Devil Times Five
The silence of the snowy forest is broken by the sniping of the unhappy families at the winter retreat of real estate developer Papa Doc’s chalet above Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains, he and his conniving trophy wife Lovely joined by browbeaten associate Harvey and his shrewish drunken wife Ruth, to be joined by Papa Doc’s daughter Julie and her boyfriend, Rick, another colleague but less concerned with bowing to his overbearing boss.
Lovely anything but, she cruelly taunts the childish caretaker Ralph, prompting a fight with Julie, but unexpected distraction comes in the form of four young children found in the wine cellar, David, Moe, Susan and Brian, watched over by Sister Hannah, a novice nun, their camper van having overturned on the icy roads and their guardian believed to have been killed, though in fact Doctor Brown has followed their trail in the snow, aware of the danger his aberrant and absent charges pose.
Shot in the same area as gave birth to Creature from the Black Lagoon, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Edge of the Axe and more recently Strange Harvest, Devil Times Five was originally released in 1974, directed by Sean MacGregor with uncredited contributions from David Sheldon from a script by Sandra Lee Blowitz and John Durren who also plays Ralph, object of ridicule and torment, the production possibly unable to find anyone else who would take the degrading role.
Known variously in its history as PeopleToys, The Horrible House on the Hill and the simple but aptly descriptive Tantrums, Devil Times Five is a “killer child” movie with little complexity or elucidation given to the background of the diminutive psychopaths played by real-life brother and sister Leif Garrett and Dawn Lyn, Tia Thompson, Tierre Turner and Gail Smale, yet remains oddly fascinating despite its shortcomings, created with an eye on efficiency rather than panache but with the ensemble giving more than the script and thin premise warrants.
The behaviour of the adults – Western star Gene Evans, Carolyn Stellar (mother of Garrett and Lyn), The Dukes of Hazzard‘s Sorrell Booke, Will & Grace‘s Shelley Morrison, Joan McCall and Taylor Lacher – by no means more mature though more self-destructive than homicidal, they are on the whole disinclined towards their unexpected charges, caught up in their own problems and unsure how to negotiate with traumatised children then faced with the unthinkable, that the accidents since their appearance were not accidental.
Restored in 4K from the original 35mm negative and presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the new edition of Devil Times Five from 88 Films is supported by an archive and a newly recorded audio commentary, an archive featurette with actors Turner, McCall, Lyn, co-director Sheldon and producer Michael Blowitz, interviews, the theatrical trailer, a reversible Tantrums sleeve and an alternative title sequence.
Devil Times Five will be available on Blu-ray from 88 Films from Monday 26th January
