Race with the Devil

This novel fusion of car-chase film and spooky horror became a surprise box-office hit in 1975. The story begins with car enthusiasts Frank (Warren Oates) and Roger (Peter Fonda) taking their wives, Kelly (Lara Parker) and Alice (Loretta Swit), on a vacation in a recreational vehicle. Their camping trip goes horribly awry when Frank and Roger accidentally stumble upon a group of hooded cultists committing a human sacrifice. The cultists give chase and the two couples barely escape with their lives. They go to the local police for help, but the officers can find no evidence to back up the story and send the two couples on their way. As they try to continue their vacation, strange events continue to occur that culminate in four protagonists and their cultist tormentors having a brutal automotive showdown on the open road. The end result of all this genre-hopping suffers from a lightweight approach that downplays the story's darker and more interesting elements, but still manages to deliver plentiful action and a few genuine chills. As a result, Race With the Devil became an unexpected success for 20th Century Fox and remains something of a cult favorite.



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