Tag Archives: R. G. Armstrong

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

Race with the Devil-1975

Leave a comment

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.

1984 Films, Horror, Slasher

Children of the Corn-1984

Leave a comment

Children of the Corn-1984

Director Fritz Kiersch

Starring Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton

Scott’s Review #1,385

Reviewed August 2, 2023

Grade: B

I liken the 1980s slasher film genre to the 1980s hard rock, ‘hair metal’ scene. Both contain standard, tried-and-true elements necessary to categorize them as such within said genre.

They both tended to be derided by critics as superfluous and commercially accessible to mass consumption.

I could write an entire dissertation on the subject. Still, my focus will remain on the slasher genre and Children of the Corn, a 1984 release billed as a straightforward slasher film but with supernatural elements that set it apart from some contemporaries.

The cover art (pictured above) and promotion conjure up ideas of a knife-wielding maniac wearing overalls, stalking small-town victims in corn fields in the Midwest USA.

The film is based on a 1977 short story by horror author and brilliant storyteller Stephen King.

Set in the fictitious rural town of Gatlin, Nebraska, the film tells the story of a malevolent entity known as “He Who Walks Behind the Rows,” which entices the town’s children to murder all the town’s adults ritually. This is under the guise of ensuring a successful corn harvest.

A well-to-do city couple, Burt and Vicky, played by Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton, drive cross-country to Seattle to begin a fantastic opportunity. Burt is a physician.

When they accidentally strike a child on a desolate stretch of highway, they realize he was already dead and attempt to find help in Gatlin, only to become the child residents’ next sacrifice.

Suffice it to say that the premise and the short story are way better than the finished film product, though there is just enough to keep one entertained for an hour and a half.

Director Fritz Kiersch does a good job of providing a quality atmosphere. The loneliness of Gatlin and the foreboding corn fields where something deadly lurks amid the stalks made me feel uneasy from the get-go.

There is something about an uninhabited town in the middle of nowhere that is innately scary. Kiersch patterns the setting after the brutal Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), though with a much softer touch. The small farmhouses and the streets mirror that film.

I also enjoy the surprising chemistry between Horton and Hamilton. Scenes where the pair are driving, chatting, or listening to tunes are pleasant and do not merely serve as filler to get to the killings.

The yellow early-1980s Buick or Oldsmobile is shown so often that it becomes a character in its own right. For fans of large American cars of yesteryear (me!), the inclusion of the car is a treat.

Finally, the blatant questioning and disparaging of the ridiculousness of organized religion is showcased when Burt (who believes in science) scolds the children for interpreting the Bible to suit their needs.

This may go over the audience’s heads, but to me, it resonates, and I cheered wildly when the dumb-faced kids realized the idiocy of their beliefs.

The film dissipates towards the end when the supernatural aspects take center stage. Tepid and very lowbrow, they quickly take away any moments of peril and shift the momentum to comedy and cheapness.

In 1984, this may not have been noticeable, but in 2023, the special effects are at a low point.

The attempted sacrifice of Vicky doesn’t feel frightening, especially when compared to a superior film, The Wicker Man (1973), which uses the same setup but more effectively.

Children of the Corn (1984) has its moments, but by the time the film ends, I wished I had been treated to that knife-wielding, overall-wearing maniac over a silly blood ritual in the name of the ‘holy bible’.