This blog was begun Sunday night June 28th, and completed the following day :
Tonight's film was another Satanic Spectacular, courtesy of Spooky Movie Dave, who's been coming through for us big time this week. It was called "Devil's Partner"(1961), the story of an elderly gent who sells his soul to Beelzebub in return for two years of youth. The opening scene shows old, bent over "Pete Jensen" (Ed Nelson) carrying a goat back to his shack, in an unnamed Southern town. This is another movie that wastes no time getting down to business, so if you're squeamish you may want to close your eyes for the first couple of minutes, because old Pete is gonna perform a ritual sacrifice.
Don't worry - it's depicted in shadow ("no animals were harmed during the making of this motion picture"), but it's still sick and twisted. Pete has a pentagram drawn on his floor. He smears it with goat's blood, kneels in prayer and signs a contract. Norwegian Black Metallers have got nothing on this guy. Moments later, an arm appears on the right. It takes the stylus from Pete's hand and signs in agreement. You can guess who the hand belongs to, and we're off and running. Old Pete dies right there on his floor, and the next thing we see is a car, traveling up the Keys Highway in Florida (though Florida is never specified and the movie looks to have been shot in Thousand Oaks).
We then cut to a diner in the aforementioned small town. The waitress is shooting the breeze with a customer, when a handsome young man walks in and orders a coffee. She asks if he's new in town. He replies "yes, I've just arrived to check on my Uncle". His Uncle is Pete Jensen, now deceased. The young man's name is "Nick Richards". He too is played by Ed Nelson, without the octogenarian makeup. There's never any question who Nick really is. He's old Pete, brought back to life and young again, according to the terms of his contract.
Nicks takes up residence in Pete's shack, and is visited by "Nell Lucas" (Jean Allison), a young woman who knew Pete. She's come to get a supply of goat's milk that she brings to her father, a local physician (Edgar Buchanan). "It works wonders on his TB patients", she reports. Nick explains that his Uncle has passed away, but he'd be happy to continue the supply. "Come by anytime", he tells her.
Nick needs money, and lands a job at the local gas station. By coincidence, the owner's girlfriend is Nell. Nick fixates on her, but keeps his feelings to himself. However, back at the shack, late at night, he pulls a floor rug away to uncover the old pentagram, which he uses to begin casting spells on "David" (Richard Crane), the boss who is now his rival. He means to win Nell away from David. We see Nick projecting himself into the body of David's dog, a big German Shepherd. The dog then turns on David and attacks him, severely mauling his face. It seems inexplicable. David loved his dog and vice versa. Now he's scarred for life. Nick visits him in the hospital, feigning sympathy. He "consoles" Nell, pretending to be the "caring friend". "I'll pray for David", he tells her. Yeah, he'll pray all right - (cue The Church Lady)......."to Satan"!
Nick takes over the day-to-day running of the gas station, playing the Loyal Employee in his boss's absence. He continues to visit Nell, always as the Platonic Good Guy, but ever so slowly he begins to turn her away from David. "You realize he'll have psychological problems resulting from his disfigurement". "Oh, but I don't care what he looks like", she replies. "I love him for who he is".
Oh yeah? Well, Nick will see about that.
David gets some good news when Nell's father finds a plastic surgeon who can repair his face. However, the man is killed en route when he crashes into a cow in the middle of the highway. How did it get there? The nearest farm is miles away.
One night, the town drunk comes to the shack asking for spare change. Nick shoos him away, but once he's outside he stops to peek in the window. He sees Nick performing a ritual. Nick sees him, too. Minutes later, he is trampled by a black stallion that appears in the street as he walks home.
By now, the Sheriff gets involved. People are being killed or maimed and Nick always seems to be on the periphery. Everyone agrees he's the nicest guy, but there's also something really weird about him, like he's imperturbable. His demeanor never changes, no matter the latest news. Also, he's physically unusual. "It's been a hundred degrees for over a week", muses the Sheriff. "He's outside all day at the gas station, but I've never seen him break a sweat. He never has a hair out of place".
The Sheriff decides to pay Nick a visit. When he gets to the shack, no one is home, so he enters and sees the pentagram on the floor. Outside, his dog is digging at a patch of dirt. Goat bones are uncovered. "What the hell is this guy up to"?, he wonders. Of course, the Sheriff is a rational minded lawman. Whatever Nick is hiding, it's a long way from proving he's behind the deaths and David's mauling, all of which were caused by animals.
Meanwhile, Nick has almost achieved success in prying Nell away from David, who's become very depressed following the death of the plastic surgeon. "You should just live your life without me", he tells Nell. It's one of those situations where the more he withdraws, the more she tries to draw him out, using love and compassion, until finally his depression pushes her away and into the arms of Nick, a vulture posing as a good friend. He's just been waiting for the chance to swoop all along.
The plot is pretty simple : "Crotchety old man makes Faustian bargain to get revenge on townsfolk who hated him". Some fans at IMDB have wondered if the script was tinkered with, or the movie re-edited, because the "revenge" factor is hard to see at first. When "Old Pete" returns as "Nick", he doesn't seem to know anyone. Then he finds out that Pete - his former self - was generally disliked by everyone in town, except Nell and her father, the physician. That sort of explains his motivation for fixating on Nell, but it's worth noting that the movie was made in 1958 and then shelved for three years until it's release in '61. So maybe it went through some reworking. Overall, though, as far as Weird Horror Movies go, this one's right up there with the weirdest. To begin with, it's got the pentagram and goat's blood, which is weird enough in, say, a Hammer Studios film with a gothic setting. But here, we have an old man in a one room Hilbilly shack performing the rituals. We expect it of Christopher Lee, but the atmosphere in "Devil's Partner" is more out of "Eaten Alive" or one of those "Small Town in Texas" movies that were popular in the mid-70s. In short, the story is good, if by-the-book, but the weirdness, the sheer creepiness, is off the charts! For that reason, and the excellent location photography (I'd love to know where the gas station was), I'm gonna give it Two Big Thumbs Up, with a reminder that it's not for the squeamish. Highly recommended for horror fans. /////
Well, now I'm getting caught up. It's Monday afternoon, so I'll probably head out on a hike in a little while. Gotta do some shopping too. Have a great day and I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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