Race With The Devil

For some reason, Satan worshippers were a big thing in the 70s and the movies reflect that. Satan was everywhere, from Rosemary's Baby on down through B movies like The Devil's Rain, it seemed that Satan ruled the 70s. Well, in the process of putting together an article for Rogue Cinema, I've been taking a look at a lot of these 'Satan' themed movies and some of them are really, really horrible. One of these, that I just finished watching is Race With The Devil.



Race With The Devil has all the trappings of a really bad made for TV movie from that era, but it was definitely a theatrcial release, although I think that it really made the rounds of the drive ins...mostly. Here's the story: When Peter Fonda and Warren Oates take their wives on a holiday in one of those new fangled RVs, they stop in a deserted place to have a nice night, but, stumble upon a Satanic human sacrifice. When one of the wives (played by Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H* fame) yells for the men to come to bed, the Satanic cult spots them and begin trying to kill them...in other words, the race is on! Well, for a race, this has a ton of pit stops, the wives have the time to do a little research in a local library and the men spend nearly as much time drinking as they do worrying about the cult that's out to get them.

This is your standard 70s B movie fare, and if you take it for what it is, it's not bad. If you're looking for an action classic, then you should probably wander over to the Bruce Lee section of the video store! I'm giving Race With The Devil three out of four cigars and it only went that high for me because this had so much of the drive in on it that I think I was bitten by a mosquito sitting in my living room! So, until next time, when I'll admit to having been challenged to a race with the Devil, but having to bow out...I pulled a hammy, remember that the best movies are bad movies!