What do you think? Did our heroes live or die...and how?
I say they lived. Frank and Roger's past competent behavior gives me hope. :) Also, if unrealistic stunts occurred more than once in this film, why can't they happen again??
Johnny Cash came in and started playing his song.
I think they all bit the dust.
Mommy to two little monsters
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Peter Fonda and co. all came out naked dancing to "Love Train". Everybody else joined in.
"All men are created evil"
They made toast.
"People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul" - C.G.Jung
No, the two ladies in the RV whipped up a Devil Food cake in the oven, they drank a little booze and had an orgy...
shareThey bite the dust, I am pretty sure about that. This movie was made at a time, when it was not too uncommon to let the "heroes" meet their fate, but of course leaving the ending open is still more effective.
I LOVE this little chiller, it is a KING OF THE B's!
Yeah they leave the ending open which was common for 70's horror movies. Most people will assume they died although I find it hard to believe they couldn't start up the motor home and drive out of there. The flames were not that high or dense. The cult probably blocked the dirt road anyway though.
share>>>although I find it hard to believe they couldn't start up the motor home and drive out of there. The flames were not that high or dense<<<
Yes, that could well be, but I don't believe it. The movie has a superb buildup, it already starts creepy (there is some air of creepiness, when Oates and Fonda drive around with their bikes pretty much in the beginning, out there in the nowhere, out there in the outback) and that creepiness gets more and more dense as the movie moves forward.
When I first saw this movie (and also on the 2 or 3 viewings that followed - I love to watch this every say 5 years) I had the impression of doomed people running away (literally: this is a superb mix in fact of hooror, thriller and wonderul road movie, a genre I dearly love) from some "fate": they were in the wrong place at the wrong time having seen something they should not have seen and from then on they had an uncalculable enemy behind them, one whose moves were unpredictable.
Now, of course they probably could have driven away, but is that likely ? And would "the enemy" have given up then ? The much I like Fonda and Oates (the guy simply rules, a hell of an actor - seen BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA ??) and although I would love them to get away, the build-up of the whole movie suggests a deadly ending. Now imagine them just starting the trailer and driving away (roadblock or no roadblock). Isn't that a "downer" ? After all this clever build-up they just start the engine and drive away ... middle in the night out in the nowhere ... that just seems too simple for all what has been going on, just too easy ... That is why I do not think this could be the most likely ending. A possible ending yes, but more likely is the deadly one (some deadly "ceremony", something too horrible to show and to even imagine; for me it is pretty clear they die, but how, that is even the more cruel question #).
I do agree that leaving their actual fate open is indeed a ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL and CLEVER TWIST, that is EXACTLY the ending this movie definitly has to have ! I mean, would that many people still remember it if it would have a standard ending ? Them all killed or whatever ? Nope, I bet it would not be remembered that much. But here we have a great movie alltogether with an ending hardly anybody, who has watched this at midnight (THIS is exactly the movie to watch between 00.00 and 01.30 !) will ever forget. Granted !
Another ending would still make this a great movie, but not one that would have some cult following already in circles of horror/road-movie/70ies-cinema-lovers (not one person of the many I ever hinted at this wonderful B was disappointed).
# side-remark: ever seen THE WICKER MAN ? This is a horror-cult-movie from the UK, but when they show the "ceremony" at the ending, the movie looses - at least for me - much of its power. It simply looks to "simple", too "normal", I for my part did expect something stronger (I don't know what, but I felt let down). Now THIS mistake is definitly avoided by Jack Starret's wonderful chiller. IF I would ever have (had) the chance to make a movie, something like this is what I would have loved to do (that's probably what Tarantino thought, when he watched stuff like this, but I am yet too old to change my profession, haha).
I have to disagree with you on "The Wicker man." I thought the ending was a great way to end the movie. I thought that the atmosphere {the sun slowly setting, the joy and singing by the cult as they burned the detective, him praying knowing he was about to die ect} made for a pretty strong conclusion. I only wish I didn't know how the movie ends before i saw it the first time but it was still disturbing.
As far as RFTD: Yes I agree with you that they likely died. Even had they driven out of there like I stated, the Cult wasn't ever going to give up. The probably would have followed them all the way to Amarillo Texas if necessary.
I suppose that I just would have liked to have seen more added to the ending. The end reminds me of "Rosemary's Baby's" ending where she picks up and hugs her baby after learning what is going on and it is assumed that she is going to raise it and probably join the Satanists. You don't really know for sure though because the movie just ends. Race for the Devil ends similarly.
However, like I said, this was the common style of 70's horror movie endings. Particularly those about the supernatural or psychos. "Alice Sweet Alice" is another example.
Hm, yes I know that my opinion on the WICKER MAN'S ending is unusual, but I was not too thrilled about it. Nice movie yes, a killer no. I also think it too much "upper class", pretentious somewhat. I like the down-to-earth little chiller. WICKER MAN was no big budget either, but it would have wanted to be. I don't see sth. like that in RACE WITH THE DEVIL (a cool title, btw): RACE is a dirty little cynical backwoods horror-thriller, not more, but damn, not less either! :-))
And yes, I also think they sure would have followed them, the movie just would have been longer (but ain't 90 minutes app. the ideal length anyway?).
Re ROSEMARY'S BABY I (again, sorry) consider this a little overhyped, again a good one, sure, but ain't Polanski always trying to give us something special, meaningful ? I saw this 20 years back, when I still was easier to impress, but I have never felt any urge to watch the 120 minutes again. Not bad, but no need to see it twice.
Man, ALICE SWEET ALICE sounds EXACTLY like the stuff I love ! And I do NOT know this movie !! Lovely reviews, chiller, B, wonderful ! I gotta see this! Hope it is out on DVD !! Thanx for the hint, mate! :-))
Yea it sounds like that you would Alice Sweet Alice. It is on cable in the states and I saw it for the first time a few months ago. It is sort of a trippy movie because of the way it was directed. There aren't any special effects but it was like they turned the audio way up when they filmed {If there is such a thing} so the actors sound loud in proportion to the rest of the movie. So the movie sort of jumps out at you. If that makes any sense.
Not the best horror movie I have ever seen but it is good. The killer is scary and creepy. Brooke Shield is in it early and was her first film appearance.
Yeeep, that is the stuff I love, indeed ! Not the polished faultless stuff, but the "minor achievement"!
They do so much "serial killer" stuff in Hollywwod today, I was even turned off by SURVEILLANCE, which has rather good critics. Good cast, good performances, but just "too good looking", "too perfect" and a too calculated off-the-main-road-story.
But a little chiller like ALICE, that could be a great thing (and the rave reviews and MANY of them ...!). I think I found something thanx to your help! I don't think this was ever dubbed in German, but I hope it is out on DVD in the USA (gotta read all the IMDB-comments on it these days).
Thanx a lot !!
You're mistaken about what Mia Farrow did at the end of "Rosemary's Baby." She never picks up her Devil-baby and hugs it. What she did do was to reach into the bassinet and adjust the baby's clothing, presumably around its throat, to make it more comfortable. The baby is never seen. But you are correct that she does look willing to accept the situation and go with the program.
shareThere were 2 endings for the movie...in one you don't see the baby, and in the second you do see it. I don't think she really "goes with the program"...but, as a mother, she feels that she must protect this child, from a purely hormonal instinct.
shareHoly *beep* The Wicker Man has the most memorable ending, possibly of all time? "Oh god, no!" Edwoodward Woodwardwood being carried to his death is compelling and fearfully real and will stay in my memory. The film is unique, and beautifully filmed...But this is not a review of The Wicker Man...No comparison - in artistic merit or quality, it towers over this offering. A fun movie, but offered very little new and there is good reason its another of the lost and forgotten.
shareEven if they had tried to drive away, I don't think they would have made it. They would be driving blind since their headlights were busted. That's why they pulled off the main road in the first place, because dusk was falling. All the witches would have to do is just shoot out the tires and immobilize the vehicle. And even if they managed to kill some of the witches with the shotgun, they probably would have run out of shells before the other side ran out of witches! I thought a witches coven was only supposed to have 13 people. There sure seemed to be a lot more of them than that.
shareThanks for the correction about Rosemary's baby. I thought she picked him up but i guess i was wrong. It has been a long time ago since I seen it last.
"Even if they had tried to drive away, I don't think they would have made it. They would be driving blind since their headlights were busted. That's why they pulled off the main road in the first place, because dusk was falling. All the witches would have to do is just shoot out the tires and immobilize the vehicle. And even if they managed to kill some of the witches with the shotgun, they probably would have run out of shells before the other side ran out of witches! I thought a witches coven was only supposed to have 13 people. There sure seemed to be a lot more of them than that."
I always assumed that they were a Satanic cult, not witches. I don't know very much about Witchcraft but I am pretty sure witches covens do not sacrifice people. They worship nature and do not kill living things including people. If someone wrongs them, they cast spells on them but they wouldn't dance around a fire and put a knife into a girl or kill a dog like that cult did in RWTD.
Technically you're quite right. Witches, or Wiccans as they prefer to be called, do not worship Satan or engage in human or animal sacrifice. However, this film, like many others of its kind, does not make any distinction between the two groups. For hundreds of years in popular culture and historiography they have been considered one and the same. There is a longstanding historical tradition in Western Christendom that identifies witches as Devil-worshippers. It goes back to medieval Europe and the Dark Ages, with the pagan worship of the Great Horned God which was a goat. In pagan society, the goat was considered a fertility symbol. It was a small leap for the Roman Catholic Church to link the pagan goat deity with the Devil. After all, they both had horns! Probably the most famous screed postulating this concept was the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches), written by two Dominican priests- Jacob Sprenger and Henry Kramer in the early medieval period. It categorized witches as being servants of Satan and the practice of witchcraft as being a weapon used by the Devil's minions in his war against Christianity and humankind. It detailed a whole host of beliefs, practices and activities of witches, including human sacrifice- especially unbaptized babies, whose blood was used in their rituals. Not only does RWTD underline the assertion that witches and Satanists are synonymous, but "Rosemary's Baby" did that too. The coven in that film was identified as witches who worship the Devil and perform black magic. So, today's witches have a lot of bad press to overcome- about a thousand years of it!
sharepeter fonda tends to enjoy dying in the end of movies
"faith is for nuns and amateurs" ham tyler
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Well, what with the satanists standing around and chanting, I assume that the two couples are being sacrificed to the devil, so not only will they die (presumably burning to death as the flames close in) but they'll also be damned to Hell.
All for trying to take a little vacation.
I believe the cult enjoyed burning them alive. They were another form of sacrifice to them. I will never forget the hanging tree. It was ominous.
shareVery good question. They had an RV that was busted to heck. They had no headlights. They had a shotgun with a box full of shells (let's say they had about 12 shells left). But it was clear at this point that the satanists had guns too.
Here's what they could have done.
1. Start up the RV and just start trying to run the satanists over. Probably wouldn't have worked effectively. No headlights, can't see them.
2. Start up the RV and just try to drive away. Again, probalby wouldn't have worked. No headlights, so they'll just crash into a tree.
3. Bunker down in the RV, grab the shotgun, and shoot anyone that approaches. The satanists probably would have set fire to the RV, then they are done.
4. Grab the shotgun, and any weapon you can find (broom, pots, pans, whatever), and storm out of the RV and take out as many satanists as possible. They'd have gotten a few before being shot/overcome.
5. Offer to negotiate. Tell the satanists you were just kidding about telling the state police...now please let us go :).
What scenario is the best? I say #2.
Of course, they die. If the film makers wanted them to escape, they would have shown it.
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