| Devil's Partner | |
| Director: | Charles R. Rondeau |
| Producer: | Hugh Hooker |
| Starring: | Ed Nelson Edgar Buchanan Jean Allison Richard Crane |
| Music: | Ronald Stein |
| Cinematography: | Edward Cronjager |
| Editing: | Howard Epstein |
| Distributor: | Filmgroup |
| Runtime: | 73 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Devil's Partner is a 1958 American film starring Ed Nelson, directed by Charles R. Rondeau and produced by Hugh Hooker, an actor and stuntman who had previously made the 1958 film The Littlest Hobo. However the film was not released until 1961 when it was acquired by Roger and Gene Corman's Filmgroup and released as a double feature with Creature from the Haunted Sea.[1] The film was co-written by actor Stanley Clements and Laura Jean Mathews.
Set in rural Furnace Flats, New Mexico, the film opens with a hunched old man, Pete Jensen, slaughtering a goat and daubing its blood within a hexagon drawn on the floor of his shack. Days later, a young man, Nick Richards, arrives in town, asking about Pete, claiming he was his uncle. The town's sheriff informs Nick that Pete is dead. Nick decides to set up residence in Pete's shack. While there, he engages in a series of demonic rituals designed to drive a wedge between pretty Nell Lucas and her fiancé, auto-mechanic David Simpson. One evening, after a date with Nell, David is mysteriously attacked and disfigured by his pet dog. Nick offers to substitute for David at his gas station while he recovers. Those alerted to Nick's presence notice that even though it's incredibly hot, the immaculately dressed Nick fails to perspire. Yet with the exception of the sheriff's dog, the town's inhabitants feel comfortable in his presence.
Meanwhile, further animal-related incidents occur. A local drunk is trampled by a horse. A plastic surgeon dies when a cow lies down in the road in front of his speeding car, causing him to crash. Later, a rattlesnake threatens David in his bedroom, but he shoots the varmint before it escapes. Eventually, the town doctor finally guesses that Nick, the victim of demonic possession, is behind the hostile animal incidents. He further theorizes (correctly) that the old man, Pete, and his nephew Nick are actually one and the same. In the film's climax, the doctor and the sheriff, along with Nell and David, witness Nick transforming into a stallion. As he gallops away, however, the sheriff brings him down with several gunshots. At this point, David's facial wound miraculously disappears and the film ends on a happy note with the townsfolk standing over Nick's body.
Author/critic Bryan Senn wrote that director Charles R. Rondeau "cuts through the bull to deliver an atmospheric, intimate little supernatural thriller." Praising the "earnest" cast members, including Jean Allison and Edgar Buchanan, Senn continues that even if the film is "perhaps predictable...you could do far worse than to shake hands with The Devil's Partner.[2]
Horror-film scholar Eric Michael Mazur has identified Devil's Partner as part of a scary subgenre that took advantage of the early 1960s' obsession with "hysteria over juvenile delinquency and the accessibility of strange new religions." As a result of these social concerns, an environment resulted where "the Devil film became nearly ubiquitous."[3]
Commenting on Devil's Partner, critic David Goldweber was delighted by the film's blending of "sweet 1950s' small-town ambience with shape-shifting devil worship." While admitting that he "might be overrating it because I like this kind of thing...the acting, directing, script, and dialogue are all above average."[4]