Devil Dog:  Hound of Hell
 
When my Icons of Fright compatriot Mike Cucinotta first mentioned Zoltan:  Hound of Dracula a few weeks back, I thought he was talking about a different film.  After all, as a film reviewer for Icons, I’ve become good friends with what I call the Horror Movie Relocation Program, my title for horror flicks that, for one reason or another, go by more than one name.  When he informed me I was wrong, I knew I couldn’t escape reviewing both films.

Devil Dog begins with a group of Satan worshippers buying a German Shepherd, which they mate with Satan (apparently the Prince of Darkness can’t get a date himself?).  After Mike and Betty Barry find their own German Shepherd dead in the street, a Satanic peddler gives daughter Bonnie and son Charlie a puppy to replace the family pet.  When the Spanish housekeeper begins to suspect that Lucky the pooch may be more Devil than Dog, she dies mysteriously in flames.  Flash forward a year, and Lucky manages to exert his influence over the family and the neighborhood:  he transforms the kids and wife into soulless disciples;  kills several people in the neighborhood;  and, in a mind bending sequence, nearly forces Mike to run his hand into a lawn mower blade.
 
Regrettably, Lucky primarily does this by looking like a happy German Shepherd with a wagging tongue, and not at all like some demon spawn.  That is, until the filmmakers dress him up in feathers and horns in two key scenes;  though the intent was to toughen him up, the effect is absolutely laughable.  As the dog rarely appears on-screen (odd, considering the film’s title), the film follows Richard Crenna’s Mike as he attempts to vanquish the demon canine and save his family.  Crenna delivers a solid performance, despite the silly material and the sea of melodramatic actors around him.  He’s about the only competent element in Devil Dog.  But then again, this is a made-for-TV movie that stole its name from a Drake’s cake, and considered it a casting coup to pair the kids from Disney’s Witch Mountain series.  So this is probably what he should have expected.
 
Astonishingly, Devil Dog gets a 2-disc set.  There’s an audio interview in which director Curtis Harrington slams the movie.  “To the Devil a Dog” is a collection of interviews with producer Jerry Zeitman and actors Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann.  Though Zeitman is excited and thinks the project deserves some credence, these are some dull discussions.  Some trailers for Shriek Show films (but not this one) round things out.
 
1978 was a banner year for demonic hounds.  Ultimately, Devil Dog is superior to Zoltan because it’s got a slightly higher production value, and the pacing isn’t quite as torpid.  This doesn’t mean that Devil Dog’s a good movie.  Barring Crenna’s performance, it’s a silly affair that will elicit more laughs than screams, just as Zoltan will.  My advice to filmmakers:  Keep the Devil Dogs to the snack counter.
 
--Phil Fasso