Enter the Devil/Ghosts That Still Walk (DVD Review)
Widescreen and 1:33/DVD(r)
Availible From: Gemini Entertainment
Enter the Devil (1972)
DIRECTED BY: Frank Q. Dobbs
STARRING: Joshua Bryant, Irene Kelly, David S. Cass Sr.
Enter the Devil is the kind of movie that looks you dead in the eye, hands you a dusty VHS tape, and dares you to question how many goats were harmed in its making. (Answer: probably none—but at least one must have filed a formal complaint.)
This Texas-shot slice of 1970s satanic sleaze is part occult thriller, part law-and-order procedural, and part “Did everyone in this movie wake up from a nap right before filming?” It’s got cults. It’s got rituals. It’s got actors delivering lines with all the energy of someone reading off a grocery list written in crayon. In other words: peak regional horror charm.
The plot—something about disappearances, devil worshippers, and law enforcement who are very mildly inconvenienced by all of this—wanders around like a lost tourist. But honestly, that’s half the appeal. You don’t watch Enter the Devil for narrative coherence; you watch it to see people in hooded robes shuffling around like they’re auditioning for the slowest satanic conga line ever recorded.
The film’s scares rely heavily on “zoom in suddenly on something vaguely spooky,” which is both endearing and the exact moment your popcorn goes flying. And the devil-worshipping villains? They look like they got lost on the way to a Renaissance Faire but decided to roll with it.
Despite all the low-budget wobbliness, there’s an undeniable charm. It’s grubby, earnest, weirdly hypnotic, and drenched in that warm, grainy glow that only 1970s exploitation films can provide. You don’t watch this movie so much as you vibe with it—preferably at 2 AM, when your decision-making skills are at their weakest and your appreciation for satanic desert cults is at its strongest.
Enter the Devil may not convert you to anything other than the church of “wow, that was a thing I just watched,” but you’ll come out entertained, confused, and maybe a little in need of a shower—which is exactly how a good grindhouse flick should leave you.
Ghosts That Still Walk (1979)
DIRECTED BY: James T. Flocker
STARRING: Ann Nelson, Matthew Boston, Jerry Jensen
If you’ve ever wished Unsolved Mysteries would stop beating around the bush and just turn into a full-on fever dream, Ghosts That Still Walk is the film you didn’t know you needed—and may still not be sure you wanted. This is the kind of movie that feels like it was written after someone woke up from a nightmare involving a giant floating rock, a stampede, and a family that reacts to supernatural horror with all the urgency of people waiting for their toast to pop.
The plot—loosely defined as “weird stuff happens, sometimes involving an ominous rolling boulder with a vendetta”—is less a narrative and more a series of disconnected paranormal incidents that all politely refuse to explain themselves. Watching it is like flipping through late-’70s paranormal paperbacks at a yard sale while slightly dizzy.
The acting ranges from stoically confused to “I cannot believe this is happening to me, but also, I’m not going to move from this chair.” The family at the center of the story experiences ghostly visions, mysterious forces, and an evil rock spirit(?) with the energy of people trying to remember where they put their car keys. If emotional reactions were currency, this movie would be bankrupt.
Then there’s the special effects, which are… well, they’re present. They exist. They get the job done the same way Scotch tape “gets the job done” when you’re wrapping presents on Christmas Eve and have completely given up.
But underneath the bizarre pacing, odd tone, and aggressively mysterious storyline, there’s something endearing. The film has that regional, DIY charm of a production crew earnestly swinging for the paranormal fences with whatever resources they could rummage from the local hardware store. It’s weird, it’s wobbly, and it’s exactly the kind of oddball cinematic artifact that makes cult collectors quietly smile.
Ghosts That Still Walk may leave you with more questions than answers—chief among them, “Why is that rock so angry?”—but it also gives you a uniquely off-kilter ghost story you won’t forget… even if you’re not entirely sure what you just watched.
