★ 6 / 10
A gritty yet memorable technical disaster
drownsoda90
"Devil Times Five" (also known under a slew of various titles, including "Peopletoys," "The Horrible House on the Hill," and "Tantrums") focuses on a small…
"Devil Times Five" (also known under a slew of various titles, including "Peopletoys," "The Horrible House on the Hill," and "Tantrums") focuses on a small mountain village where a group of sleazy adults are vacationing. Nearby, a psychiatric facility van transporting five delusional, homicidal children, crashes, unleashing the little terrors. When they seek refuge in the snowy vacation community, a countdown on adult bodies ensues.Well, well, well—this is a weird one. Clearly shot on a shoestring budget and with a script that delivers little in the way of surprises, "Devil Times Five"'s greatest strength is the dwindling presence of its adult figures, as the demented children clobber, hack, ignite, piranha bath(?) and slash them to the bits. The film evokes a dingy, dreary atmosphere that recalls that of "Don't Go in the Basement" and other '70s horror obscurities, and that may be the singular reason to watch this film; there is something unsettling captured here in the aesthetics and content, which is the case for so many of these films.On the other hand, the film is a technical disaster in more ways than one. Bizarre editing and offbeat pacing afflict the film's first act; the kitschy seventies aesthetic will seem to override the possibility of any and all horror, but the last half of the film is remarkably grim and borderline nihilistic. The kids themselves all have their own delusional personalities; one carries himself as an Army commander, while another believes himself to be a child star; another even more bizarrely believes herself to be a nun, and dresses accordingly. The children in the film have more personality than their victims, which is an unusual quirk for the genre.Overall, "Devil Times Five" is a sloppy yet effective film, and one that I'd probably only recommend for grindhouse fans and those who enjoy the grittier side of pre-millennial horror. In spite of its technical shortcomings and mediocre acting, the film does capture a dreary atmosphere which grows progressively darker and darker as the film goes on; there is a definite sick center to the film, an inherent nastiness that comes with children embodying physical evils, and I dare say no film has captured it with such a cynical lens. 6/10.
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★ 6 / 10
"We'll Get Some New Toys Soon"
BaronBl00d
This film is at times disturbing and well-shot and at others abysmally absurd and full of continuity issues. For its low budget - though it does have a cast…
This film is at times disturbing and well-shot and at others abysmally absurd and full of continuity issues. For its low budget - though it does have a cast with Sorrell Booke and Gene Evans and some other actors and actresses that have gone on to lucrative Hollywood careers(Leif Garrett comes to mind)- Devil Times Five has that creepy seventies horror film vibe going for it that makes it a treat to watch despite its many shortcomings. A group of mentally "acute" deadly child patients (5 of them) are freed when their van going to the mental institute crashes. They walk through the frozen, snow-covered wilderness with no food and little clothing yet fear not the winter chill. Soon they reach a very nice winter residence of one Papa Doc, his wife, his daughter and her boyfriend who works for Papa Doc,, the mentally slow caretaker, and Harvey Beckman who also works for Papa Doc with his drunken wife Ruth. Harvey Beckman apparently is a doctor at a sanatorium - one of the best - but he cannot see anything wrong when these children show up. He is so trustworthy that he turns his back on one with an ax. How did that work out for you Doc? Anyway, Beckman is played nicely by pre-Boss Hogg Sorrell Booke. The children soon invade the home and kill all of its inhabitants in a myriad of ways: death by drowning and piranha bites(yes, piranhas in this winter wonderland), death by being doused with flames and lit up like a Christmas tree, death bu a sharp branch impaling one from a kid on a swing, death by bear traps, death by hanging some guy looking at a generator but never showing us how that was even remotely possible, and finally death by a lance to the throat from a window closed mind you - a perfect throw through glass and all by a thirteen year old(or so). The first murder scene is done in a grainy, slow motion, black and white way which looks ludicrous and I had no idea what was going on. The rest of the murders are done at least in color though some suffer from the slow motion used again. Apparently there were two directors for this film and that leads to all kinds of continuity problems. That being said, the acting and atmosphere of this film are quite chilling. Unfortunately, some of these flaws seriously take away from the film for I found myself laughing at certain scenes for their idiocy. The kids are pretty decent performers and the older actors do nicely. The gals are attractive and Carolyn Stellar playing Lovely who likes anything with pants disrobes a couple times. She is the real life mother of two of the child actors - Leif Garrett and Dawn Lynn(who you may remember as Jodie Harper Douglas on My Three Sons - I knew I had seen her somewhere before!). I am sure it must be quite a treat when the three sit down and watch this movie together. All in all this is better than you might expect.
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★ 4 / 10
Editing errors times a thousand
Zeegrade
Five little evil bastards escape a van crash that most assuredly would have killed them had they been normal children. After a little wandering the five find…
Five little evil bastards escape a van crash that most assuredly would have killed them had they been normal children. After a little wandering the five find themselves at a remote chalet where three couples and a mentally challenged handyman (try figuring that one out) are spending time in yelling at each other and getting drunk. Sounds like most of my Christmas'. Soon the incompetent adults are dispatched by the little tykes deathtraps that never seem to fail followed by an annoying Pop Goes the Weasel score. Aren't you scared yet? Watch for the catfight when at the end Lovely's robe is only partially open then the next glimpse it is wide open exposing the only things worthy of notice in this film.
What a disaster of a movie! It's not without promise but this could have been done so much better. The editing is so poorly done that it is hard to know who certain people are in the film such as the mystery man that emerges from the van wreck. Was it a clown car for chrissakes? This is rated R and yet the death scenes make me wonder if the director decided to pull back on the gore. The five plus minute slo-mo black and white death scene is so painful to watch it defies belief that the director would stoop to this to extend the runtime. Leif Garrett's hairstyle changes inexplicably from a goofy wig to shoulder length from one scene to another. The children refer to a character twice that is no where to be found such as when David kills Harvey and blames it on this mystery "Greg". How can you be so lax? On top of that the murders are so lame that only an idiot would fall for them and yet this chalet is packed with idiots. One scene in particular has two of the kids drown Lovely in the tub while dropping Piranna fish in. The fact that these kids are exposed to the large breasted Carolyn Stellar to begin with is a little disturbing but the scene is followed with all the "devils" dragging her naked body through the snow. One more juicy tidbit is Carolyn Stellar is the real life mother of Leif Garrett and Dawn Lyn who plays Moe. One of the writers is John Durren who plays Ralph the retarded handyman (I wonder if he wrote this channeling his character?) who in a very cringe inducing scene is sexually harassed by Lovely. I would recommend seeing this once with a bunch of friends and adult libations just to laugh at the sheer silliness of this movie. Aren't "peopletoys" marital aide products?
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5.1/10
2.4K
