Sick Product of a Sick System

One of my all time favorites.

Expected more

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This feature film is taken from three episodes of a Swedish TV series "13 Demon Street". Oddly, the show was made in the US in English and was then subtitled for Sweden! An odd pedigree, to say the least! While I have never seen the actual show (there's not a whole lot of Swedish television being shown here at the present time), it appears to have been a rather low-budget horror series. Whether or not it was all connected together by a demon (played by Lon Chaney, Jr.) in the show or just this movie is anyone's guess.The show begins with Chaney on his throne in Hell--enjoying his job immensely! He summons a young suicide victim and gives her some assignments back on Earth. These assignments are the three segments taken from three separate TV episodes.The first involves a sex pervert photographer. At first, he just seems really creepy but later when he commits a meaningless murder, you realize what sort of sick, twisted freak he really is. The woman, then, is the means of passing judgment on the guy--making him see visions in one of his photographs that literally ends up scaring him to death. Afterwords, the woman regrets her involvement in this, but considering how sick the man was, the viewer is left celebrating the death--and thinking perhaps this demon isn't such a bad fellow after all! Next is a tale about the discovery of a prehistoric woman who is discovered frozen in ice. Naturally, this woman is the agent sent by old Mr. Diabolical himself and it is imbued with strange powers. Despite being in suspended animation, when men see her naked and encased in ice, there is a strange reaction within them--they are transfixed by her beauty and must possess her. As one of the workers talks to her and imagines a weird past-life relationship with her, you realize just how strange this particular segment is! And, by the end, the guy is a raving nut! The third segment has this female agent of evil bringing a crystal ball to a fortune teller. It begins with a guy talking to a psychiatrist about some recurring dreams. The doctor gives a rather tenuous interpretation that the guy is dying to know the future--though the guy says he has no desire at all to know! But, following the doctor's advice, he seeks out a fortune teller. Looking into this evil crystal, she tells him he's about to die! And, it seems, she is fated to kill him! She says she has nothing against him and has no desire to kill him, but it WILL happen because the crystal ball says it must!Despite the high 'cheese-factor' and low budget, I did enjoy the film. One reason in particular was due to Chaney. While he certainly was no thespian, here he is quite enjoyable because he gets into the part--laughing and playing it up quite a bit. He was very entertaining and it's among his better work. Plus, the stories were pretty good--and quite different from the stuff you'd see on "The Twilight Zone" or "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". I'd sure like to be able to see the rest of the series to find out if they're all as good as these selected episodes.

The Devil's Messenger was a feature film cobbled together from three episodes of a failed TV series, "13 Demon Street" and later shot footage featuring Lon Chaney as Satan. Chaney offers a woman who committed suicide a chance to escape the horrors of hell if she agrees to run a few errands for him. That is how they tie everything in the film together, as she delivers items that are used in each story and is really the catalyst for the stories.Story number one deals with a stressed out photographer in need of a break. He takes a vacation to the mountains, but lets his lustful ways get the better of him as he murders a woman he tries to make advances on. After he returns to the city, the woman suddenly appears in a photo he took. Every time he looks at the picture, the woman appears closer in the picture, as she is making her way towards him to take her revenge.The next story is about a group of scientists who discover a woman frozen in a block of ice deep in a cave. One scientist becomes obsessed with the woman and will go to any length to free her and make her his own.The final story concerns a man who has a series of dreams concerning his death. His doctor advises him to go to the building that is in his dreams, in hopes that this will bring him some sort of relief. Instead he finds a gypsy woman who has a vision regarding his death as well.The series this movie derives from was another in a long list of Twilight Zone imitators that just didn't make it. Each story itself was solid and made with good production qualities. The performances were fine, and Chaney seemed to be having a good time in his role. Pick this title up if you happen upon it, as its a fine old horror film with a lot to offer.

My wife gave me this video for Christmas 2004 and I was stunned by how awful the production was. I noticed in the first story the man who later played Sheriff Bridges in the Waltons, John Crawford. Neat story. Beautiful woman in the photo by the way. But what makes this a good "awful" film is the macabre appearance of Chaney Jr. as the devil. His face is bloated like Ted Kennedy's. Shame he wasted away in his later years. Crappy quality on the same DVD as Vincent Price's "SHOCK", but worth a look if you like old films that have never played on late night TV. Cheesy special effects abound in this, as well as over-acting. But what the hell? Just because a flick doesn't win an Oscar doesn't mean it isn't watchable.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This movie is Herbert L. Strock's stitching together of 3 episodes from Curt Siodmak's disasterous TV series "13 Demon Street." The 3 episodes are stitched together with footage of Lon Chaney Jr and Karen Kadler. Chaney plays the devil and Kadler the Devil's Messenger. She has committed suicide and Chaney asks her to deliver 3 items to 3 people to help them get to Hell. The first "episode" is about a photographer who kills a strange young woman while on vacation in Maine. He had photographed her exiting an old country house. When he develops the film, she is not in the picture. As the story develops, she appears in the picture and slowly works to the foreground. Eventually, she enters the photographer's study and strangles him.Episode 2 is about a woman found frozen in ice at the bottom of a mine. A very odd scientist falls in love with the woman. To keep the frozen doll to himself, he kills his fellow scientist. The woman opens her eyes so our hero decides to thaw the ice. As he does, she mysteriously drowns! When the ice is completely gone, there is no woman.At the start of the final episode, we find that the man in it is supposedly the lover of Karen Kadler who drove her to suicide. The episode has absolutely nothing to do with this of course. A man has a recurring dream and always wakes up prior to entering a mysterious building. He goes to his psych who recommends he face his fears by going to the place in real life. He does and meets a fortune teller inside. She tells him he will die at midnight and she will be the killer. He kills her first, but the fortune teller statue falls on him at midnight.Now the man from the 3rd episode appears in Hell with Karen Kadler. He is a little slow in realizing where he is. Chaney tells both that together they will deliver his final "message." It is a megaton bomb that there are to deliver to the audience.Actually, as hokey as this sounds, it is okay. The actors seem like amatuers and the sound quality isn't great. However, the stories are compelling and it's great to see Chaney at this stage in his career. I believe this was Kadler's only film appearance, but she is acceptable as the Devil's Messenger.