Devil Times Five
Devil Times Five
R | 31 May 1974 (USA)
Devil Times Five Trailers

Five extremely disturbed, sociopathic children escape from their psychiatric transport and are taken in unwittingly by a group of adult villagers on winter vacation.

Reviews
CommentsXp

Best movie ever!

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AshUnow

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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Neive Bellamy

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

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Guillelmina

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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Bezenby

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!

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Red-Barracuda

This is a good little quirky horror-thriller set in a snow-bound area. A family gather in a house for a winter break, while at the same time a bus carrying some kids crashes off the road. Five of the children escape unharmed but it turns out these are seriously disturbed kids and they are soon to come into contact with our friends in the holiday home.Devil Times Five is a strange little movie. It sometimes gives off the relaxed and warm feel of a 70's TV movie but this is misleading as its subject matter of sociopathic children is not exactly a very cosy theme. This combination of TV-style melodrama with slasher movie subject matter is one of the things that makes for distinctive viewing. It's just a little bizarre. The snowy setting is good too and gives the flick a nice feel. The murders are all varied and occasionally quite inventive such as the bath tub demise replete with piranhas. Admittedly, the first murder is a pretty confusing affair – not only do we have trouble knowing what is going on but it's not even that clear who is even being attacked! But it's still a pleasingly weird scene with slow motion visuals and sound, and through a monochrome lens. Aside from all this, the movie is not above throwing in a totally unnecessary cat fight too. And what could be wrong with that? You could do a lot worse than this one. If you are a sucker for early 70's proto-slashers then this is one that should provide some entertainment.

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BaronBl00d

This film is at times disturbing and well-shot and at others abysmally absurd and full of continuity issues. For its low budget - though it does have a cast with Sorrell Booke and Gene Evans and some other actors and actresses that have gone on to lucrative Hollywood careers(Leif Garrett comes to mind)- Devil Times Five has that creepy seventies horror film vibe going for it that makes it a treat to watch despite its many shortcomings. A group of mentally "acute" deadly child patients (5 of them) are freed when their van going to the mental institute crashes. They walk through the frozen, snow-covered wilderness with no food and little clothing yet fear not the winter chill. Soon they reach a very nice winter residence of one Papa Doc, his wife, his daughter and her boyfriend who works for Papa Doc,, the mentally slow caretaker, and Harvey Beckman who also works for Papa Doc with his drunken wife Ruth. Harvey Beckman apparently is a doctor at a sanatorium - one of the best - but he cannot see anything wrong when these children show up. He is so trustworthy that he turns his back on one with an ax. How did that work out for you Doc? Anyway, Beckman is played nicely by pre-Boss Hogg Sorrell Booke. The children soon invade the home and kill all of its inhabitants in a myriad of ways: death by drowning and piranha bites(yes, piranhas in this winter wonderland), death by being doused with flames and lit up like a Christmas tree, death bu a sharp branch impaling one from a kid on a swing, death by bear traps, death by hanging some guy looking at a generator but never showing us how that was even remotely possible, and finally death by a lance to the throat from a window closed mind you - a perfect throw through glass and all by a thirteen year old(or so). The first murder scene is done in a grainy, slow motion, black and white way which looks ludicrous and I had no idea what was going on. The rest of the murders are done at least in color though some suffer from the slow motion used again. Apparently there were two directors for this film and that leads to all kinds of continuity problems. That being said, the acting and atmosphere of this film are quite chilling. Unfortunately, some of these flaws seriously take away from the film for I found myself laughing at certain scenes for their idiocy. The kids are pretty decent performers and the older actors do nicely. The gals are attractive and Carolyn Stellar playing Lovely who likes anything with pants disrobes a couple times. She is the real life mother of two of the child actors - Leif Garrett and Dawn Lynn(who you may remember as Jodie Harper Douglas on My Three Sons - I knew I had seen her somewhere before!). I am sure it must be quite a treat when the three sit down and watch this movie together. All in all this is better than you might expect.

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catfish-er

DEVIL TIMES FIVE has so much that is wrong with it. It is very, deeply disturbing. It hits you viscerally.I think that DEVIL TIMES FIVE is worse than Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. And, I thought that movie left me feeling hollow and empty. WOW! DEVIL TIMES FIVE has so much that is right. First, it has a good premise. Yes, it's been done in other forms; but, this is a unique twist on the malevolent kids theme. Second, and, most surprising, the acting was quite competent. Not great; but, good enough to hold onto. Also, the plot moved forward very well... well, it did after the first hour.Yet so much could be so much better. The editing is horrendous. The sets are abysmal. The sound and soundtrack were annoying.Still...

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