Devil Times Five (1974)

It would be reasonable to assume "Death Times Five" might attempt to explain why creepy horror movie children feel the need to murder, maim, and generally be little terrors that keep us "adults" second guessing the true intents of kids everywhere. Unfortunately, it never really does - it doesn't explain a lot of anything really - but what it does do is deliver a group of five psychologically disturbed children participating in a range of creative homicides that might please fans of this specific sub-genre, depending on their standards of quality.Like the classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" which was made in the same year, "Devil Times Five" revolves around a group of unsuspecting characters falling prey to a bunch of crazy people out in the sticks. Those crazy people just happen to be a little younger and a little less redneck, but the parallels are definitely apparent. Both films are low budget, genuinely disturbing, and managed to push the limit of their subject matter for their time. Where the comparison ends is that TCM was beautifully shot and tightly edited. This film is the complete opposite.Reportedly a troubled production, "Devil Times Five" is incompetent in just about every single way. Huge continuity errors abound, and every single shot seems to be framed just a little too low, leaving bizarre dead space above all the actor's heads. What are we supposed to be focusing on up there? The ceiling? It's not very interesting. That wall is lovely, but pan down, would you? The cinematographer seems to have been in a drug haze - it was the 70s after all. In fact, the original director (who had to be replaced half-way through production) turned in a final cut that only ran for 38 minutes. He is said to have been placed in a rehab or psychiatric facility shortly after. All hearsay, but the film is definitely the product of a damaged brain.The cast is strange mix to say the least. Boss Hogg from "The Dukes of Hazzard" makes an appearance, along with Shelley Morrison who went on to star in "Will and Grace". Future teen heartthrob Leif Garret plays one of the children, his hair giving one of the film's best performances, metamorphosing wildly from scene to scene as a result of re-shoots due to the departure of the film's director. His real life mother and sister round out the cast. It's a real family affair.Fans of 70's horror will find a few things to enjoy here. Beyond the distinct atmosphere of the era, there's a bizarre psychedelic murder scene (that goes on for a little too long) where the children take turns beating a man to death. There's a random cat fight that obviously results in exposed breasts. There's a psychotic albino who dresses like a nun. Also, there's death by piranha. But even with that, it's impossible to recommend the film to anyone but enthusiasts. It's just too sloppy and strange for anyone but the most hardened horror buffs to enjoy.

I've always enjoyed killer kids movies through the years such as (Children Of The Corn, The Bad Seed, Blood Birthday and even The Children), and when I came across this I was even more intrigued, especially given it's back story of how the original director was fired and that only 40 minutes of his footage was deemed useable, and a new director was hired to finish the film a few weeks later and gathering (almost) all of the cast members back for re-shoots.But despite all that this was movie was actually pretty decent, the only really noticeable difference was the bus driver being played by 3 different actors, which did get rather confusing at first, but honestly this didn't affect my enjoyment of this what so ever.The movie starts off rather interestingly where a bus crashes and five kids makes it out alive, then we learn that they were on their way to a mental hospital. Then we meet the six adult characters who are all staying at a secluded ski lodge for the weekend, when eventually the children turn up to wreck havoc on their lives. The pacing may be a little slow at first, but that didn't make things boring as we are introduced to each of the main cast, but sadly I would have liked a back story on the kids themselves, on what they did to end up in an asylum and maybe why they did what they did, nothing is explained, just instead they plan their attack on the adults with various traps, which is quite refreshing than the usual stalk and slash method.Some things worked in this and some things didn't, while the cast did quite well with their parts, other aspects just didn't quite work, for starters to infamous 4 minute death scene where the children murder the bus driver in slow motion, was just tedious and lacked any sort of tension, for starters you couldn't see what was going on and plus there was absolutely no blood. Another thing that doesn't work is the realism of the situation, like when the kids arrive when didn't adults just drive them into town straight away instead of waiting till the next day when by that time they tampered with the cars, and also when the first couple of murders happen, when one of the kids was asked about it, the kid mentions somebody called George, I mean who is that and why wasn't it fetched up again.But what I did like about this movie is that it was very fun and sleazy, the camp catfight between the two girls was fun and most of the death scenes were quite creative like the piranhas in the bath tub, the giant swing from the ceiling, spear thrown through window and hitting someone in the neck, also the final kill was quite tense. I also liked the fact that these kids didn't do what psycho kids do normally like when they act like adults in other films, here they act like kids which does add a nice touch to this movie.The cast like I said were very good, special nod goes to the kids who clearly stole the show Leif Garrett was good as the cross dressing youngster, while Tierre Turner who played the army black kid was fun and the nun played by Gail Smale was very creepy. The adults were also a load of fun Gene Evans as Papa Doc played the grumpy old man who hated everything was realistically played. Taylor Lacher was okay as the hero type, but did make some stupid decisions and that moustache just should have been shaved off. Shelly Morrison was a load of fun as the drunk and was just all over the place. Sorrell Booke was also likable as the put upon Harvey and I just cheered when he finally stood up for himself. Carolyn Stellar as Lovely was funny as hell and Joan McCall was okay as the nice girl Julie.All in all "Devil Times Five" is a pretty good movie, and may not be perfect and does flaws, but it's still a load of fun and definitely worth watching.

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.

Peopletoys finds a bunch of kids who escape from a van transporting them to the kiddie funny farm trekking through the winter snow until they reach a resort that was one time a mental asylum. This seems like a perfect opportunity for these apparently normal kids to start their careers as serial killers. Among the kids here are Dawn Lyn late of My Three Sons and her brother future teen bubble gum idol Leif Garrett. When you look as androgynous as Garrett it's kind of hard to believe you've got a sociopathic turn of mind. Nevertheless it happens and such folks as Sorrell Booke, Henry Beckmann, Taylor Lacher etc., all fall victim to some fiendishly clever methods of murder.Peopletoys is your average horror flick with the engendered paranoia brought on by the fact that these angelic looking urchins could not be future Ted Bundys in the making. Those who like these type of films might find this one interesting.