The Demon Lover (1977)

   
Produced, Written & Directed by: Donald G. Jackson & Jerry Younkins

Starring:

Christmas Robbins .... Laval Blessing
Tom Hutton .... Detective Tom Frazetta
.... Damian
David Howard .... Charles Wrightson
Phil Foreman .... Alex Redondo
Ron Hiveley .... Paul Foster
Linda Conrad .... Elaine Ormsby
Susan Bullen .... Susan Ackerman

Special Appearance:

Gunnar Hansen .... Prof. Peckinpah

Release Date: Theatrical: October, 1977

 

Rating:

 

A group of teenagers hanging around a graveyard and partying with a satanic priest named Laval Blessing (Christmas Robbins) gets more than what they bargain for when they become interested in his occult as he summons a Demon from hell to put deadly curses on them all.

 

We spot some hard to see footage of a woman tossing and turning while sleeping in a bed at night as well as the lead character Laval Blessing doing a demonic curse in his ceremonial room as this looked somewhat off and cheesy to watch but it still grabs your attention a bit to wonder on what's going to happen. Yet we see this young lady running away in the wooded night which also looked hard to watch due to no lighting or very little due to the lack of a budget that this film carried. This seemed quite pointless to watch but it does look a bit neat when we spot a phony looking demonic hand dragging her away which is an impressive start for an independent horror film such as this one but don't hold your breath for a fun horror film just yet.
There's an overly long partying scene that involved people interested in the occult as well as certain goth looking types that were dorky like dancing as this moment looked too hard to be taken seriously. I just was thinking to myself that this is an excuse to kill time with the ridiculous conversations that we saw happening here.
We spot an artsy moment with Laval doing a ceremony with a stripped woman lying near his pentagram as there's good cheesy shots on this as well as fog surrounding all of this. It can be pleasing at times for fans who enjoy cheesy horror films. It doesn't look all that strongly done though.
There's a moment with Laval pitting a victim for his ceremony and a backshot of the Demon about to do this person in which looked terribly trashy and non effective like it was supposed to have been. It totally looked like someone wearing a cheaply type of costume but this was only the backside of this demon as later on we see the front side in other spots of the film which looked a bit better.
In another moment we spot trashy camera shots looking at a dead body as well as people's reactions spotting this in the woods as there's awful writing and the reactions looked terribly amateurish too.
We spot a situation involving Detective Tom Frazetta acting sarcastic querstioning a teenage girl named Susan at her workplace about the party they had as these moments looked incredibly lame to watch and uninspired. Stale scene's at it's worst.
We also spot a moment when Susan is driving at night in her car and someone is in the road and she tries to slam on the brakes which don't work due to Laval's black magic in which all of this looked way too set out and looks terribly phony especially with this victim being run over. Yet we do have some cheesy amusing shots on the Demon appearing although the costume looked a bit phony but can be a mild pleaser in this scene.
We also have a situation with Tom questioning Laval about the cases. Some of the camera shots looked good but the discussions were way too over the top when they were supposed to be seriously done which shows yet more amateurish timing.
We spot some intense moments with Paul Foster and his gang of people trying to bust in and put an end to Laval's doings but their fights looked too hokey as well as moments when they are in a tranc eto kill one another as the killings looked incredibly phony while watching all of this due to a lack of budget to make any of the moments look graphic while doing all of this. We even spot a nerdy one named Charles Wrightson trying to fight from Laval or the Demon's power which was laughable and in a bad way.
Bottom line is that this movie is so terrible and unscary and made on a terrible budget. Looks like one of those trashy B-movies that was played at obscure drive in's back in the days. I can see why this one was a hard one to come by and almost unheard of. Has the odd fun cheesy moments like mentioned but that's nothing to brag about with all thew corny moments that we spot here. This film is not meant to be taken seriously and looked like it was made by a bunch of film students just learning the ropes and getting bad grades. You're not missing out much on this one.

The acting is really bad and full of virtual unknowns whom were probably friends of the filmmakers. Christmas Robbins (Laval Blessing) seeemed to really try to do his cult ceremony with full force but comes off as a total amateur instead. Seemed to show an okay redneck attitude at first while being questioned but yet he seems to act a bit silly within this. His blocking when he's fighting is also very off and looked sloppily done especially when he does his martial arts in a scene.
Tom Hutton (Detective Tom Frazetta) was laughable in every way and in a terrible way I'm meaning as he tries to act as someone whom is aggressive and doesn't cut it at all. He can't study this role in any match or form. There's a brief scene when he starts questioning someone in a gruff way which almost does the trick only to slide down a great deal by not taking this challenge on. He was in a serious need of acting lessons. Was way too goofy and didn't really have the right looks either.
(Damian) tried to act sharp with his behavior by getting cross or aggressive in which he speaks clearly but yet was over the top like many of the other cast members mentioned here. He had th right looks but that's about it as he can't get into his character at all in any life or form. His energy was lacking in certain spots and brought to a slight hype for a bit in others.
David Howard
(Charles Wrightson) Man oh man was this dude the worst of the whole cast. He looked so nerdy and short as well as his geeky speaking when acting scared or aggressions really came across as truly annoying. He should've worked as a clown at a circus. Not to be in a horror film by any means. He was a real joke and can't get into anything right.
Ron Hiveley (Paul Foster) totally looked like the legendary of weirdo rock Frank Zappa as he really came across onto the camera with this look. However was a complete goofball when partying with his hyperactive behavior. Also was too much when he acts obnoxious and was unconvincing within all of this. He wasn't as bad as the rest of them but still pretty bad regardless.
Gunnar Hansen
(Prof. Peckinpah) never had lines as Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre but came across as perfectly menacing but portrays a different role in this one although his part was under 3 minutes long and boy is he stiff in his lines and can't prove to become a worthy character actor at all. Even his performance wasn't worth watching in the film and can be easily forgotten too. At least it was good to see his face and not a mask.

A fully nude woman from top to bottom is revealed during a cult ceremony.

Many bloodsheds here and there like someone being hit by a car etc.
An arrow is shot in someone's crotch
Axe is impaled in someone's back.
The gore all looked pretty phony.

Alot of toned out synthesizer was used in this film which sounded just as bad as the picture looked for the most part but yet some sounded quite effective for the horrific moments as it stands out nicely. So not all sounded too terrible. There's also some tapping and string plucking sounds as it was on a half effort playing throughout certain scene's. Also we hear some clear instrumental disco music for the party scene's as well as the closing credits as this seemed to sound a bit better but nothing to brag about either. Plus there's the odd metal clanging sounds as it is similar to what you's hear in Texas Chainsaw Massacre and has a nice low budget horror vibe to this as this was one of the only other sounds that was effective along with echoey sounds which was cheesily entertaining. All of this was done by Don Gutz and Jerry Skolasinski