Tag Archives: Lara Parker

1975 Films, 70's Horror, Action, Horror, Satanic, Thriller

Race with the Devil-1975

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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.

2012 Films, Comedy, Dark Comedy, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Horror-Comedy

Dark Shadows-2012

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Dark Shadows-2012

Director Tim Burton

Starring Johnny Depp

Scott’s Review #1,203

Reviewed December 3, 2021

Grade: C+

Sometimes a great idea doesn’t pan out. On paper, relaunching the unique, gothic 1960s daytime television series Dark Shadows as a big-screen tribute with even bigger stars sounds wonderful.

The endless possibilities and the inevitable nods to history are head-spinning.

Sadly, the film version of Dark Shadows (2012) directed by Tim Burton is miscategorized and misunderstood by all involved.

It’s billed as a dark comedy rather than horror or even fantasy and comes across as more of a mockery than a real nod to the series.

It’s completely over-the-top and misses the wonder and spookiness that made the long-ago black-and-white show a daily adventure.

I don’t claim to have seen the entire series, but I have watched much of the first season and understand the appeal.

Fans will be disheartened by Burton’s botched attempts to recreate a great idea.

Depp, a frequent guest star in Burton’s film work, plays the iconic Barnabas Collins, an eighteenth-century vampire who awakens in the twentieth century, though he’s not as bad as he was when he feebly stepped into the Willy Wonka role in 2005.

Yikes.

The only saving grace is the creative and magical visual effects and set design, which provide enough imagination and macabre fascination to at least partly save this otherwise messy experience.

The plot gives a brief explanation of the history.

In eighteenth-century Maine, Barnabas Collins (Depp) presides over the town of Collinsport. A rich and powerful playboy, Barnabas breaks the heart of a witch named Angelique (Eva Green), who deviously makes him pay.

Angelique turns Barnabas into a vampire and buries him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas escapes his tomb when builders erect a McDonald’s and finds the 1970s Collinsport a very different place. His once-grand estate has fallen into ruin, and the dysfunctional remnants of his family have fared no better.

His resurrection creates complications and drama for the entire family.

Burton knocks it out of the park with the visuals.

The gothic mansion, in particular, is right up his alley, and he embraces the possibilities with gusto. Every creak or wind sound heard within the mansion aligns with the dark, dreary purples and browns.

Frequent candles set the mood, and exploring the vast number of rooms was something to look forward to.

Since the rest of the film sucked, I had nothing better to do than fully embrace the art and set design.

Heavyweights like Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, and Depp do their best but oddly overact in nearly every scene. Their direction must have been skewed toward comedy instead of adding any meat or emotional relevance to the characters.

The original series created something strangely dramatic and compelling on a shoestring budget. It had a delicious, haunting, gripping quality that made you anticipate the next episode and wonder who might fall victim to the vampire.

The film veers into a vastly different territory.

Burton and Depp’s Barnabas struts around, emitting one-liners for intended giggles. The other characters seem dressed for Halloween and are dumb and morose.

I got the feeling it was a retread of a situation comedy like The Addams Family rather than a horror soap to be taken seriously.

The sexual references and the occasional bloody vampire effects are okay but seem peppered in to justify the dark comedy.

Even an uninspired cameo by shock rocker Alice Cooper is perceived as a weak attempt to add something frightening or dangerous.

Unsurprisingly, Dark Shadows (2012) performed poorly at the box office and was derided by true fans of the series and almost every other film critic.

This sent Barnabas and his family slinking back into their coffins, possibly for good.

What a shame.