D is for...

When you think of child actors, Leif Garret may not be the first to spring to mind. He made a name for himself through his singing career, as well as a number of film and television roles. Perhaps his strangest was in a film originally titled Peopletoys. The film, which eventually was re-titled Devil Times Five follows the exploits of a bus full of children, on their way to a mental institution naturally, who survive a crash. They make their way through the snowy mountains of somewhere until they find a group of adults vacationing in their lodge. The adults take the children in, and generally ignore them in favor of their petty arguments. This leaves the kids with plenty of time to indulge in their murderous deeds. One by one, the grown ups succumb to their traps.

Devil is a rough and gritty film. Though the violence is not as graphic as some of the other films of the period, it is shocking, never the less, to watch children kill people. The fact that each child is an archetype of cuteness (the young innocent girl, the cowboy loving boy, the flashy pompous child, and an albino nun..yeah, really) only adds to the horror. The movie, which was fairly low budget, holds up pretty well. Sound and picture are fine; the acting is actually pretty decent. I would expect no less from the child star, his mother, his sister, and the guy that played Boss Hog. If you like slashers from the 70's, and have a tendency to avoid day cares, then this is the film for you.

Posted in: Devil Times Five,Horror,Horror A To Z,Leif Garret,Peopletoys