I might be losing my marbles but I thoroughly enjoyed "Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell".

It's a silly story, not very suspenseful and it stays away from gore completely. Of course this is a TV movie so maybe I should have anticipated that. But you've gotta love the 70's. It was a time when talented people behind and in front of the camera accepted absurd projects and executed them with seriousness and passion.

Aside from some very bad special effects everything in "Devil Dog" is handled splendidly. Veteran actor Richard Crenna gives a very good central performance as the father who loses his family members to demonic possession thanks to Lucky, the new dog, who's an offspring of Satan.

Director Harrington does his job well, even conjuring up some eerie mood and atmosphere on occasion. Scriptwise this is decently written although I found the finale to be quite lacking.

If you're a fan of 1970's American horror film-making and keep in mind you're watching a relatively low-budget TV movie chances are you might be in for a surprise.

No, this hilariously horrible 70's made-for-TV horror clinker isn't about a deadly demonically possessed dessert cake. Still, this exceptionally awful, yet undeniably amusing and thus enjoyable cathode ray refuse reaches a breathtaking apex of absolute, unremitting silliness and atrociousness that's quite tasty in a so-execrable-it's-downright-awesome sort of way. Richard Crenna, looking haggard and possibly inebriated, and Yvette Mimieux, who acts as if she never got over the brutal rape she endured in "Jackson County Jail," sluggishly portray a disgustingly nice and respectable suburbanite couple whose quaint, dull, sleepy small town existence gets ripped asunder when the cute German Shepard they take in as the family pet turns out to be some ancient lethal evil spirit. Pretty soon Mimieux and her two repellently cutesy kids Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann (the psychic alien moppets from the Disney "Witch Mountain" pictures) are worshiping a crude crayon drawing of the nasty, ugly canine entity in the den. Boy, now doesn't that sound really scary and disturbing? Well, scary and disturbing this laughably ludicrous claptrap sure ain't, but it sure is funny, thanks to Curtis ("Night Tide") Harrington's hopelessly weak direction, cartoonish (not so) special effects, an almost painfully risible'n'ridiculous plot, and a game cast that struggles valiantly with the absurd story (besides the leads, both Martine Beswicke and R.G. Armstrong briefly pop up as members of a Satanic cult and Victor Jory has a nice cameo as a helpful Native American shaman). Favorite scene: the malicious Mephestophelion mutt puts the whammy on Crenna, practically forcing him to stick his hand into a wildly spinning lawnmower blade. While stuck-up snobby fright film fans may hold their noses at the perfectly putrid stench of this admittedly smelly schlock, devout TV trash lovers should deem this endearingly abominable offal the boob tube equivalent to Alpo.

1978 was the year of the evil dog in Hollywood. After all, the same year that brought us "Devil Dog" also brought us "Dracula's Dog"! However, in this latter case the dog isn't a vampire dog but was apparently the spawn of Satan's dog...and like thefan-2 points out, it's a bit like "Rosemary's Baby"!

When the film begins, some weirdos buy a showdog that is in season. Next, you see these same weirdos performing a demonic ceremony with their new pooch. Fortunately, the camera cuts away before the big impregnation scene! Next, one of the weirdos shows up in a nice residential neighborhood and gives two kids a puppy...and you can only assume it's from the litter with the showdog and the Devil Dog (or perhaps from an unholy coupling with Satan himself!).

At first, things seem okay. However, over time the nice family who adopts the doggy start to become a family of real jerks. First, the two kids become nasty brutes. Second, the wife becomes a cold- hearted nympho! The only one left who is normal is dad (Richard Crenna)...and he eventually realizes his family ain't normal! But is it too late for him to put a stop to all this...especially once people start dying...and, after his wife and kids become full- fledged members of Satan's army?!

Considering that this is NOT supposed to be great art and simply a silly horror film, it's a movie that you should cut some slack. Sure, it's silly...but it's not meant to be anything else. And, for an evil doggy film, it's actually pretty good...although the special effects near the end were pretty laughable!