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Review by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
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USA Release: Sept. 1961 Huron Productions, The Film Group Ratings: USA: N/A |
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We start with a dirt farm, a few goats, an old man with wild hair and one foot in the grave, painfully picking up a baby goat, taking it inside his house and killing it. Not to eat, instead he kicks a throw rug away (too bad, it really tied the room together), and uses the baby goat blood to make a summoning circle. Not all summoning circles are pentacles - five pointed stars - when it comes to summoning the devil it's the thought that counts!
The man makes a contract with the devil so he can return to life. And do what, pray tell? What will he do the second time that he didn't screw up the first time? Judging by his appearance and behavior, he never got his act together.
However, the Devil takes pity on him and signs the contract as the old fart dies.
Next we see a bus driving on quite the long bridge over water. Soon that bus is driving into the desert. Make all of the analogies you will but it winds up in a godforsaken town called, of all things, Furnace Flats.
By god! Furnace Flats! Come for the tank of gasoline, stay until we chase you out!
And we'd be doing you a favor!
Anywho, a 30-ish man all executive suit and debonair - out of place as all get out in a dump like Furnace Flats - steps off the bus looking as fresh as an Irish Spring shower, ready for that first day of his white collar job. He's a young man on the go, in a hurry, and the Furnace Flats townsfolk no doubt look at him like "Wuddafuh...?"
The man's name is Nick Richards (Ed Nelson: ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN, THE BRAIN EATERS, TEENAGE CAVE MAN, THE CRY BABY KILLER, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, SHE GODS OF SHARK REEF, A BUCKET OF BLOOD, Boris Karloff's THRILLER [TV], THE SCREAMING WOMAN, THE BONEYARD). He drops by the local diner for some coffee. The much older woman tending the counter, Ida (Claire Carleton) takes an instant glinty-eyed lust to him and gets all flirty. When she asks if he's, you know, passing through or staying in town (hint, hint), Nick says it depends. He's looking for his Uncle, Pete Jensen (also played by Ed Nelson - Producer Roger Corman was cheap.).
GASP!
There's an instant frost in the air. Clearly everyone knows of Pete Jensen, and not in a good way. Ida demands to know what Nick wants with Pete.
"I'm his nephew."
GASP!
The menfolk in the diner clear out and within seconds two cops stumble in, nearly pushing each other through the door. Sheriff Tom Fuller (Spencer Carlise) wants to take Nick down to the station. They can, you know, talk better there.
Of course, everybody knows that Police stations are excellent places for conversation. Why, down at a police station, conversing in private with two armed and threatening officers, people wind up telling cops things they would never tell their best friend.
Nick goes with them (he has a choice?), and the Furnace Flat cops don't know what to make of him. He seems like a nice enough guy but holy shit! He's related to old Pete Jensen!
Okay, so what's wrong with Pete Jensen?
Well, he's dead for one. A mysterious death. It ain't natural how old Pete died though it couldn't happen to a nicer guy, IF you get my drift.
Nick knows his uncle is dead, that's why he's there. He's Pete's last living relative.
The Sheriff gives Nick a box of Pete's things. On top is a ratty old goat skin. When Nick hold it up, the words, I Give My Soul For 2 Years, appears then vanishes. Nobody sees it but Nick. Along with Pete's signature, the undersigned is Jezzer Hora. Apparently Jezzer is one of the aliases of Satan.
Come to think of it, so is Nick.
Doc Lucas (Edgar Buchanan) comes in, sweating like a pig, and gets introduced to Nick. Everybody sweats in Furnace Flats, New Mexico: It's summertime and hot. In fact, the only one not sweating is Nick. Mighty peculiar that.
Small talk is made then Nick wants to see his Uncle's old homestead.
TRIVIA The newly restored Film Masters Special Edition is the best visual and audio this movie ever had in the home market. It's paired with a second disc of the inexplicably popular CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. Both come in their original theatrical version as well as their TV (4:3) version and both discs are 4K restorations from the original 35MM archival elements. What chiefly sets these blurays apart, in my opinion, is the care that Film Masters took to lavish disc extras on for both movies. This includes an exclusive interview with Producer Roger Corman, audio commentaries, and even restoration of the original movie trailers. Also included is a 12 page glossy full color booklet which tells you all you probably wanted to know about both movies. |
Which looks like crap!
Nick starts making himself comfortable in the filthy old shack. He checks to see that the Summoning Circle is still there - that alone should tell you that Nick is Pete come back as a younger man.
A woman opens the door without knocking, which sets Nick aflame (not literally) and in his threatening anger he finds out that she's Nell Lucas (Jean Allison), daughter of Doc Lucas. She buys the goat milk from old Pete, which is how he made a little money, because Doc Lucas uses the goat milk for his tuberculosis patients.
The transition from Pete to Nick seems to make his memories a little wobbly at first (or maybe I'm being generous to the writers?), but he's soon on his feet and doing what he came back to do. See, everyone has a sour opinion of the late Pete Jensen, who went out of his way to be a salty pain in the ass to everyone except Nell.
Pete was always kind to Nell.
Now he's a handsome devil and her age! But to get her, Nick has to go on a killing spree for Satan Jezzer, and he does this with "magiks"! From here on in its all Woo-woo over the circle and mysterious deaths that neither Doc Lucas or Sheriff Fuller can explain. Yet ain't it odd how these strange happenings didn't begin until that nice Richards fella came to town? Hmm...
No, wait. It began with the mysterious death of old Pete. That's what brought that nice Nick here in the first place.
Oh yeah, that's right. Hmm...
Ol Doc is no fool, he also notices how Nick cottons to his daughter Nell. Doc Lucas doesn't appreciate all Nick's cotton, what with her being engaged and not getting any younger. But even in a bone dry fill 'r up stop like Furnace Flats, Doc has other fish to fry, what with all the folks droppin' like parched flies.
The stone in Nick's shoe is in getting rid of Nell's fiance, David Simpson (Richard Crane: MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, THE NEANDERTHAL MAN, COMMANDO CODY: SKY MARSHALLS OF THE UNIVERSE [TV], ROCKY JONES: SPACE RANGER [TV - freakin' Rocky Jones himself!], THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, HOUSE OF THE DAMNED). Nick does his magik over and over, tries and tries and, though there's lots of wounding and he's murdering poor David's self-esteem, that guy just won't die!
The story by Stanley Clements and Laura Jean Mathews (the first and only screenwriter credit for the both of them), pace, and characterizations are as pedestrian as anything and THE DEVIL'S PARTNER plays like a mildly sinister episode of the old Andy Griffith Show. It feels like Director Charles R. Rondeau didn't make an effort but treated this like he was a cheap hired hand only there to collect a paycheck (Charlie had a long, though lackluster career, as a walk-on TV episodic Director for hire). All of which can't be blamed on Corman's budget, as at the same time, Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE was delivering the shivers each week with far less budget and less than 30 minutes to tell the story!
Two Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2024 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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