Review contains a few spoilers.Just about everybody in this film is good to excellent especially Lorretta Swit (of TV's Mash--see my review on that show). The action sequences when hoods come on the motor home while its moving and unsuccessfully try to destroy it are sensibly filmed and well-crafted. All that ruins this film is Lara Parker's terrible performance as Peter Fonda's wife. She makes 100% amateurish, lousy, overblown faces trying to act scared. Swit on the other hand makes perfect countenance in every minute she acts frightened. Swit proves totally that Parker is a terrible actress. Maybe,say, Susan Strasberg should have had Parker's role. Or maybe Swit's character could have been the sole wife in the motor home. Parker was such a mistake in this film!

Released in 1975, "Race with the Devil" stars Peter Fonda, Lara Parker, Warren Oates and Loretta Swit as two couples harassed in their RV by a group of Satanists in central Texas after accidentally witnessing a sacrificial murder.This is a decent horror/thriller with quite a bit of action, mostly of the car-chase variety, but it's held back by its lack of depth and routine style. There's a secret group of Satanists in central Texas and they seem to be everywhere and COULD be anyone, even the sheriff and his deputies, but this is the extent of the film's depth. In one sense there's nothing wrong with this approach because there are serious Satanists out there and some of them have been known to engage in human sacrifice; Adolfo Constanzo's Mexican cult in the late 80s is a good example (for which the 2007 movie "Borderland" is loosely based). Satanists and human sacrifice have been around for centuries. So it's a great story idea, but it's necessary to add meat to the bones, so to speak, to maintain the viewer's interest. If the filmmakers can't do this then they have to make up for it with exceptional thrills. While there are thrills in "Race with the Devil" they're rather pedestrian and on the level of the average 70's TV movie. Speaking of which, more than anything else "Race with the Devil" comes across as a prosaic made-for-TV movie. Still, it's worth catching (or owning) if you like the stars and the subgenre, just don't expect anything exceptional.The movie runs 88 minutes and was shot in areas West of San Antonio, Texas.GRADE: C+

I saw this movie in a walk-in theater with my dad when it came out. I really liked it, and I was always a horror movie fan since then. Lara Parker, from Dark Shadows, was a face I really didn't recognize until years later, after watching the movie again. Loretta Swit, from "MASH"? I think this was before "MASH", if not at the very beginning. Peter Fonda was already a star, and my dad thought the man was shitting gold bricks! If they ever did a remake, I'd suggest the actor (hell...he's Goldburg, Goldblum, or something like that) as the Warren Oates character. But, I don't think there's even a remake working for this one yet. As simply done as this movie was, I think "they" might want to use too many special effects, CGI, etc....If they do, I suggest something: Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Peter Fonda, Lara Parker, Warren Oates, & Loretta Switt star in this supernatural hybrid horror/chase picture about two couples taking a trip in their RV from Texas to Colorado when they accidentally come upon a group of Satanists whose human sacrifice they interrupt. In retaliation, they spend the duration of the film chasing them down, in an effort to silence them.Though featuring a good cast and direction, and is reasonably exciting, this film has too many loose ends/story loopholes to succeed. Exactly why the devil cult is so determined to kill them, no matter how many of their own die in the process, especially when, since they're so secretive, and have already covered their tracks well, it doesn't seem justified, is a real mystery. Then of course is the revelation of exactly how big this cult is, that leads to the gut-wrenching finale, which defies credibility.("Rosemary's Baby' again an influence!) Not bad really, film is watchable(needs a stronger script), just don't think about the logic too much(like I did!)