Devil Times Five (1974)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Come on, who wants to see a bunch of adults, who seemed mental themselves, talk dumb stuff that is totally unrelated to the film... I know they have to establish characters and they were going about their boring lives but all that bored me to tears!! OH and where in the film do they mention they are part of a mafia?!! Not one of them acted like they were mafia, not one of them even close to being mafia material - get real! Way too much time spent on this crap instead of with the kids who should have been creepy and they are NOT! Now as far as the kids - dumb! They are being transported from one institution to another apparently and they are in a van/bus crash, the driver dies and they escape. They end up in a village with stupid adults and they kill them. All the kids are trying too hard to be funny or cute minus the Nun kid (the only kid that I found barely creepy).Why didn't the film makers take the time to make the kids, minus the barely creepy nun, scary? Nun kid should have been even creepier - very scary in fact. I was hoping for another good creepy kid story not kids trying to be funny or cute! The film sucks in my opinion.1/10

Devil Times Five opens with a spectacular bus crash, the driver losing control of the vehicle in heavy snow, the bus careering off the road and rolling numerous times down a hill until it smacks into a tree. Amazingly, there are survivors: five kids, patients from the children's acute ward at the State Mental Hospital, and one adult, who the psychotic brats soon take care of. The demented youngsters trek through the snow until they reach the home of businessman Papa Doc, who has arranged a weekend get together for family and employees; concerned for their wellbeing, the adults welcome the pint-sized visitors into the house, unaware that their new guests are homicidal maniacs.Generally speaking, the success of a horror film that revolves around killer kids relies heavily on the acting chops of the youngsters chosen to play the murderous mites. Since all five of the children in Devil Times Five are absolutely bloody awful actors, the film fails spectacularly as a horror, with genuine shocks being extremely thin on the ground, despite the thoroughly twisted subject matter. However, as a camp piece of inept, trashy nonsense, it actually proves quite entertaining…Directors Sean MacGregor and David Sheldon employ some very poorly considered creative techniques, including particularly lousy use of slow motion and unnecessary freeze frame, all of which proves fairly amusing. A completely inappropriate, whimsical score provides further unintentional laughs, as do the highly preposterous death scenes, which include hanging via electric generator, piranha bath, and scythe swing.The film's array of outlandish characters are also a lot of fun: the crazy kids consist of army obsessed Brian (Tierre Turner) whose antics are accompanied by military drumming on the soundtrack, pyromaniac Susan (Tia Thompson), Sister Hannah (Gail Smale), who pretends to be a novice nun, evil moppet Moe (Dawn Lyn), and weirdo David (played by 70s teen heart-throb Leif Garrett) who enjoys a spot of cross-dressing. Of the adults, Papa Doc (Gene Evans) is a bully, his wife Lovely (Carolyn Stellar) is a big-breasted slut, Ralph (John Durren) the handyman is retarded, Harvey Beckman (Sorrell Booke) is a wimp, and his wife Ruth (Shelley Morrison) is a lush. Only Papa Doc's daughter Julie (Joan McCall) and her husband Rick (Taylor Lacher) are remotely normal, but this being a '70s 'shocker', even they don't make it out alive!5/10, plus an extra point for Carolyn Stellar as Lovely, who takes part in an awesome cat-fight with McCall that sees her top popping open to reveal her ample breasts, and who also gets them out during her hilarious death scene. Oh, and for having a couple of people listed in the credits with a very amusing surname.

This is a good little quirky horror-thriller set in a snow-bound area. A family gather in a house for a winter break, while at the same time a bus carrying some kids crashes off the road. Five of the children escape unharmed but it turns out these are seriously disturbed kids and they are soon to come into contact with our friends in the holiday home.Devil Times Five is a strange little movie. It sometimes gives off the relaxed and warm feel of a 70's TV movie but this is misleading as its subject matter of sociopathic children is not exactly a very cosy theme. This combination of TV-style melodrama with slasher movie subject matter is one of the things that makes for distinctive viewing. It's just a little bizarre. The snowy setting is good too and gives the flick a nice feel. The murders are all varied and occasionally quite inventive such as the bath tub demise replete with piranhas. Admittedly, the first murder is a pretty confusing affair – not only do we have trouble knowing what is going on but it's not even that clear who is even being attacked! But it's still a pleasingly weird scene with slow motion visuals and sound, and through a monochrome lens. Aside from all this, the movie is not above throwing in a totally unnecessary cat fight too. And what could be wrong with that? You could do a lot worse than this one. If you are a sucker for early 70's proto-slashers then this is one that should provide some entertainment.

DEVIL TIMES FIVE has so much that is wrong with it. It is very, deeply disturbing. It hits you viscerally.I think that DEVIL TIMES FIVE is worse than Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. And, I thought that movie left me feeling hollow and empty. WOW! DEVIL TIMES FIVE has so much that is right. First, it has a good premise. Yes, it's been done in other forms; but, this is a unique twist on the malevolent kids theme. Second, and, most surprising, the acting was quite competent. Not great; but, good enough to hold onto. Also, the plot moved forward very well... well, it did after the first hour.Yet so much could be so much better. The editing is horrendous. The sets are abysmal. The sound and soundtrack were annoying.Still...