Race With the Devil

Now we will employ the time-honored reviewing technique of watching a film, waiting over a week, and then trying to remember what we saw in order to write about it. See Video Sewer’s review of Manitou for the even more time-honored reviewing technique of waiting many weeks before reviewing.

Don’t you forget to rent, buy or otherwise view Race With the Devil, one of the most unique late-'70s highbrow exploitation-festivals you’ll ever find. In fact those of me at the Sewer wonder why people don’t have copies of this movie resting on their mantles next to pictures of their grandmothers.

No, we’re not just killing time to use up space: believe it or not, the Sewer likes brief, easy-to-read reviews. It’s just that once I type the next few words, you’ll need read no further, and head on down to Suncoast Video to get your own copy.

OK, so why not have at it so I can get back to drinking beer in the tool shed? Race With the Devil is basically a movie wherein Peter Fonda, Warren Oates and Loretta Switt are chased across Texas in a crummy RV full of rattlesnakes by legions of hyperactive satanists.

Sure, there are other actors involved, but with concept of this altitude, most everything else is meaningless. Not-too-exhaustive scenarios are set up, making the way-over-the-top material relatively believable, and then Fonda and Oates go at it, dragging their once state of the art recreational vehicle ($32,000-worth) through ever-increasing levels of frantic hysteria.

Fonda runs his laid-back California cool through the wringer while tough-guy/ everyman Oates proves decades down the road to be the true heir to Lee Marvin’s throne. The wives scream a lot as robe wearing loonies leap onto the RV, smashing out the windows, and the whole of rural Texas is turned into a betraying freak-show of toothless, pitiless goons.

A sudden ‘we ran out of money’ type ending might leave you feeling a bit deflated, but adds a (probably unintentional) air of ambiguity that makes up for this one minor shortfall. Wacked-out devil-worshipers and punk-ass drunken city folk make a delicious mix.

This is backwoods terror at its most bombastic, and as the class-divide in these United States continues to widen, the impact only increases. Race With the Devil is a guaranteed blast.

DVD Extras

The DVD has a number of special features, including commentary tracks, trailers, and a Making-Of documentary that should place this package squarely in your shopping cart.