Devonsville grocery store owner Walter Gibbs kills his sick wife, thus invoking the spirits of three women who were executed as witches three hundred years earlier. When the town's newest arrivals - teacher Jenny (Suzanna Love), environmentalist Chris (Mary Walden) and DJ Monica (Deanna Haas) - upset the locals with their progressive feminist thinking, the superstitious menfolk begin to believe that the women are the reincarnations of the long-dead witches.Ulli Lommel is the man responsible for the atrocious Boogeyman II (1983), but his next film, The Devonsville Terror (also '83), is surprisingly fun. The premise is trite, and the slow-burn approach might be off-putting to some, but the film is atmospheric, well acted and actually makes sense. It also features a solid supporting turn from Donald Pleasence as the town's doctor, some gratuitous nudity, and is top and tailed by gnarly violence, starting with the three executions - the first woman is eaten alive by pigs, the second is rolled down a hill strapped to a flaming cartwheel, and the third is burnt at the stake - and ending with some satisfying splatter - an axe in the head, an exploding noggin, and a Raiders of the Lost Ark style melting face - all of which goes to make it a more than reasonable time-waster.6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

This movie was nothing but feminist man-bashing from start to finish.Almost every misandric feminist cliché you could think of was in here. Every "independent" woman in the story becomes the target of the hatred of the men of Devonsville because she refuses to sleep with them. Every woman is an innocent lamb, trying to free herself from the shackles of servitude to her patriarchal oppressors in order to live a life of pure elation with her sisters, while nearly every man is a misogynist creep and potential rapist. The men deride the women who turn down their advances as lesbians. God, we are told, was a woman, until those nasty male supremacist monotheists came along and forced Judeo-Christianity on everyone. The witch hunts were carried out by cruel, sadistic men who had had their frail egos wounded by non-conformist women who wouldn't sleep with them.Interestingly, all this didn't stop the director from including several gratuitous shots of his wife's breasts. Before watching this, I had no idea that it was necessary to take one's shirt off to do past life regression. Sex sells everything, I guess, including feminist propaganda films.The movie had a rather different effect on me than what I imagine the writers intended, because I actually found myself cheering when the men tied the feminist radio talk show host to the back of a truck and dragged her to death.Bad acting and bad special effects throughout with an ending ripped-off from Raiders of the Lost Ark.About the only redeeming thing about this movie was that some of the outdoor photography was nice (though it might've been stock footage, for all I know).

Weak, ponderous cheap-jack horror by Ulli Lommel that never really gets going and ends up with so many holes, unexplained details that only confuse and make things plod from one disconnected scene to another. So many questions, very little answers. The sloppy execution doesn't fair up any better, but the decent concept was never entirely realised and given minor treatment. Gladly there's an unpleasant side cooking up some hokey low-budget make-up FX with icky and over-the-top side-effects. Add a dash of gratuitous topless nudity too. There's an effectively bloody gore scene or two (and laser eyes?!) at the end, but it's all soon but forgotten with an uninspired ending. Watch as an memorizing Donald Pleasance slums about in a role, which he spends most of the time picking out maggots from his arm (due to a witch's curse) or hypnotizing patients to recall those good old times of witch-burning in Devonsville to hopefully rid him of this curse. The obscure superstitious framework manages to paint all shades of greys and help settle in a disquieting atmospheric tone. The rural country setting oozes organic creepiness and an ominously crawling score is another added addition. The alluring Suzanna Love is nothing more than sound and others such as Robert Walker and Paul Wilson are droningly okay. Far from terrible, just unwarrantably stilted modern-day (although there's reminiscent flashbacks of the past that we learn that there just might be a little more to the new teacher in town) witchcraft nonsense.

Typically I dislike films about witches (with the exception of Dario Argento's horror classic Suspiria), but The Devonsville Terror is quite amusing. The script is disastrous, the performances are over-acted, and the special effects are anything but special. The plot is devoid of any significant twists or surprises. The audience anticipates the impending events faster than do the characters, and the conclusion is accomplished suddenly and sloppily. However, I can't deny that this film makes me curiously happy when I watch it. Something about the lighting and overall appearance of the film. The soundtrack is also quite good, and gives the film an eerie quality. I particularly like the scene where Walter Gibbs' face melts (the special effects are primitive but cleverly done using wax melting in time-lapse). That scene always gives me the creeps. The storyline, despite its uncreative, allows the characters to really show their true colors. Walter Gibbs' character specifically is quite gross, and almost matches with his looks. A film worth trying, and for those who are skeptical, Donald Pleasence of John Carpenter's Halloween also stars.