A Satanic cult procures a dog for the sole purpose of breeding it with a demon and then has a huge litter that is given away to unsuspecting people all over the country. Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell tells the story of one family caught up in this unspeakable horror. Okay, perhaps I am getting a bit too melodramatic given the material here. Yes, it is a made-for-television production. Yes, Richard Crenna is the leading "star." Journeyman director Curtis Harrington(Whoever Slew Auntie Roo, What's the Matter with Helen?, and several other genre credits)directs with his usual touch. The story obviously has holes and problems of credibility: a dog is really a demon centuries old that has a story all his own, Richard Crenna manages to keep his hand out of a lawnmower blade because he is the "chosen" one, and so many more. Despite all these problems, the average yet solid direction, the cheap feel that comes with a seventies TV production, ridiculous special effects, I found myself thoroughly engrossed from start to finish. Like another reviewer noted, movies from this decade in the horror genre are just different than any other decade. They have a certain quality hard to put your finger on. As for the cast Crenna always does a workmanlike job, Yvette Mimieux is eerily good, Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards(the Witch Mountain kids) are sickeningly sweet and evil and perfect in this concoction of unreality, and the film boasts a minor array of interesting cameos with Victor Jory, Barbara Steele, and R. G. Armstrong(soon to be Uncle Lewis Vendredi in the TV Friday the 13th: the Series).
