[miketardis]

DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL {1978}
Directed by Curtis Harrington. Stars Richard Crenna, Yvette Mimieux. Laughable, ridiculous and utterly craptastic, DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL appears to have been taken seriously by the men and women who made it, which demonstrates an admirable level of professionalism. The wonderful Richard Crenna stars as Michael Barry, a typical suburban dad with a wife (Yvette Mimieux) and two kids who take in a new pup the same day the beloved household pet is run down by a hit-and-run driver. Little Lucky proves to be less than an angel after various Barry friends, employees, neighbors (and their animals) die mysteriously. Even the wife and kids start acting batty (it helps the movie that director Curtis Harrington cast the unearthly siblings from the WITCH MOUNTAIN movies). What’s a beleaguered pop to do but climb an Ecuadorian mountain in search of a wizened old shaman (Victor Jory) who can reveal the only method of destroying the demon that possesses Crenna’s German shepherd.
“That damn dog tried to force me to stick my hand into the lawn mower!” is just one of many laughable lines given to Crenna by scenarists Stephen and Elinor Karpf. The woeful animated visual effects that punctuate the limp climax would barely pass muster on ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNAGIRL, but there’s probably no way to make a dog with glowing eyes wearing a South American Indian headdress scary anyway. You’ll admire Crenna, who survives this indignity with surprising grace, but the rest of DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL is a real howler. Also with Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Ken Kercheval, Lou Frizzell and Martine Beswicke and R.G. Armstrong, whose fault it all is. Music by Artie Kane. CBS ran this Halloween night of 1978. Crenna starred in (the good) THE EVIL that year.