Excellent but underrated film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

1978 was the year of the evil dog in Hollywood. After all, the same year that brought us "Devil Dog" also brought us "Dracula's Dog"! However, in this latter case the dog isn't a vampire dog but was apparently the spawn of Satan's dog...and like thefan-2 points out, it's a bit like "Rosemary's Baby"! When the film begins, some weirdos buy a showdog that is in season. Next, you see these same weirdos performing a demonic ceremony with their new pooch. Fortunately, the camera cuts away before the big impregnation scene! Next, one of the weirdos shows up in a nice residential neighborhood and gives two kids a puppy...and you can only assume it's from the litter with the showdog and the Devil Dog (or perhaps from an unholy coupling with Satan himself!). At first, things seem okay. However, over time the nice family who adopts the doggy start to become a family of real jerks. First, the two kids become nasty brutes. Second, the wife becomes a cold- hearted nympho! The only one left who is normal is dad (Richard Crenna)...and he eventually realizes his family ain't normal! But is it too late for him to put a stop to all this...especially once people start dying...and, after his wife and kids become full- fledged members of Satan's army?!Considering that this is NOT supposed to be great art and simply a silly horror film, it's a movie that you should cut some slack. Sure, it's silly...but it's not meant to be anything else. And, for an evil doggy film, it's actually pretty good...although the special effects near the end were pretty laughable!

After the family dog is squashed like a pancake in the road, the children are devastated. When the sister falls in love with Lucky on her birthday, a sweet puppy, the family takes him in... until sad and horrible things begin to happen that lead the husband to believe that the puppy might be a Pagan demon possessing his family and killing people.Okay, I'm not gonna lie, this film was pretty dorky... but come on, it's still pretty funny if you watch it without taking it too seriously. It has some eerie soundtrack that you've gotta give 'em credit for, half-decent acting and this doddering geek of a neighbor who gets into a fight over the family's new dog in a really funny display of anger. Watch it with an open mind, it might not be as bad as you think.

***SPOILERS*** Purposely, I would assume, released or broadcast on__ Halloween 1978 the made for TV movie "Devil Dog: The Hound from Hell" has to do with this Devil Cult in Southern California who uses dogs to infiltrate unsuspecting people's homes. That's after their pet dogs are killed and turn the inhabitants into Devil worshiping zombies. Ther movie has to do with the Barry family dog Skippy who was run over just in time, this all happens in less then one hour, for Devil cult member fruit & vegetable man Dunworth, R. G Armstrong, to drive up and offer's the grieving family this cute German Sheppard puppy whom they affectingly name Lucky. It's not long when Lucky shows his teeth or real identity as the "Dog from Hell" who ends up killing any one, human or animal , who stands in his way by exposing him for what he is and what he's up to. It the man of the house Mike Barry, Richard Crenna, who seems to be immune, because he has a heart of gold, to the dog's hypnotic spell that turned his entire family his wife Betty, Yvette Mimieux, and children Bonnie & Charlie, Kim Richards & Ike Eisenmann, into unfeeling and emotionless robots. Despite all the evidence that his family is possessed by the Devil, as the results of his Devil Dog Lucky, Mike still thinks it's his mind that's playing tricks on him instead of what he sees, a family of Devil worshipers, with his own two eyes!***SPOILERS*** Finally realizing the situation that he's facing Mike goes to this expert on the occult ,Martine Beswick, who clues him in on what he's up against: The Devil himself! Told to take a trip to Ecuador in Central America the see the wise old man on the hill, Victor Jory, who can help him put an end to all this horror Mike finds out from the old guy that because he, unlike his family, can't be controlled by the family dog he's got the power to send it back to hell from which it came. But the rub is that he may well lose his soul in doing itWorth waiting for the ending sequence when Lucky the Devil Dog shows his true colors, jet black, and confronts Mike in a battles between Good & Evil. Lucky now in full battle gear looking like the demon in the movie "Curse of the Demon" with horns and foot long canine nine fangs, and about the size of a full grown elephant, the end makes up for all the boring and in many cases confusing scenes that lead up to it. But in the end the end of the Devil Dog ain't really over with the mysterious and evil fruit & vegetable man Dunworth still having a couple of aces or puppies up his sleeve and ready to lay them on the table!

I was thrilled to learn from one of the previous comments that this "horror" movie is available on DVD! I don't remember much about it, but do recall the cheesy special effects and the vain attempts to make a cute German Shepherd puppy look spine-chillingly evil. The scene I remember best and still laugh about is when the family's maid, (who's a Latino and is therefore in touch with unseen forces), sees the adorable little puppy, complete with disproportionately huge paws, and IMMEDIATELY recognizes him as evil! The special effects crew achieved this effect by shining a flashlight in his eyes, causing them to glow malevolently, or so the audience was supposed to think. She begins backing away from the puppy in terror, crossing herself and crying out, "Ohhh, Madre de Dios!" Her prayers are to no avail, as she soon meets a horrible fate at the hands (or paws) of Devil Dog. The end, where we see Devil Dog's "true" form is an absolute riot! They took some dog and stuck a wig and a horn on his head, as I recall, and then projected the whole ridiculous spectacle on a giant screen, designed to make the viewing audience reel in horror.One of the things that makes this movie so enjoyable is the cast. I love those familiar faces from the seventies and eighties, whose ranks, alas, are thinning: Richard Crenna, Yvette Mimieux, R.G. Armstrong, et al. And the production values from that era were far superior to what's on TV today - much better color, for one thing, and the scripts, even in a cheesefest like this, were more like real conversation and not loaded with "edgy, hip", mean-spirited remarks like the garbage on TV today.We need more fine films like Devil Dog: Hound of Hell!