The Shadow of Chikara (1977)

I saw this picture under the title "Curse of Demon Mountain', and it fits as well as any of the other multiple titles this one goes by. All the while I'm watching I get the impression it's a fairly adequate mystical Western with unseen enemies thwarting Captain Wishbone Cutter's (Joe Don Baker) quest to cash in on a fellow soldier's dying rant about valuable stones hidden somewhere up on the Buffalo River. If nothing else, the film would have hooked me with it's early inclusion of The Band's 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', but as I sit here and think about the story's conclusion, I'm riveted by the ending that insinuates Sondra Locke's character as the mystical force that destroys the diamond hunting trio. What I'm left to contemplate is how a modern update of the picture with today's camera work and special effects could really take it from it's B film origins and vault it into a major A-list horror Western. You wouldn't even have to change the script all that much, just eliminate the confounding jump cuts and patches of missing dialog. Get the PETA folks on board with an adequate handling of the way those horses go over the cliff and you've got a winner. You know, I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

The tape I ordered was to be 114 minutes and titled "Curse of Demon Mountain". The tape I received was 90 minutes, words were bleeped, it was recorded in EP mode, and the title was "Diamond Mountain". Now for the bad news. The quality of this tape is basically unwatchable. It's not the first disappointment I've had with this film. I previously ordered a DVD, which proved to have no audio. Maybe the movie really is cursed? From what I can gather, it is a very different kind of western. If you wish to see it, you might want to double check what you are getting before committing to buy, as I know I will if I decide to give this a third try...... Update. I finally was able to purchase a watchable DVD copy. Still bleeped, and of poor quality, but nevertheless watchable. "Curse of Demon Mountain" is a movie that has a lot of wasted potential. It's a shame, because the story is intriguing, but the acting, editing, and lack of a quality print drags it down. - MERK

Arkansas, circa 1865: After losing the final battle of the Civil War, sexist, sadistic Conferate commander Wishbone Cutter (a gruff, intimidating, but fairly restrained turn by the often overly hammy Joe Don Baker, here giving one of his better, less blustery and bombastic performances), faithful half-Irish, half-Native American companion Moon (beautifully essayed by Joy Houck, Jr., a good, engaging actor who usually toiled away in forgettable junk unworthy of his talent), and laid-back geologist Amos "Teach" Raymond (affable Ted Neeley, who played God's only son in "Jesus Christ, Superstar") venture into the dense, remote, uninviting Arkansas wilderness to unearth a diamond stash located on a sacred Indian mountain that's rumored to be guarded by territorial demons. Along the way the motley threesome pick up the comely, beguiling Drucilla Wilcox (the mesmerizingly winsome'n'willowy Sondra Locke, whose pale, haunted, crystal-clear blue eyes are vaguely redolent of Meg Foster's otherworldly orbs), the lone shell-shocked survivor of a brutal Indian attack. Pretty soon the quartet is being terrorized by some mysterious assailant(s). Could they be a strange tribe of inhospitable Apaches? Or is it the lethal woodland spirit Chikara, who rules over hawks and doesn't take kindly to interlopers trespassing on its terrain?Writer/director Earl E. Smith, who wrote both "The Legend of Boggy Creek" and "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" for Charles B. Pierce, does a superlative job of keeping the viewer on edge, adeptly creating a spooky, yet somehow oddly plausible and flavorful period tone which slowly, but surely grows on the viewer as the film gradually, carefully, and skillfully reaches its genuinely chilling and startling conclusion. The top-notch acting greatly contributes to the film's overall gritty credibility, with particularly nifty bits by the ever-scummy and unnerving unsung Western supporting villain John Davis Chandler as a repulsive backwoods psycho, Dennis Fimple as a grizzled, cloddish fur trapper who refers to the forest spirits as "haints," and the magnificent Slim Pickens in a lovely, touching cameo as Virgil Cane, a sweet old-timer who's fatally wounded early in the picture and tells Cutter about the cache of diamonds right before he dies. The rousing, ferociously rough and pulverizing opening battle sequence starts the film on a stirring and striking note, with excellent, poignant use being made of the Band's terrific, tearful ballad "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down." There's also some surprisingly vicious violence that one doesn't always see in a PG rated flick (e.g., the scene where Cutter removes an arrow from Raymond's arm is especially painful) and plenty of supremely creepy skin-crawling enigmatic "what's really going on here?" atmosphere. Quirky, low-key, and above all refreshingly different and original, "The Shadow of Chikara" is undoubtedly the finest, scariest and most exceptionally well-crafted horror-Western to ever grace celluloid. It's an unjustly forgotten little jewel of a sleeper that's well worth the extra effort to dig up and check out.

Halcow international film (who was famous for making western in the 60's & 70's drive-in era) made this poorly put together film. Paramount Pictures picked it up in 1977 under the title SHADOW MOUNTAIN and released briefly before it disappeared and to re-appear in several diffrent video labels. Joe Don Baker stars as a Southern soldier who comes home to find his wife with a Northern Soldier after the Civil War ended. He, Ted Neeley (from Jesus Christ Superstar) and an indian goes and travels and finds a Sondra Locke who is hiding some secret. Pretty amateurish film with bad sound, bad lighting, and a cameo by Slim Pickens. A song from the rock group "The Band" is also heard in the soundtrack.