Race with the Devil

Race with the Devil
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Starrett
Produced by	Wes Bishop Paul Maslansky
Written by	Wes Bishop Lee Frost
Starring	Peter Fonda Warren Oates Loretta Swit Lara Parker R.G. Armstrong
Music by	Leonard Rosenman
Cinematography	Robert Jessop
Edited by	John F. Link
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	June 27, 1975 (1975-06-27)
Running time	88 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.745 million[2]
Box office	$12 million[3]

Race with the Devil is a 1975 American horror film directed by Jack Starrett, written by Wes Bishop and Lee Frost, and starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, and Lara Parker. This was the second of three films Fonda and Oates would star in together (The Hired Hand was their first and 92 in the Shade was their third). The film was a hybrid of the horror, action and car chase genres.

Plot

Roger Marsh and Frank Stewart own a successful motorcycle dealership in San Antonio, Texas. Together, with their wives Kelly and Alice, along with Roger and Kelly’s small dog, they leave San Antonio in a recreational vehicle (RV) for a much anticipated ski vacation in Aspen, Colorado.

Along the way, they set up camp in a desolate meadow of central Texas, where Roger and Frank race their motorcycles together. Later that night after their wives retire to the RV, the men witness what turns out to be a Satanic ritual human sacrifice a short distance from their campsite across a river.

After being caught by the Satanists and barely escaping with their lives, they report the incident to Sheriff Taylor, who investigates their report but attempts to convince them that they probably only saw hippies killing an animal. Unbeknownst to the sheriff, Roger steals a sample of dirt stained with the murder victim's blood, intent on delivering it to the authorities in Amarillo. At the same time, the wives find a cryptic message-a rune-pinned to the broken back window while cleaning, and steal books about occultism from a local library to further research the incident, unknowing spied on by an unseen man in a red truck. One such library book reveals that the ritual is what Satanists often perform to gain magical powers. As the foursome leaves town, the sheriff notices a red truck that begins to follow them making it clear that he is either aware or part of the Satanic cult.

When the couples arrive at a trailer park, Kelly is stared at by its residents while in a swimming pool and wants to return home. A couple at the park invites them to dinner. While at the restaurant/nightclub, Kelly is stared at menacingly by one of the musicians. When they return from dinner at a pub, they discover that Kelly's dog has been killed and hanged causing them to immediately leave the park. Shortly afterwards, they're forced to fight off two rattlesnakes planted in their RV by the cultists. The frightened Kelly and Alice begins to scream and goes off in a panic, causing Frank to accidentally drive into a tree before the snakes are killed. The next day Kelly's dog is buried. Roger and Frank then purchased a shotgun and head towards Amarillo while being spied on by a steadily increasing number of cultists who seem to be networked throughout numerous small Texas towns. When Roger tries to use pay phones to call the highway patrol, he is told of a "bad connection" and that the long distance lines are down throughout their towns by a "big wind from up north".

The couples then leave for Amarillo and staged a showdown with the cult members during a high-speed chase that pits their RV against numerous trucks and cars. Roger and Frank kill and injure most of the attackers and escapes.

The foursome stop in a field at nightfall as they cannot continue until morning since the RV’s headlights has been damaged during the chase. They begin to celebrate when they pick up a radio signal coming from Amarillo. In the middle of their celebration, the foursome hears chanting outside the RV and find themselves surrounded by cult members wearing black robes with hoods, including the sheriff and the couple they had dinner with. The film ends as the cultists light a ring of fire around the RV trapping the couples inside while the chanting seemingly continues.

Cast

Production

Race with the Devil was shot on location in San Antonio, Castroville, Tarpley, and Leakey, Texas. Director Jack Starrett later claimed he hired actual Satanists to serve as cult-member extras, though the statement was likely for publicity purposes.^[4][5] Starrett directed the similar B-movie action film A Small Town in Texas the following year.^[6]

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by 20th Century Fox in June 1975. It earned North American rentals of $5.8 million.^[7][8]

Critical reception

Race with the Devil received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 57% rating based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10.^[9]

Home media

The film was released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2005. This version is currently out of print.

On April 12, 2011, the film was released on DVD through Shout! Factory, packaged as a double feature with another Peter Fonda film, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. As of June 4, 2013, this double feature set is available on Blu-ray.

Remakes

A remake was planned in 2005, written by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan, with Chris Moore (of Project Greenlight fame) to serve as director.^[10] Kevin Smith has said that Race With the Devil is a strong influence on his 2011 film Red State.^[11]

The film was also the basis for the Tamil language film Kazhugu (Eagle) which was released in 1981, and Drive Angry, starring Nicolas Cage, in 2011.

See also

• List of American films of 1975

References

External links

• Race with the Devil at the Internet Movie Database
• Race with the Devil at Rotten Tomatoes
• Review at The Terror Trap
• Eccentric Cinema Review