This film is at times disturbing and well-shot and at others abysmally absurd and full of continuity issues. For its low budget - though it does have a cast with Sorrell Booke and Gene Evans and some other actors and actresses that have gone on to lucrative Hollywood careers(Leif Garrett comes to mind)- Devil Times Five has that creepy seventies horror film vibe going for it that makes it a treat to watch despite its many shortcomings. A group of mentally "acute" deadly child patients (5 of them) are freed when their van going to the mental institute crashes. They walk through the frozen, snow-covered wilderness with no food and little clothing yet fear not the winter chill. Soon they reach a very nice winter residence of one Papa Doc, his wife, his daughter and her boyfriend who works for Papa Doc,, the mentally slow caretaker, and Harvey Beckman who also works for Papa Doc with his drunken wife Ruth. Harvey Beckman apparently is a doctor at a sanatorium - one of the best - but he cannot see anything wrong when these children show up. He is so trustworthy that he turns his back on one with an ax. How did that work out for you Doc? Anyway, Beckman is played nicely by pre-Boss Hogg Sorrell Booke. The children soon invade the home and kill all of its inhabitants in a myriad of ways: death by drowning and piranha bites(yes, piranhas in this winter wonderland), death by being doused with flames and lit up like a Christmas tree, death bu a sharp branch impaling one from a kid on a swing, death by bear traps, death by hanging some guy looking at a generator but never showing us how that was even remotely possible, and finally death by a lance to the throat from a window closed mind you - a perfect throw through glass and all by a thirteen year old(or so). The first murder scene is done in a grainy, slow motion, black and white way which looks ludicrous and I had no idea what was going on. The rest of the murders are done at least in color though some suffer from the slow motion used again. Apparently there were two directors for this film and that leads to all kinds of continuity problems. That being said, the acting and atmosphere of this film are quite chilling. Unfortunately, some of these flaws seriously take away from the film for I found myself laughing at certain scenes for their idiocy. The kids are pretty decent performers and the older actors do nicely. The gals are attractive and Carolyn Stellar playing Lovely who likes anything with pants disrobes a couple times. She is the real life mother of two of the child actors - Leif Garrett and Dawn Lynn(who you may remember as Jodie Harper Douglas on My Three Sons - I knew I had seen her somewhere before!). I am sure it must be quite a treat when the three sit down and watch this movie together. All in all this is better than you might expect.

... there are reasons to love this film and reasons to hate it. Killer kids make for a splendid horror ingredient - most horror films use kids as characters placed in peril and not as the mischievous, cunning weasels that most are. That being said, this cult film, shows the kids gleefully killing adults by a number of methods - even by use of piranhas. However, like most cult films, there are moments that are handled quite unprofessionally. This film is great display of incompetence on the editors part. Although this film is set over the course of a couple days, there is no continuity, time frame wise. At one point in the film the sun is shining while moments later it is dark. The next scene, sun shining after darkness, makes the viewer feel as if we've been introduced to a new day, but we haven't. Also, the scene where Joan McCall sits beside her boyfriend on the kitchen floor is a classic display of editing ineptitude. While she is sitting next to her boyfriend, her father is killed outside, in a barn, but Joan is shown the entire time of her father's killing in the kitchen yet somehow knows that her father is dead without setting foot outside. There are things like this that don't entirely ruin the viewing experience to show you why this is of cult status.

VIOLENCE: $$$$ (You will get your money's worth! The kids are quite resourceful when it comes to killing folks. We have a fatal car accident, a hanging, a beating with the employ of various items found in a barn, a burning, a slit throat, a spear impalement and death by piranha. You won't be letdown in the violence and gore departments - if that is your thing).

STORY: $$ (The story is really quite weak. Five troubled kids survive a car accident and venture off to a secluded estate operated by the Naziesque Papa Doc (Gene Evans). With there innocent appearance, they weasel their way into the house and begin to systematically kill the residents).

NUDITY: $$$ (There is a love scene with Joan McCall and her boyfriend Rick - who shows quite a bit of man backside. Leif Garret's mother Carolyn Steller has a catfight with McCall in which her robe opens giving the viewer gratuitous nudity. We also get another look at M. Steller when she is the recipient of the piranha infested bathtub).

ACTING: $$$ (Nothing Oscar-worthy here by any means, but there are a few shining lights. The kids are led by Tierre Turner, who does a marvelous job as a military obsessed tot only being out-shined by Leif Garret's future drag-queen character. The three girl really didn't do that great of a job as the two boys clearly outshine them. The adults are led by Dukes Of Hazzard's Sorrell Booke, who plays Papa Doc's adviser, trying to get a promotion but unable to confront Papa Doc about the issue. Carolyn Steller is brilliant as the manipulating Lovely - she fits her name perfectly too).

Five little evil bastards escape a van crash that most assuredly would have killed them had they been normal children. After a little wandering the five find themselves at a remote chalet where three couples and a mentally challenged handyman (try figuring that one out) are spending time in yelling at each other and getting drunk. Sounds like most of my Christmas'. Soon the incompetent adults are dispatched by the little tykes deathtraps that never seem to fail followed by an annoying Pop Goes the Weasel score. Aren't you scared yet? Watch for the catfight when at the end Lovely's robe is only partially open then the next glimpse it is wide open exposing the only things worthy of notice in this film.

What a disaster of a movie! It's not without promise but this could have been done so much better. The editing is so poorly done that it is hard to know who certain people are in the film such as the mystery man that emerges from the van wreck. Was it a clown car for chrissakes? This is rated R and yet the death scenes make me wonder if the director decided to pull back on the gore. The five plus minute slo-mo black and white death scene is so painful to watch it defies belief that the director would stoop to this to extend the runtime. Leif Garrett's hairstyle changes inexplicably from a goofy wig to shoulder length from one scene to another. The children refer to a character twice that is no where to be found such as when David kills Harvey and blames it on this mystery "Greg". How can you be so lax? On top of that the murders are so lame that only an idiot would fall for them and yet this chalet is packed with idiots. One scene in particular has two of the kids drown Lovely in the tub while dropping Piranna fish in. The fact that these kids are exposed to the large breasted Carolyn Stellar to begin with is a little disturbing but the scene is followed with all the "devils" dragging her naked body through the snow. One more juicy tidbit is Carolyn Stellar is the real life mother of Leif Garrett and Dawn Lyn who plays Moe. One of the writers is John Durren who plays Ralph the retarded handyman (I wonder if he wrote this channeling his character?) who in a very cringe inducing scene is sexually harassed by Lovely. I would recommend seeing this once with a bunch of friends and adult libations just to laugh at the sheer silliness of this movie. Aren't "peopletoys" marital aide products?