RACE WITH THE DEVIL (1975)

 

(Director: Jack Starrett. Screenwriters: Lee Frost and Wes Bishop.)

Review

Texas-based couples (Frank and Alice, Roger, and Kelly) head from San Antonio, Texas, to Aspen, Colorado in Frank’s RV. Early in their journey, the men witness a satanic ritual where a young woman is killed. The smiling, intense satanists, who could be anybody, pursue the panicked couples across Texas as they flee the scene of the sacrifice. Disturbing events and bloody sabotage ramp up, resulting in an action-wild, shotgun-blast climax and unsettling finish.

The PG rated, eighty-four-minute RACE is a mixology-punctuated satanic- and witchcraft-interrupted road trip is more psycho-terror than supernatural in tone. It initially feels like a Seventies-drama telepic, becomes intense and paranoiac, before slamming into a series of shotgun-blast action, a flick that thrills with its well-foreshadowed horrors, tight editing, and pacing (credit editor John F. Link), strong acting, effective cinematography (Robert Jessup), lots of non-PC vibing (e.g., Alice and Kelly who do little more than scream a lot, especially Kelly) and a truck that explodes for no reason.

RACE’s pulpy fun doesn’t surprise me, given RACE’s on and offscreen talent. Helmed by Jack Starrett (actor, FIRST BLOOD, 1982), who cameos in RACE as a “Gas Station Attendant,” it was scripted by Lee Frost (director, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS, 1972), who played Deputy Dave, and further shaped by script supervisor Joyce King (SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM, 1973). She, also uncredited, played a “Librarian” in RACE. Paul Maslansky (THE THING WITH TWO HEADS, 1972), a RACE co-executive producer, played an uncredited “Roadworker in Cowboy Hat.”

Of course, this would all be for naught if its onscreen talent weren’t worth watching as well. Warren Oates (BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA, 1974) played Frank. Loretta Swit (S.O.B., 1981) played Alice, Frank’s wife. Peter Fonda (FUTUREWORLD, 1976) played Roger, Frank’s easy-going business partner and friend. Lara Parker (DARK SHADOWS, 1967-71) played Roger’s wife.

Supporting players also include R.G. Armstrong (THE CAR, 1977) as the amused Sheriff Taylor and Paul A. Partain (Franklin in THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, 1974) as Cal Mathers, who may or may not be a satanic cultist. An uncredited R.C. Keene (also uncredited in MACHETE, 2010) played a masked satanist.