Race with the Devil

Name: Race with the Devil
Genre: Action, Thriller, Horror
Released: June 27, 1975
Duration: 88 min
Rating: 53
Cast: Carol Blodgett, Clay Tanner, Lara Parker, Loretta Swit, Paul A. Partain

1975

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Mixed or average reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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Race With The Devil

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: June 27, 1975 | PG

Starring: Carol Blodgett, Clay Tanner, Lara Parker, Loretta Swit, Paul A. Partain, Peter Fonda, Phil Hoover, R.G. Armstrong, Ricci Ware, Warren Oates

Summary: Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.

Director: Jack Starrett

Genre(s): Action, Thriller, Horror

Rating: PG

Runtime: 88 min

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Critic Reviews

Keith Phipps

A near-exact cross between Rosemary's Baby, Duel, and The Parallax View, Race With The Devil has problems getting over the flat, TV-style direction by Cleopatra Jones director Jack Starrett, but it gets by on engaging drive-in goofiness, even if it's tough to swallow the idea that mid-'70s Texas swarmed with Satanists. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

A wittily efficient quickie, the film is a winner all the way - a surprise, since Starrett's career thus far had been the movie director's equivalent of a criminal record. Read full review

R.L. Shaffer

While Race with the Devil is a bit slower, it's a haunting, unforgettable experience. Read full review

Joseph McBride

As followup by 20th-Fox to its surprise success with last year’s Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, this Peter Fonda-Warren Oates meller should do okay with action audiences, since it includes the requisite road chases and other hyped-up thrills, some of them slickly executed by director Jack Starrett. Otherwise the production is a sloppy, cynical blend of second-hand plot elements. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Fairly effective action-horror film. Read full review

Simon Abrams

Fonda might have been able to look good in most everything he was in, but even he can’t save a turd like Race with the Devil. Read full review

Vincent Canby

This is a ridiculous mishmash of a movie for people who never grew up, which is not so say it's for children. One would think that Mr. Fonda and Mr. Oates had better things to do, but perhaps not. American movie production is in a bad state. Read full review

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 28, 2021

This is quite a spooky movie, although by todays standards its certainly not very scary in terms of visual shocks. Its a bit similar to The Wicker Man in that there's a constant eeriness in the people that they come across and the feeling that communities are hiding a big secret - also theThis is quite a spooky movie, although by todays standards its certainly not very scary in terms of visual shocks. Its a bit similar to The Wicker Man in that there's a constant eeriness in the people that they come across and the feeling that communities are hiding a big secret - also the satanic references, of course.

There are some fairly thrilling car chase scenes but they don't make up the majority of the movie, otherwise its mainly the characters interacting with people they come across on their road trip. Somewhat stereotypically, the women (/wives) end up as the delirious ones, shrieking about most everything, while the men try to save the day.

It is quite sinister in parts, although some scenes may seem a little mundane at first. When shocks do come, they are fairly sudden but their spaced out, so don't expect a constant stream of scares, this movie is more about building an overall feeling of paranoia than anything else.

Towards the end of the movie, the action really hots up with a frantic chase scene that seems rather implausible but it certainly quite thrilling and entertaining to watch. Some camera angles make it particularly engrossing, watching what happens from various cars point of view as well as from further back. There's a heavy reliance on the musical score during the shock scenes (as it were) and chases, which is quite sinister at points.

Personally I felt that the supposed shock twist ending was a bit obvious (although also quite sinister) and so a slight disappointment - it felt that this movie was very much modelled on The Wicker Man (as previously menioned), indeed that came out two years prior to this movie, according to IMDB. It does a good job of making the viewer question alot, its fairly creepy although I wouldn't say its by any means entirely original but then of course it dates from the 1970s and there would have been fewer similar movies then.

The acting overall I'd say is mediocre - I didn't think it was particularly great, it didn't stand out as such, although I felt the movie did become somewhat engrossing in parts, so I suppose thats partly due to a decent enough cast, so I guess its mediocre to average at best. I do think there are good aspects of this movie, it was quite entertaining by the end so I thought it was fairly good but not especially good - this is a movie that I'd give a 3.5 star rating if such a rating were allowed on Ciao - as it isn't, im going with a 3 star rating instead (I hope this makes sense).

One thing I liked about this movie is that its not too long drawn out, lasting barely an hour and a half, making it fairly short but sweet.… Expand

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