Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Curtis Harrington directed this made-for-television horror movie about a group of Satan worshipers who get a dog, which eventually gives birth to a litter of puppies. One such puppy is taken in by a family and soon the husband (Richard Crenna) realizes that something isn't quite right with the dog. Before long his wife, daughter and son are possessed and strange things are happening around the neighborhood including murder.DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL is a fairly entertaining movie, which could have been even better had it not ran for 95-minutes. The film really starts to drag towards the end and I couldn't help but think it would have been much better had it had a 75-minute running time. WIth that said, there's enough going on here to make it worth sitting through and especially if you enjoy these 70's television movies.I honestly thought the best part of the movie were the performances with Crenna delivers a very strong one as the father who starts to see everything around him fall apart.. Yvette Mimieux is also very good in the role of the wife and I especially liked how she played the possessed character. Both Kim Richards and Ike Eisenman are good in their roles as the children. As I said, everyone does a very good job playing "normal" as well as the possessed parts and this adds to the film's charm.The demonic dog is rather laughable but at the same time it looks just right for this type of 70's horror film. There's a nice music score and there's no doubt that Harrington delivers a well-made movie. One just wishes that the running time had been shorter or that the screenplay had gotten to the point of the dog a lot quicker. Still, DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL is an entertaining movie.

Before Cujo,there was Lucky the devil dog. In 1978,on Halloween night the movie"Devil Dog,The Hound of Hell" premiered. A story of a family getting a new puppy (from a farmer who just happen to be in the neighborhood selling fruits and vegetables) because their dog Skipper was killed.Coencidence? Everyone loves the new dog,but there is something strange about him. It isn't long until the father Mike Barry(Richard Crenna,First Blood)starts to notice.His wife Betty(Yvette Mimieux,Where The Boys Are,Jackson County Jail,Snowbeast)is different and his kids Charlie and Bonnie(Ike Eisenman,Witch Mountain and Fantastic Vourage and Kim Richards,Witch Mountain,Nanny and the Professor,Hello Larry,Tuff-Turf)also have changed. Does the dog have something to do with it? He's determined to find out and do whatever it takes to save his family.This movie is great because it has Ike and Kim playing a darker side of themselves than what we saw on those witch mountain movies. This is one of the many 70's made-for-TV horror movies that was actually scary for a made-for-TV horror movie. The music was creepy and even the ending which I won't tell made you think.This movie also stars Ken Kercheval(Cliff Barnes of Dallas)and R.G. Armstrong(who couldn't stay away from devil movies remember"Race with the Devil"?)It's worth watching.

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).

Having been a fan of the delightfully decadent Martine Beswicke (née Beswick) for many years (ever since I first caught her in "Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde*), I've always wanted to see "Devil Dog" -- and it's odd that I would have missed it when it was first aired, because I would have been a hardcore TV-movie junkie at that young age. but miss it I did (must've been out trick- or-treating that night). I'm glad I waited-out the DVD (great print!) and finally got to see this TV-movie in pristine glory. Other Martine fans out there (you know who you are) will delight in the opening seven minutes or so. First, La Beswicke (in a spectacular set of high-heeled, ankle-strapped, f*ck-me pumps) along with a couple of her diabolical disciples stroll through a dog breeder's complex shopping for the right "Rosemary" to give birth to Satan's canine offspring. They're all dressed in black suits and drive a sinister, black station wagon (how cool is THAT!?!). There's a brief, but droll exchange with the breeder who wonders aloud what these big-ticket, officious types want with "Lady", a highly prized German Shepard puppy-machine he's used to pop out blue-ribbon winning litters in the past (only the best for the Prince of Darkness, you know...). Martine sets him straight in her characteristically exotic line delivery, "we're NOT adopting a CHILD, you know!..." Could this be a public service announcement for a PETA ad campaign? But I digress...Cut to a close up of what has to be one of the neatest Satanic portraits I've ever seen. The horned Master is rendered in shades of pea-soup green with a snake coiled around him. Could this be an episode of "Night Gallery"???Pull back to find the enormous painting (which I wish I HAD!) hanging above an altar in a barn where Ms. Beswicke, in red robes, is conducting a black mass. Pull back further to reveal a pentagram in a circle drawn in the ground, where "Lady" the pooch is leashed to a stake. Martine makes some invocations and tosses some "thing" into the space between her and the dog which explodes on contact with the ground (ooh! ahh! Special Effects!). The sparkler spooks the dog, naturally, and all you can feel is compassion for the canine (oh, poor doggy!). We get some great close-ups of Martine, who looks fabulous, btw, and deserves much credit for managing to recite all the dialog with a straight face. Nobody quite does "evil" like Ms. Beswicke; she really gets into the part and seems to relish it (atta girl!).Mention must be made of Martine's purple-clad coven, who manage to recite back all the mumbo-jumbo she's been saying (which indeed must have taken some bit of rehearsal). A windstorm begins, heralding the appearance of The Black Prince (or his dog, anyhow). We get another giggle-inducing moment when the camera cuts to one of Martine's minions who has chosen to attend the function in his sunglasses. The tension mounts. As credits announce the production, Martine swoops down from her altar and escorts her denizens outside the barn, leaving "Lady" tied to a stake in the middle of the pentagram (presumably to await impregnation). Soon a huge shadow of a dog passes over them all, and into the barn. Martine shuts the doors and throws a captivating smile (as her credit appears). What goes on inside is merely hinted at, but WE KNOW, don't we...!?!?!?!Later we learn it is the big, black station wagon that kills the Barry family dog which means they'll be in the market for a replacement (hasn't anyone heard of having more than one dog at a time? Oh well...). A terrific actor (Victor Jory?) portrays the devil-worshiper/grocer-on-wheels who just "happens" to show up outside the door of the Barry family and bestow on them the prize puppy of "Lady"s litter. He leers malevolently at Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann (the Barry family children) like a gleeful child molester turned loose in an orphanage, offering them first ripe, red apples (shades of Snow White!) and then a puppy from the litter of a rather worn-out looking "Lady" which he just happens to be carting around in the back of his awning-draped caravan. There are so many "warning" messages in this film! Don't sell dogs to satanists! Don't let your children near leering mobile grocers! Don't adopt puppies from leering mobile grocers who may be satanists!, etc. But it's the innocent, gullible Carter-era of the 1970s and none of these folks have a clue about what's going to happen to them...Other reviewers have focused on what comes next, so I'll spare you my interpretation, except to point out that the wallpaper in the Barry household (look at the dining room and the kitchen, for example) is far scarier than anything that "Lucky" the adopted spawn of Satan can conjure up. Rent (or purchase) at once for a night of fun with friends. Pair this up with Susan Lucci's dreadful demonic health-spa film, "Invitation To Hell" or possibly another canine car-wreck like "Won Ton Ton: The Dog That Saved Hollywood" (if you can even find a copy!). Keep the popcorn flowing!