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:

Sandra Lee Blowitz, John Durren

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 | male nudity | murdered with a hammer | murdered with a hatchet | 

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Taglines:

If you still have nightmares about the shower scene from "Psycho", close your eyes when Susan steps into the tub.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

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.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

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 anti-heroes 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: Devil Times Five (2014)

User Reviews

Psycho kids create gory death scenes

Devil Times Five is basically your basic seventies horror flick about a bunch of people in an isolated location being terrorised by psychos; except this one has a twist, and that twist comes in the form of the psychos themselves being young children. The most famous film to use the idea of psychotic children is probably the 1960 classic Village of the Damned; but it has been done many times since. Devil Times Five is perhaps something of an oddity within the genre as it doesn't particularly focus on the idea of the children being psychos, but instead puts its focus on the sleazy adult characters and gory death scenes. The plot focuses on a group of people staying at a snowbound lodge. Meanwhile, a bus carrying a group of psychotic children slips off the road; allowing the kids to escape. After taking out their guardian, the kids descend on the lodge where they are taken in by the people staying there. Shortly thereafter, the adults start turning up dead...

The film is a real piece of seventies grindhouse with the main focus being on the sleazy atmosphere. Immediately we are shown that not all of the main characters are angels and it sets things up nicely. Often horror films involving kids will be toned down a little; but that's not the case here either. The kids themselves are vicious enough and that is complimented nicely by a grisly set of death scenes that include things such as a woman in a bath being eaten by piranhas, someone being set alight and a vast assortment of mêlée weapons being put to good use. The snow setting provides a good location for the action to take place as it provides a good atmosphere of isolation to ensure we're always aware that the central characters are in trouble. It does have to be said that the film can't really be taken seriously; it's not particularly well written or acted and the story has no depth whatsoever - but it's not important anyway for a seventies horror flick and the film does provide ninety minutes that are worth seeing.