Samhain Project '24: Race With the Devil

There's something about 70's horror.  I don't know how to describe the flair it has, but it's all its own.  Especially when it stars Easy Rider himself Peter Fonda, and the face of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Warren Oates.  Yes, Sergeant Hulka himself.  

I was just thinking the other day, as growing up a fan of Stripes, the older I get, the more I respect Oates' Hulka over Murray's John Winger, but that's getting way out in the weeds here. 

Anyway.  

I hadn't seen this one since 1988 when my brother Dan's wife Carol and I were at the Red Owl grocery store with my Dad on an early Saturday morning.  We decided to rent some movies, and Carol wanted to definitely go with Race.  I told her "No way Dad's gonna roll with a horror movie."

"You just let me handle Dad", she replied.

Race With the Devil got watched that evening.

   

1975 was pre-Satanic Panic, but post Rosemary's Baby, so it fit neatly in its era.  It grabs you from the get-go with a truly eerie opening credits sequence before giving you a quick introduction to Fonda and Oates, and their wives.   A January motor home vacation is planned to go from San Antonio to Aspen, Colorado.  And away we go. 

That first evening, while parked in a clearing, Oates and Fonda are congratulating themselves for being bros when a fire flares up across the river from them.  Our two heroes get close enough to see a human sacrifice take place.  Some nice foreshadowing occurs earlier during a stroll as Lara Parker,  (Mrs. Fonda) gives a chill-inducing stare to the naked tree that will soon serve as the background to the ritual.  This is where they begin to shit their pants as they have no idea what they've stumbled onto. 

Just then Hot Lips Houlihan, I mean Loretta Swit, turns the light on in the motor home and starts making a ruckus so the San Antonio Satan Union #37 knows they've been made and the chase is on. 

As Frani points out, much like Rosemary's Baby, it seems most of central Texas is in this cult, and make escape very difficult, although action-packed.  Fonda and Oates are exceptional in roles that don't require a shit-ton of dialogue, but Parker and Swit are given little to do as their wives.  Minus a Satanism study at the local library that is.  However, I can't express the sheer terror Parker is able to convey with just her eyes. It's quite compelling.

Being a mid 70's film, RG Armstrong is of course required to play a role, as a local law enforcement magistrate whose motivations are questionable from the outset.  Director Jack Starrett (looking and sounding a lot like a young Xander Berkley) makes a cameo here as well. 

The movie moves quickly, and ends feeling like it should have another half hour to go.  Race With the Devil is worth every penny, and gets a Samhain recommendation.