‘5 bad seeds, possessed by murder!’
Devil Times Five is a 1974 American horror film about five sociopathic children who prey on a group of adults who have taken them in.
Directed by Sean MacGregor and David Sheldon [uncredited] from a screenplay written by John Durren, the movie stars Sorrell Booke, Gene Evans, Taylor Lacher, Joan McCall and Shelley Morrison.
Originally known as Peopletoys it has also been released as The Horrible House on the Hill, Five O’Clock Killers and Tantrums.
Director Quentin Tarantino named Devil Times Five as one of his favourite films in October 2020. He said, “Leif Garrett is the leader of these killer kids. And Leif Garrett gives an amazing performance in this film. It’s terrific and it’s really f*cked up in a big way, but that’s what makes it great. It blew me away. I was like, wow, this is amazing! I’ve heard about it forever, because it played the drive-in circuit on the lower half of double features for years. Finally, I watched it, and I was like, Wow, this is terrific!”
Plot:
Five children crawl from the wreckage of a deadly van accident in a snowy canyon. The juvenile survivors (including future teen heartthrob Leif Garrett) seek shelter at a secluded mountaintop winter home occupied by a rich businessman (Gene Evans) and his friends (including Sorrell Booke and Shelly Morrison).
Soon, strange mishaps occur and the group is stranded without electricity and telephones. One by one, the adults begin to fall prey to a series of shocking and violent deaths. By the time the few surviving adults suspect the demented delinquents, it may be too late…
Our review:
When watching Devil Times Five, it helps to know a little something about what went on behind the scenes. Apparently, original director Sean McGregor was fired when it turned out that, after several weeks of filming, he only had 38 minutes of usable footage.
Several weeks later, a second director, David Sheldon, was brought in to reshoot a good deal of the movie. Unfortunately, by the time that Sheldon arrived, the majority of the cast had moved onto other projects and the main killer kid (Leif Garrett) had gotten his hair cut for another movie, meaning that he had to wear an ill-fitting wig for the reshoots.
And the end result is a truly weird movie, one that is full of odd continuity errors and strange scenes that were obviously only included to pad out the film’s running time. Among the most obvious of the continuity errors is the insistence that the characters are snowed in despite the fact that there appears to be hardly any snow on the ground outside. This, of course, was largely due to the fact that the reshoots were done in sunny California.
As for the padding, perhaps the most infamous example is the scene where the five children attack and beat to death their doctor. This entire scene is shown in slow motion. It lasts for five minutes. Seriously, five minutes is a really long time. It’s certainly a long time to watch someone supposedly beaten to death, especially when the scene is underlit and sepia-toned. It starts out as disturbing but, after the 2nd minute or so, it just gets boring. And then about four minutes in, you start to laugh because you’re just like, “How much longer can this crap go on?” And then, at the 4:30 mark, you start to get bored again. Around the 4:55 mark, I realised that I had forgotten who they were killing or why.
Incidentally, this is one of those films where, whenever one of the kids is going to kill someone, the kid suddenly starts moving in slow motion. It was kind of like the music in Jaws. If the kid picked up an axe but was still moving at normal speed, you knew not to worry. But the minute that slow-mo started, you knew someone was about to die.
Of course, it takes a while to get around to the killings. Devil Times Five clocked in at about 88 minutes. I would guess that roughly 65 of those minutes were pure filler. We spend a lot of time getting to know the adults at that ski lodge and, for the most part, they’re loathsome. The oldest and grumpiest of them is even called Papa Doc, perhaps after the infamous Haitian dictator.
All of the adults spend a lot of time talking about their crumbling marriages and their dying dreams and it’s all very angsty for slasher film about a bunch of killer kids. There’s even an extended catfight between Julie (Joan McCall) and Lovely (Carolyn Staller), which involves a lot of rolling around on the floor while the ’70s “wah-wah” soundtrack plays in the background.
Once the killings do start, however, Devil Times Five actually starts to live up to its potential. These are some mean little kids! Once they start their rampage, we get axes in the back, spears to the throat, immolation, death by swing, and one really disturbing scene involving a bunch of bear traps.
However, Devil Times Five is probably best known for the piranha scene. You can legitimately wonder why someone would keep piranhas at a ski lodge but there’s still no denying that you don’t want to take a bath with them. Making the piranha attack all the more icky that the victim in the bathtub is played by the mother of two of the actors who played the killers!
Lisa Marie Bowman – see more of Lisa’s reviews at Through the Shattered Lens
Buy Vinegar Syndrome 4K/Blu-ray from Amazon.com
Newly restored in 4K from its 35mm original negative and boasting a whole host of new and archival extras, Vinegar Syndrome has given the royal treatment to this consummate trash classic with its 4K UHD debut! Released September 24, 2024.Features:
2-disc Set: 4K Ultra HD/Region Free Blu-ray
4K UHD presented in High-Dynamic-Range
Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
Brand new commentary track with The Hysteria Continues!
Archival commentary track with actresses Joan McCall and Dawn Lyn, producer Michael Blowitz and uncredited co-director David Sheldon, moderated by Darren Gross
“Puppeteering” (20 min) – an interview with second assistant director Walter Dominguez
“Daddy’s Home” (9 min) – an interview with Bruce W@nk, son of executive producer Jordan M. W@nk
“Holiday from Hell” (26 min) – an interview with Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower
Archival featurette comprising interviews with actors Tierre Turner, Joan McCall, Dawn Lyn, producer Michael Blowitz and co-director David Sheldon (22 min)
Bonus archival interviews (7 min)
Theatrical trailer
Alternate Devil Times Five title card
Reversible sleeve artwork
English SDH subtitles
Buy Code Red Blu-ray: Amazon.com
Devil Times Five was previously released on Blu-ray by Code Red and Kino Lorber on February 9, 2021. Special features:
2K scan from the Original Negatives
Audio Commentary by Actors Joan McCall and Dawn Lynn with Producers Mickey Blowitz and David Sheldon, Moderated by Darren Gross
Featurette with Actors Tierre Turner, Joan McCall, Dawn Lynn and Producer David Sheldon
Original Trailer
Bonus Interviews
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca
Trailer:
Free on YouTube:
Cast and characters:
Sorrell Booke … Harvey Beckman
Gene Evans … Papa Doc
Taylor Lacher … Rick
Joan McCall … Julie
Shelley Morrison … Ruth
Carolyn Stellar … Lovely
John Durren … Ralph
Leif Garrett … David
Gail Smale … Sister Hannah
Dawn Lyn … Moe
Tierre Turner … Brian
Tia Thompson … Susan
Henry Beckman … Doctor Brown
Technical specs:
1 hour 28 minutes
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
Audio: Mono
