Devil Times Five (1974)

After five deranged children are involved in a bus wreck they start killing people at the lodge who insulted them or were rude to them.

Directors:

Sean MacGregor, David Sheldon (uncredited)

Writers:

John Durren (screenplay by), Dylan Jones (story by)

Stars:

Sorrell Booke, Gene Evans, Taylor Lacher

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sorrell Booke	...	Harvey Beckman
Gene Evans	...	Papa Doc
Taylor Lacher	...	Rick
Joan McCall	...	Julie
Shelley Morrison	...	Ruth
Carolyn Stellar	...	Lovely (as Carolyn Steller)
John Durren	...	Ralph
Leif Garrett	...	David
Gail Smale	...	Sister Hannah
Dawn Lyn	...	Moe
Tierre Turner	...	Brian
Tia Thompson	...	Susan
Henry Beckman	...	Dr. Brown

Storyline

Five extremely disturbed, sociopathic children escape from their psychiatric transport and are taken in unwittingly by a group of adult villagers on winter vacation.

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Plot Keywords:

child murders an adult | dragging a dead woman | murder of a nude woman | boy dressed as a girl | grindhouse film | 

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Taglines:

If you can't take a lot of blood - don't go see...The Horrible House on the Hill

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character played by Sorrell Booke is a doctor named "Harvey Beckman". The role of "Dr. Brown" is played by veteran Canadian character actor Henry Beckman.

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Goofs

The characters are supposedly stuck in the house because they're snowed in; however, the height of the snow outside actually keeps changing dramatically throughout the movie. It's extremely snowy in the beginning when everyone arrives, almost snow-free when Papa Doc runs outside in an attempt to save his wife and finally modestly snowy again at the very end.

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Quotes

Lovely: Have you ever wanted to make love to a woman? To touch a woman... make love? Stand up. Stand up! Take your shirt off. Take your shirt off.
[he throws it to her]
Lovely: I didn't want it! Pull your pants down. Come on, pull your pants down. Come on, pull down your pants! Now, what would you like to do?
Ralph: I have to feed my rabbits.

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Crazy Credits

[caption used in place of "THE END", as our five young killers depart from the lodge after setting up their victims' bodies in eerily lifelike poses] THE BEGINNING

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Connections

Featured in The Cinema Snob: 42nd Street Forever: Volume 3, Exploitation Explosion (2014)

User Reviews

Grim and quirky

This is one of them seventies horror films your grandfather would tell you about while settling you down to sleep when you were a toddler. Five crazy kids escape from a mental institution and play the scared kid card at the house of Papa Doc, who is currently playing host to all sorts of unlikeable adults, so, basically, you can tell where this is heading. What got me about the Devil Times Five is the way that the first hour passes almost lightheartedly, before heading for Grimsville. When the kids start wasting the cast, a kind of darkness settles on the film and never let's up. I don't know if it's just the playful way the kids massacre people (hence the title: Peopletoys), but I was left with a bizarre bad taste in my mouth after watching this. I guess that's the whole point though. You don't really get that from watching modern splatterfests. This is seventies horror in a nutshell, this film.

Plus, for UK viewers, check the name of one of the producers of this film (the IMDb won't let me use his second name here). I bet he's glad he didn't go to school in Glasgow!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 May 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Horrible House on the Hill

Filming Locations:

Lake Arrowhead, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Barrister Productions Inc., Hollywood West Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1