DEVIL'S PARTNER is a forgotten little American horror flick that looks and feels like a contemporary western with a few horror touches added to the mix. I'd never heard of it before I sat down to watch it, and while it's certainly no classic, it's an adequate time waster that's difficult to dislike. The film was shot by TV director Charles Rondeau who creates a cosy atmosphere despite all the supposed horror going on.The story is about a guy who makes a Faustian pact with the devil for eternal youth. There are shades of Dorian Gray here along with all the old-time deal-with-the-devil movies of the 1940s. Unfortunately youth isn't enough for this guy and he also enlists the black arts to help bump off anyone who opposes him. There are some cheesy animal attack scenes mixed in but most of the film concentrates on the resolutely dull heroic characters trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. Again, no classic, but this is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type movie.

An old guy seemingly dies on his farm in the small town of Furnace Flats and soon after, his nephew, Nick Richards arrives. Richards affects a suave and charming, but rather slimy, presence, as he seemingly attempts to fit into the small town. But soon after his arrival, unexplained attacks by animals and mysterious deaths plague this little one-horse-town.Old man has really made some sort of deal with the devil for eternal youth, and is passing himself off his own nephew, and using Satanic magick to exact revenge on the townspeople. He shows another old goat, a wino, his secret to eternal youth and he panics and runs--- so Richards uses magick to cause the wino's death by horse-trampling. Towards the end, shapeshifting also works into its strange-as-hell story in ways which are never fully explained. Film has atmosphere and suspense, the dime-store sets and lighting and no-name actors all add to its overall creepy feeling, but also a bit more violence, especially towards animals, than can be expected in an old Z-movie like this, which makes it a bit difficult to watch at times, but perhaps that was the intention. Bizarre music score, too.**1/2 out of ****

by the comments on this page, i feel the need to clarify a misconception. The old man never actually died, on his pact with the devil, he was given a new restored life and youth. This being the reason for why he digresses to his elder state, sometimes when at his shack. Keep in mind the whole thing was simply to get revenge on the town people, which he would not be able to do as a crippled old man. He faked his own death, and simply invented being the nephew of the old man in order to avoid suspicion and explain why a young man now lives and owns the land. On the final scene, where he dies, his body returns to the old man appearance and then dies.

If you're going to do a horror movie, you need to establish the rules a bit. At no time did I ever really understand what this guy was up to. What sort of pact did he make and why did he act the way he did after the pact? An old hermit makes a deal with the devil using goats blood and asks for some time to be something different. He comes back as a young handsome man, but then he hangs around the same town, working in a gas station, hurting people who may find out about him. He falls in love with a young woman who is engaged to be married. He attacks here fiancée and moves in. The film becomes empty and meaningless at times. There's a scene where the man transforms himself into a horse and kills an old wino. Why? Just to see if he can do it. Then there's a long explanation from a witness when we already know what happened. It's as if they needed a few more minutes of film to make a feature length film. There are more questions than answers. That's the problem.