It's not a great movie by any means, but as Peter Fonda says on the US DVD it was never meant to be: it was just about having a good time with it (though I'm guessing that original director Lee Frost didn't have such a great time since he got replaced by Jack Starrett). Unfortunately, but perhaps predictably, there is a remake in the works.

Sadly the UK DVD is not a patch on Anchor Bay's Region 1 issue, which also features a 17-minute featurette including an interview with Peter Fonda, audio commentary by producer Paul Maslansky and actress Lara Parker, stills and poster gallery, 3 radio spots and original theatrical trailer.


Worth watching - an interesting scenario
Review date: 2007-10-11 Rating: 8 out of 10

I remember this film from my childhood in the mid-late 1970's so I was glad when the region 2 DVD came out. This film must have left quite an impression back then as I remember that my friends and I would often say: 'Hey look, there's one of those big Race with the Devil trailers' any time we saw something like it on the public roads.

It's well worth watching again. I wouldn't say it was scary, in fact, I had a laugh at one point thinking this would top any of those of those 'holiday from hell' type programmes on the TV.

On the downside, it's rather short (84 mins) and the women probably overdo the screaming. I doubt that, if a remake was made, that the female leads would scream so much in the background. Also, close your eyes if you're a dog lover as two canines are unceremoniously (or should that be ceremoniously...) strung up at various points.

An interesting road movie. If you like it get 'The Duel' as well.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Warren Oates
Lara Parker
Peter Fonda
Loretta Swit

Creators:
Peter Fonda (Primary Contributor)
Warren Oates (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036028684
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2007-08-20
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 84 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1975

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