Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell

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!

Skipper is dead. Skipper is a dog, the pet of the Barry family. Richard Crenna (Mike Brady...I mean Mike Barry) and Yvette Mimieux (Betty Barry, as cute as her real name as cute as her real self) are the parents and Kim Richards (Bonnie Barry...does the cuteness ever stop!) and Ike Eisenmann (Charlie Barry)--those two cute kids from the Witch Mountain films--are their children. Kim Richards is in pig tails and sailor dress no less. But why is Skipper dead? A hit and run? We know it's more than just a hit and run because just beforehand we see a Satanic ritual invoking the devil into a newly purchased pup. And who should show up just after Skipper is turned into road kill? One of the satan worshippers with a truck load of puppies...guess which one Kim Richards takes? Way before Speilberg brought horror to the suburbs in Poltergiest or there were any Nightmares on Elm Street, this made-for-TV flick dared to merge the Devil with next door. I really like seeing a wholesome TV family meet satan via a cute little puppy...I mean how cool is that? The problem is that in this case four is not enough...more kids would mean more room for deadly mayhem. The fun begins when the Barry's live-in maid Alice (oh wait a minute she has a Catholic alter in her room...oh yeah, Maria) becomes the first victim of...DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL! Will Devil Dog make Mike Barry stick his hand in a lawn mower blade? Will Devil Dog make Charlie talk back to his mom? Will mom get horny? I won't tell you. My biggest complaint is that this was just a TV movie and not an R-rated feature film allowing for ample nudity in the case of Yvette Mimieux. I really would have liked to see her naked buns dipping into the pool or the cult strip her naked during one of their rituals. Now that would have been awesome.

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).

I remember Devil Dog playing on TBS almost 20 years ago, and my older sister and her friends watching it and laughing all the next day. It's not that bad for a made-for-TV horror movie, but it is derivative (mostly of The Exorcist) and businesslike, for lack of a better word. It won't blow you away with artful cinematography or great acting, but it's not a waste of time, either. It's the kind of movie you watch to kill a couple of hours when you aren't in the mood to think too hard.

However, if you go into the movie looking for some laughs, you won't be disappointed. The early scenes, with Lucky the Devil Dog as a cute little puppy with Children of the Damned eyes are hilariously non-threatening, and the climactic blue-screen effects of a giant black dog (with horns!) are pretty side-splitting. And keep an eye out for the cloaked Satanist in Maverick shades toward the beginning.

Not a great horror film by any stretch of the imagination, but I wish they still made stuff like this for TV.

This film is a hoot, or a bark. I don't know. Richard Crenna plays an average suburban dad who buys a cute puppy for his family. Turns out the puppy is possessed by Satan! The fun really begins when the pup grows to be the Devil Dog, a beautiful German Shepard. Fellow imdb reviewer gave this a low rating. How could you dislike a movie where the family dog makes the mom become the town slut, the kids become the school bully, and make the entire family (except dad) worship Satan in the attic. The shots of doggie staring at Richard Crenna, backed by sappy 70's electronic "scary" music help makes this film such a charmer. Jimmy Carter era thrills here!