OCTOBER 16, 2014 11:50AM
Pooch of Perfidy!
DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL
Released: 1978
Director: Curtis Harrington
Writer: Steven Karpf, Elinor Karpf
Notable Cast: Ike Eisenmann, Kim Richards, Yvette Mimieux, Richard Crenna, Martine Beswick
Plot: A dog that is a minion of Satan terrorizes a suburban family. (source: imdb; short but sweet - pilfering from other sources will keep me both sane and on track with actually completing this October blogging project).
Commentary: This one is a beloved classic of many youths in my generation. Back in that era you had nothing but your wits, the local TV Guide, or a lucky switch of the TV channel combined with only a handful of local stations to find lurid, trashy horror films on TV.
You'll find that many of these films are more original than Hollywood's theatrical release franchise sequel output, and all the more awesome because they are played so seriously.
Devil Dog: Hound of Hell is cheesy and bizarre and only gets more delightfully funny the more adult filters you develop.
And let me say this: Lucky, the titular Devil Dog, is just about the sweetest, cutest German Shepherd you've ever seen.
Lucky has "coincidence-fu" powers similar to Damien from The Omen. Oh, and he also made short work of the Latina housekeeper who knows what's up, as all Latina housekeepers do (this will be its own post - Latina housekeepers in horror. It's definitely a thing).
Let's mull over the cast: sultry Hammer Films siren Martine Beswick plays a strikingly elegant Satanic dog breeder of some sort. The film's hero, Richard Crenna, I have just discovered has an illustrious psychotronic career (most notably, the Rambo series), as does his on-screen wife, the kittenish Yvette Mimieux (The Black Hole, Where the Boys Are, Jackson County Jail).
I wrote previously of Kim Richards' presence in the film, and continue to firmly maintain that The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is leagues more frightening than Devil Dog.
Richards is of course one half of the Witch Mountain brother-sister duo, the other being Ike Eisenmann. Eisenmann I feel was as ubiquitous in 1970's TV as Lance Kerwin.
The devil dog comes in, and soon turns this perfect 1970's wood paneled station wagon driving family into a bizarre gothic train wreck.
The kids become mean, delinquent, rebellious brats, and move up the social ladder in school. Oh yeah, they're also worshipping the devil up in the attic (read: rock music and drugs).
The wife - *GASP* SHOCKING! - skinny dips in your back yard pool and wants you to get with her NOW. Why this would be a problem - especially when your TV wife is played by Yvette Mimieux - I don't know.
But apparently, wives who want to engage in some mildly "naughty" marital relations must clearly be under the influence of Satan, otherwise they wouldn't be such shameless loose trollops.
Mike Barry, Crenna's character, wasn't written as religious or egregiously patriarchal. He was normal, average and nice. And then he was slowly edged out of his own family by a
And so, this movie is really about an American father fighting the influence of
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Comments
The world's been waiting for it - cage match with Cujo.
aha, my source says:
they bought the puppy from a seemingly friendly fruit vendor who is
actually a satanist who bred the dog during an evil ceremony causing it
to be possessed so it will wreak havoc in the hope Satan will overcome
good once and for all.
the solution is obvious: go to ecuador.
to find out how to kill it.
except there's no way to kill it.
you gotta imprison it back in hell.
jesus i wish i could go to witch mt and escape this f-ing ebola by flying off to outer space.
the solution is obvious: go to ecuador.
to find out how to kill it.
except there's no way to kill it.
you gotta imprison it back in hell.
jesus i wish i could go to witch mt and escape this f-ing ebola by flying off to outer space.
Try as they may, the is no more terrifying cinematic canine that ever met a more heartbreaking end than Disney's "Old Yeller."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjTJB-_Yd50
I'm sad to say that I've grown so old and cynical that now this makes me laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6V98Vd9fi4
R&R ;-D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjTJB-_Yd50
I'm sad to say that I've grown so old and cynical that now this makes me laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6V98Vd9fi4
R&R ;-D
There's always "Zoltan, Hound of Dracula," also released in 1978. A double-dog bill!
I was hoping this was a
puppy post and did enjoy the photo of the little sweetie. I never watch
horror films, I've had nighmares since I was very young and one horror
film can lead to many nights of them. I did just watch sharknado and
laughed so hard, I watched the sequel immediately after it. Having said
all that, I smiled through your entire review.
Off topic, an old friend had a gorgeous Persian cat named Yvette Mewmew. Dumb as a rock but the sweetest cat I've ever met. Things even out.
Off topic, an old friend had a gorgeous Persian cat named Yvette Mewmew. Dumb as a rock but the sweetest cat I've ever met. Things even out.
@Dandy and @Jerry - I'm
afraid Cujo would be dogmeat in this fight. A better match would be,
as Jerry said, Zoltan Hound of Dracula.
@James - good research man! One wonders why a fruit vendor would also be offering free puppies in the same cart. Yes, it's all in the service of Satan, but I'm sure there's FDA regulations about selling fruit and demonic puppies all in the same small cart.
@James - good research man! One wonders why a fruit vendor would also be offering free puppies in the same cart. Yes, it's all in the service of Satan, but I'm sure there's FDA regulations about selling fruit and demonic puppies all in the same small cart.
Jmac, that second link
was fantastic! Cuts right through the saccharine end of Old Yeller (and
a very effective PSA to boot). Now I'm thinking I could write a
revenge horror story - Cujo, Zoltan, Lucky the Devil Dog, Max the Bionic
Dog team up to take Michael Vick DOWN! >-)
@L'heure blue - thank
you so much for reading and commenting! It is appreciated! Sorry this
wasn't a puppy post. I did write a small puppy post of sorts, once:
http://open.salon.com/blog/chillerpop/2012/10/12/l_is_for_31_days_of_halloween_oct_12
I don't love posting too many personal images/details of my life on here, or else I'd post more Lola pictures.
And that cat was brilliantly named. I'm also curious how you could laugh through such a serious, scientifically sound film like Sharknado and Sharknado 2... ;-)
I don't love posting too many personal images/details of my life on here, or else I'd post more Lola pictures.
And that cat was brilliantly named. I'm also curious how you could laugh through such a serious, scientifically sound film like Sharknado and Sharknado 2... ;-)
Thanks for the link to L
is For Halloween. I won't have nightmares from that, I quite enjoyed
the post and left a comment there. The link didn't work but for those
that want to read it, it's on page 3.
Science is amusing in general. Do you know how hermaphrodite snails mate? I know this because I troll science for amusing things when there aren't docudramas like sharknado on. I have my limits though. Dragonflies would be too terrifying for me to see if there was a movie where giant dragonflies tried to mate with humans and pieced them with their gruesome claspers. There are over 5,000 species of dragonflies identified so the movie could be quite colorful between their bodies, and the blood. Sharknado was a bit colorless, sharks being dull-toned creatures.
If you're also a screenwriter, you're welcome.
Science is amusing in general. Do you know how hermaphrodite snails mate? I know this because I troll science for amusing things when there aren't docudramas like sharknado on. I have my limits though. Dragonflies would be too terrifying for me to see if there was a movie where giant dragonflies tried to mate with humans and pieced them with their gruesome claspers. There are over 5,000 species of dragonflies identified so the movie could be quite colorful between their bodies, and the blood. Sharknado was a bit colorless, sharks being dull-toned creatures.
If you're also a screenwriter, you're welcome.
OMG... it's Snippy the Grammar Dog....
http://open.salon.com/blog/matt_paust/2014/10/18/remember_snippy_the_grammar_dog
http://open.salon.com/blog/matt_paust/2014/10/18/remember_snippy_the_grammar_dog
This pics of both hounds of hell had me howling with laughter. All this --- and a mention of Lance Kerwin too!
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