Devil Times Five (1974)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is a reflection not a review... It occurred to me when I was 10 years old and watching the bad news bears for the 100th time that grown ups do not children. Looking back I wondered what is was about the 1970's that painted a portrait of children being evil or bad and the parents hating them? anyone remember "the little girl who lives down the lane?" This was suggesting a girl who is evil but in reality its the adults who are evil (Martin sheen character) how about "the omen?" The devil incarnated.Here in this movie devil times five not only suggests such an idea but confirms it! I definitely recommend this movie for sending a chilling message into your psyche.

When you see an artifact like this film (call it by any one of its three titles, most of which are splashed on the static title card that is the hallmark of all true grindhouse fare) it reminds you of a sad truth. Namely, the only way a bunch of people with no money could make a film back in the day was to make some schlocky pseudo-horror nonsense filled with blood the color of orange juice and liberal splattering of freeze frames.I mean, technically, this film sucks. There really isn't any redeeming merit in the story, the acting, the photography...even the sound and editing are hackneyed. it is truly, as others have confirmed, a disaster. But is it scary? Lots of sub-par movies have had a genuine creepiness factor. Unfortunately, today...unless the sight of kids with weapons on screen, assaulting adults, is new to you...the answer is sadly no. The assault on a doctor earlier in the film is so badly set-up, edited, lit, and shot, that its hard to tell what is even happening on the screen (even in supposed "cleaned-up prints"). This makes the extended four minute attack just mind-numbingly tedious. Not sure why this got to some people.In 1974 that was probably very different. Aside from "Village of the Damned," "Who Would Kill a Child?" et al, kiddie carnage wasn't common place. And given the era...when many parents were in fact becoming afraid of their kids...this movie would have been far more disturbing. The archaic quality of the script really renders it as nothing more than a freak show curiosity, and it does deliver on that count. The cat fight in the beginning of the film is hilarious in its staginess and the ineptness with which its shot --- and this is how these zero budget flicks got financed, remember? You can almost see the plaid leisure suited executive taking the stogie out of his mouth and saying "Ya got two broads in a room together, dontcha? CATFIGHT!" I will give screenwriter John Durren, who plays Ralph one nod, though. In addition to having the energy to inject topicality into the script (it does have a moral indignation that is a tad refreshing compared to anything being written today --- at least it attempts to TAKE a position) he does give us a couple of very unsettling tableaux, mostly in scenes he embodies: Ralph semi-flirts with the young psycho "nun", Leif Garrett (in "BAD SEED to the MAX" mode) cross dresses and flirts with Sorrell Booke, and the femme fatale of the bunch sexually degrades and mocks Ralph, who is obviously disabled.Pretty daring stuff. A pity that daring couldn't have been laced with a tad more competence. Still, true checking out for a truly BAD (as in Dan Ackroyd's Leonard Pimpf Garnell character on SNL) CINEMA.

This is one of them seventies horror films your grandfather would tell you about while settling you down to sleep when you were a toddler. Five crazy kids escape from a mental institution and play the scared kid card at the house of Papa Doc, who is currently playing host to all sorts of unlikeable adults, so, basically, you can tell where this is heading. What got me about the Devil Times Five is the way that the first hour passes almost lightheartedly, before heading for Grimsville. When the kids start wasting the cast, a kind of darkness settles on the film and never let's up. I don't know if it's just the playful way the kids massacre people (hence the title: Peopletoys), but I was left with a bizarre bad taste in my mouth after watching this. I guess that's the whole point though. You don't really get that from watching modern splatterfests. This is seventies horror in a nutshell, this film.Plus, for UK viewers, check the name of one of the producers of this film (the IMDb won't let me use his second name here). I bet he's glad he didn't go to school in Glasgow!

Now i don't like to use juvenile terms when i review a movie, but honestly. i hated this movie. hated hated hated this movie. I know that's a childish thing to say (no pun intended) but there's no better word. This movie was stupid.Allrighty, i might as well tell you WHY. So let's jump into Movie number 22 on our Chilling Classics 50 movie pack.So it starts off with these little annoying kids who climb out of a bus that crashed apparently unharmed. It seems that they just escaped from a crazy house and they are just.... it isn't really clear what their motive it, they're just doing stuff. On the other side of the plot though an old guy who isn't much of a family man has a get together for the rest of his family. They all kind of yell at each other the whole time, so it really isn't that good of a reunion. Or then again, it's like EVERY reunion. Now it said on my DVD sleeve that these people were mafia. I don't know, they never mentioned it, and if this old guy were the head of a mafia you'd think he'd have guards or something, but you know what? i seriously question ever aspect of this movie anyway.So these kids show up and start killing off people one by one. And everyone thinks it's suicides. Because they're idiots. And then they lose their guns. because they're idiots. Then they start getting killed off one by one... because, well something tells me you could figure out why.I am going to spoil the ending here for one specific reason. So you know what happens and you have no cause or reason to see this movie. EVER. The only guy left's girlfriend gets killed by the kids, so he goes out to get his revenge. FINALLY! oh. wait. then he falls in some bear traps and dies..... God i hate this movie.Look. There's something people who make movies need to understand. Just because you have a child in a movie, that does not make them invincible. If a child/ group of children are killers, it does not mean that they can get away scott free and that we think that would be chilling or a role reversal. No. IT'S STUPID. it doesn't frighten or disturb you, it INCREDIBLY ANNOYS YOU. if that was their attempt, then great job, but something tells me they're not that smart to think of something like that. If you have 5 main evil kids, AT LEAST 2 have to die if you're going to make some live. you CANNOT have all of them live. That is BEYOND retarded. Now i know that sort of thing in the role reversal is terrible like Jason Voorehees pretty much won't ever be seen killing a kid, but on the other hand, if 5 kids are slaughtering everybody around them, i think they need to pull out the punches and start lopping off some annoying kid heads.Now i normally don't review in this way, but this movie made me angry at it. So much so that if it were not part of a collection, and "passenger of bali" (which is also on the same disc) not being somewhat entertaining, i would have thrown this stupid thing out.Devil times five gets 1 terrible EVERYTHING out of 10.