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IMDbPro

The Demon Lover

  • 1976
  • R
  • 1h 23m
IMDb RATING
3.3/10
346
YOUR RATING
The Demon Lover (1976)
Horror

A group of teenagers hanging around a cemetery get involved with a satanic priest who calls up a demon from hell.A group of teenagers hanging around a cemetery get involved with a satanic priest who calls up a demon from hell.A group of teenagers hanging around a cemetery get involved with a satanic priest who calls up a demon from hell.

  • Directors
    • Donald G. Jackson
    • Jerry Younkins
  • Writers
    • Donald G. Jackson
    • Jerry Younkins
  • Stars
    • Christmas Robbins
    • Val Mayerik
    • Gunnar Hansen
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    3.3/10
    346
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Donald G. Jackson
      • Jerry Younkins
    • Writers
      • Donald G. Jackson
      • Jerry Younkins
    • Stars
      • Christmas Robbins
      • Val Mayerik
      • Gunnar Hansen
    • 11User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos7

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    Top cast21

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    Christmas Robbins
    • Laval Blessing
    Val Mayerik
    • Damian Kaluta
    Gunnar Hansen
    Gunnar Hansen
    • Prof. Peckinpah
    Tom Hutton
    • Detective Tom Frazetta
    Sonny Bell
    • Officer Lester Gould
    Linda Conrad
    • Elaine Ormsby
    Phil Foreman
    • Alex Redondo
    Carol Lasowski
    • Sally Jones
    Ron Hiveley
    • Paul Foster
    • (as Ron Hively)
    Susan Bullen
    • Susan Ackerman
    David J. Howard
    • Charles Wrightson…
    Jan Porter
    • Jane Corben
    Michael McGivern
    • Garrett Adams
    Kathy Stewart
    • Janis Romero
    Kyra Nash
    • Pamela Kirby
    Priscilla Southwell
    • Mrs. Frazetta
    Kevin Baetz
    • Pete
    Steve Lincoln
    • Arnie
    • Directors
      • Donald G. Jackson
      • Jerry Younkins
    • Writers
      • Donald G. Jackson
      • Jerry Younkins
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews11

    3.3346
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    Featured reviews

    8HumanoidOfFlesh

    Rubber demon.

    A long-haired heavy metal dude Laval Blessing is a black magician.He lures some young virgins into his coven to perform some magical mumbo-jumbo.After his unwilling virgin and her boyfriend leave the coven Laval becomes angry.He unleashes bloodthirsty demon with gruesome revenge on its mind..."The Demon Lover" is gloriously cheap and insane horror flick with amateurish acting and cheesy rubber demon.Gunnar Hansen is fantastic in his small cameo role of Proffesor Peckinpah.The writing is bad,the direction is even worse,but I had a blast watching this entertaining turkey.There is a bit of graphic nudity and some splashy gore too!8 rubber demons out of 10.You all have to see "The Demon Lover Diary"-the infamous documentary about the making of this film.
    4R Becker

    Classic Drive-In Sleaze!

    Try as they might, no-budget filmmakers working on DV just can't seem to capture this level of sordid, inept fun! THE DEMON LOVER has it all: Bad acting, lousy writing, murky camera work, a ridiculous-looking rubber monster, a little skin (not much), a little blood (not much), characters named after comic-book professionals, and a surprisingly accurate look at what a lot of fringe-type folks were like in the late 1970s. Yep, tasteless and stupid as the movie is, and awful as the people in it act and look, you really could've met people like the cultists in THE DEMON LOVER at the time! They might not have been devil worshippers who ended up facing their lord and master in person, but they still existed (and they're still out there with their, uh, lifestyles). BTW, the final confrontation between the ex-cultists and their blowhard former master is priceless: Watch for the crossbow bolt! And don't miss the big karate demo in the middle; it's truly the stuff of '70s I'm-so-cool wanking. A cruddy drive-in flashback par excellence.
    EyeAskance

    Post-hippie stoner types unleash a really cheap looking demon.

    Under-the-barrel raunch involving the usual wild-for-kicks teens...this time around they're a strange mottle resembling old-school Black Sabbath fans, and their audacious dabblings in black magic parenthetically unharness a bloodthirsty demon which the group leader dispatches for a series of random killings.

    This financially underprivileged drive-in dreck is a showboat of laughably deficient capacities...not for one meteoric instant is DEMON LOVER indicative of professional contribution to any aspect of its production. Even by the casual standards of 70s era drive-in trash, it's a wondrous botch...and a veritable Faberge Egg for the elite brotherhood of schlock-mongers.

    Interestingly, the dubious "mountain in labor" origins of this celluloid poopstain would become the focus of DEMON LOVER DIARY, a coarse but otherwise spectacular film-document which is cardinal viewing for anyone interested in the bizarre universe of zot-budget regional film-making. 3.5/10
    6Bloodwank

    Fun clueless schlock oddity

    Man, I just can't get enough of this sweet lunatic trash. The Devil Master was the starting point of prolific trash director/producer Donald G. Jackson (his later works including Hell Comes To Frogtown) and though I've not seen any of his later work if it works like this fun shot of dysfunctional weirdness I'll have to get on it pronto. Plotwise things are simple, members of a group into the occult annoy their leader, the awesomely named (and maned) Laval Blessing, so he sicks a big hairy demon with glowing red eyes on them. Its fairly standard silliness, but the kicks come thick and fast, in no small part due to the fact that any notions of technical ability have been methodically stripped away, leaving only cheap-jack enthusiasm. All the dodgy edits, chintzty sets and inept compositions can't stop things from smoothly bowling along, even where there clearly isn't enough relevant footage and the film has to delve into extended, hilarious filler. A spell of our villain working out at his local dojo will raise smiles, but the bar brawl that comes after is a laugh riot, and this is just a midsection booster. Elsewhere non-acting and characters named after various comic book artists, film-makers and others keep the momentum bubbling and the odd random splash of grue and bleak tone serve to keep you on your toes. Christmas Robbins hams things up an amusing storm as Laval Blessing, while Gunnar Hansen has a fun cameo as a helpful professor and the girls are reasonably pretty (one gets topless as well) so on the human side of things the film checks out OK, but generally the ineptitude is key. That and the monster, which really is pretty cool as monsters go, even if it doesn't appear to often. It really looks just how I'd imagine a beast conjured from the demon side and given life on a fractional budget to be and I cheered a little inside every time it appeared. Oh and weirdly, the ending is actually kinda unsettling in a schlocky sort of fashion, carrying a deranged mean punch that serves to make the whole affair just that little bit more memorable than it otherwise would have been. Altogether this is skippable for 90% of viewers and as far as occult based trash goes it isn't all that interesting, lacking in much in the way of fun esoterica or groovy ritual aesthetics, but if your tastes run towards this kind of no count lunacy its worth a one time watch at least.
    Dethcharm

    "The World Is Full Of Shadow People, Moving And Going Nowhere!"...

    DEMON LOVER is an ultra-low budget horror film featuring a long-haired sorcerer named Laval, who bears a striking resemblance to the Cowardly Lion of Oz. He seeks ultimate power through occult means. When his "occult study group" (!) walks out on him, he decides to go it alone, performing a ritual on some naked woman in the basement.

    After actually conjuring a demon, Laval's ex-followers begin dying in grisly ways.

    The mega-cheeeze piles up fast, with a supporting cast of what can only be described as animatronic mannequins and a soundtrack recorded in a public toilet. Thankfully, it's all presented so seriously that one can only howl in approval. This is funny stuff! Just wait until you see the demon!

    BEST SCENES: #1- A girl in a car having the world's most hilarious seizure! #2- The apocalyptic shaving cream battle sequence!

    Fans of Gunnar Hansen had better not blink. He stars as Professor Peckinpah for about 30 seconds...

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    Related interests

    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror

    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Damian Kaluta, one of the protagonists of the film, is played by Val Mayerik, who is also one of the creators of Howard the Duck. I'd assume that's his art on the poster as well. The name of his character Kaluta comes from 1970's comic book artist Michael W. Kaluta and many of the names in the film are also derived from comic and horror icons of that era, like Detective Tom Frazetta (painter Frank Frazetta, who designed most of Fire and Ice), Officer Lester Gould (Chester Gould, creator of Dick Tracy perhaps?), Elaine Ormsby (Alan Ormsby of Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things), Alex Redondo (Filipino Swamp Thing artist Nestor Redondo), Susan Ackerman (Forest Ackerman, of course), Charles Wrightson (Berni Wrightson, who drew the comic for Creepshow), Jane Corben (Richard Corben, who created Den from the Heavy Metal magazine and movie, as well as the painter of the poster for Spookies), Garrett Adams (Neal Adams), Janis Romero (George Romero) and Pamela Kirby (Jack Kirby).
    • Alternate versions
      Video version entitled Devil Master said to be the most complete video.
    • Connections
      Featured in Demon Lover Diary (1980)

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    FAQ14

    • How long is The Demon Lover?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 1977 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Demon Lover
    • Filming locations
      • Jackson, Michigan, USA(mike ehrig)
    • Production company
      • Wolf Lore Cinema
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 23m(83 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono

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