Race with the Devil-1975
Director Jack Starrett
Starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates
Scott’s Review #1,540
Reviewed July 13, 2026
Grade: A-
The 1970s saw the rise of many mainstream horror films that dealt with the occult. They’ve always been around, but thanks to the sizzling success of movies like The Exorcist (1973), they grew larger audiences and emboldened them to do more daring things.
Race with the Devil (1975) is a surprisingly enthralling piece directed by Jack Starrett. The film never lags and paces well with action and characters in peril that are easy to root for.
In fact, despite classifying it as a horror film, it’s part action, thriller, and horror all rolled into one.
Anyone who enjoys classic car chases and dusty backroads, for example, will enjoy this film.
It stars Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit (television’s M*A*S*H*), and Lara Parker (television’s Dark Shadows), bigger names that undoubtedly led audiences to see it based on star recognition alone.
The film also leverages the recent success of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Deliverance (1972), borrowing their remote locales and the corruption of the local police force and townspeople to heighten the mystique.
Roger (Fonda), his friend Frank (Oates), and their wives (Parker and Swit) embark on a lengthy RV road trip from bustling San Antonio to the wilderness of rural Texas for some off-road motocross and good times.
Their final destination is the ski slopes of Colorado.
While enjoying the deserted landscape late one boozy night, they stumble upon a Satanic cult human sacrifice in the distance, and are unfortunately caught observing the ritual by the assailants.
This catapults the foursome into a cat-and-mouse extravaganza with the cult members as they try to flee the local town after receiving no help from the local authorities.
To say the film has some thrills is an understatement. The most exciting sequence occurs in the claustrophobic RV setting when two deadly snakes pop out from an overhead cabinet, causing the group to go ballistic with fear.
They careen across the highway, trying to keep their footing and avoid being bitten by the angry reptiles.
Minor characters, the group meets as they trek as far away from the incident as possible, are filled with mystery and a hint of the sinister.
Is Sheriff Taylor (R.G. Armstrong), who appears to laugh off the reported incident as a misunderstanding, part of the cult? How about the wacky couple the group has drinks with, Delbert and Ethel?
Finally, the lengthy car chase in the film’s final act is cinematographically impressive. A film with a satanic storyline risks feeling amateurish or hokey, but its technical achievements are as rich as its other qualities.
Proof is by the numerous car crashes and heart-stopping twists and turns that occur amid the barren landscape of northern Texas and the nearly two hundred miles of nothingness they must face before reaching a highway.
And the editing and the somewhat surprising ending are fabulous.
While we know little about the four principal characters, aside from Roger and Frank owning some motorcycle dealership, it hardly matters.
Each seems intelligent and kind, merely victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The audience easily feels we could be friends with them.
Therefore, we care about them and their predicament.
When a fan belt breaks or a window is smashed, we feel the peril along with the characters. During a lighter moment, when the wives ‘borrow’ library books after being scolded by a cold library worker, we snicker in victory alongside them.
Race with the Devil (1975) borrows from other horror films, but it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy either.
Fresh ideas, like the snakes and the luxury RV, combined with superior acting and the terrific chemistry among the leads, make the film work.
