mark.waltz
What on paper might have seemed like a good idea for a television series fortunately never made it that far, possibly playing in some second rate movie theater as part of a double bill with another piece of schlock. The premise has Satan himself (Lon Chaney Jr., that brilliant thespian of 1950's and 60's horror crap) sending the latest arrival in Hell back to earth to bring him more souls and ultimately go back one last time with the plan of obtaining more room, since hell is obviously running out. Looking like your local garbage man or mail deliverer, Chaney speaks his lines with an eternal grin, like the cat who swallowed tweetie bird with one gulp, seeming more like the prince of annoyance than the prince of darkness. The individual segments when Chaney isn't on actually rise this film's ratings up a bit and show a bit of creativity.First, there's a segment involving a camera man who is being stalked by a picture of a mysterious house with a woman he is having a strange affair with seemingly getting closer and closer. When she does appear, she's strangely obsessed, but as she realizes that he's getting nuttier and nuttier by her presence, she prepares to go. Why this premise would lead him to a life of damnation makes no sense, but the plot line surrounding her picture shows that at least someone was thinking simply beyond the shock value of having a film of people being damned.Next, is a tragic story, quite sad actually, concerning the discovery of a girl from millenniums in time found in a block of ice in a cave, and the efforts of a love-starved man to rescue her from her icy tomb. Finally, there's the story of a man who learns that he is to be murdered by a gypsy fortune teller at midnight and his efforts to prevent it from happening. Each incident has its own level of spookiness and certainly are better than any of the segments which feature Chaney at his most horrible. Chaney does of course get a twist at the end, and he overacts with relish. Filmed very cheaply, this has moments of gripping fear, but not everybody will be taken with the idea of Satan using an innocent woman (named Satana, no less...) to bring him more souls pretty much against her will.
gavin6942
The devil (Lon Chaney) is the host of a three-part film wherein we get some short tales of evil... people who will soon be joining the devil and his assistant Satanya in heck. The tales include a frozen woman, a murderous photographer, a fortune teller and some other stuff.Why am i being vague? Because, frankly, this film was a pile of rubbish. It isn't even a real film but a compilation of three episodes of some older Swedish show. I mean, it's not bad, the stories are decent... but they're over a decade old. So yeah, you take a decade old television show and try to pass it off as a motion picture... you're going to fail.The jacket that came with the movie also lied to me, saying the plot revolved around a plan to pass around the instructions of a nuclear weapon. That is not even in the film until the end and we never see where it goes... so that's such a misleading thing. I kind of wanted to know, but I guess I won't. And Lon Chaney... I mean, he's awesome, but this doesn't really showcase his skills at all... please, if you haven't, see "Spider Baby".
kai ringler
I don't know why some people just don't like this film, i thought Lon Chaney Jr. was great in it; as the Devil, he sends a woman, Satanya to Earth to deliver objects to people he wants to see in hell, This movie was very creepy and entertaining, as well as engrossing. some people say they didn't like Chaney's face all bloated, so what, the acting was good, and he was very conniving as the Devil, I really didn't find too much wrong with the film except a couple of noticeable scenery that was obviously fake, but hey if that's all that's wrong with it then i have no problem with it. as far as taking the 3 installments from 13 demon st. i couldn't really tell. if they did it , then it was done very seamlessly. the movie reminds me of the old TV shows. Alfred Hitcock Presents. and Rod Sterling's .. The Twilight Zone.
Christian Farley (christiangfarley)
My wife gave me this video for Christmas 2004 and I was stunned by how awful the production was. I noticed in the first story the man who later played Sheriff Bridges in the Waltons, John Crawford. Neat story. Beautiful woman in the photo by the way. But what makes this a good "awful" film is the macabre appearance of Chaney Jr. as the devil. His face is bloated like Ted Kennedy's. Shame he wasted away in his later years. Crappy quality on the same DVD as Vincent Price's "SHOCK", but worth a look if you like old films that have never played on late night TV. Cheesy special effects abound in this, as well as over-acting. But what the hell? Just because a flick doesn't win an Oscar doesn't mean it isn't watchable.
AD
