Video Nasty #14 - The Devil Hunter

Truly one of the worst of the Video Nasties, The Devil Hunter from 1980 was Jess Franco's second and final foray into the then fashionable Cannibal genre of which Franco had little affinity for, and every inch of this piece of celluloid dreck bears this out.


In the film, a beautiful model is kidnapped by some vicious thugs and held for ransom on a remote island. Two Vietnam vets are dispatched to return the girl to safety but unbeknownst to the kidnappers and the rescue team, the island is stalked by a large cannibal creature with ping pong balls for eyes and a taste for platinum blondes...

For anyone who needs to see The Devil Hunter my advice would be to regularly check your pulse during the film - such is the glacial pace, you might find yourself slipping into a coma. If there's any point of interest in the film it's probably how jaw dropping inept the whole business is. With lighting changing from shot to shot, there's no attempt to make any of the film look consistent. Take one scene for instance when the girl is being exchanged for the ransom. Both parties agree to meet on a beach for the swap but the cutting back and forth suggests it's dusk on one part of the island and daytime in another part, even though the space between is within walking distance. Also, the English dubbing is perhaps the worst ever in European Cult Cinema. Not only do characters speak with their mouths firmly shut but judging by the ridiculous accents it's quite likely the same voice artist was employed to dub all the characters. Perhaps knowing he was onto a loser, Franco fills the film with shots of female crotches and has his leading lady, clad in a torn pink dress molested as often as possible. But somehow it's just not enough...

All this would seem bearable if it was as bloodthirsty as it's Italian counterparts, but the film features almost no cannibalism or gore, besides a very fleeting shot of somebody's intestines. Another point of irritation is the incessant soundtrack, which never seems to pause - at any moment there's likely to be Franco's own musical stylings like a spectral piano refrain, or worse still some tribal drumming or the heavily echoed breathing sounds of the creature, and most annoying of all, a loop of the same damn bird chirping out the same call ad infinitum. Among the cast is Zombie Flesh Eater's Al Cliver, wooden as ever, but there's one hilarious scene where Cliver is supposed to be scaling a cliff wall, but Franco simply turns the camera over on its side and has Cliver scramble on all fours over some rocks. Also, in the cast is Terror Express' Werner Pochath, a fine actor who wisely exits the film at the half way mark.

Severin's UK DVD is much like their US issue - the 1.66 transfer is probably a good effort but the film looks so soft and washed out it's difficult to say. Audio is actually quite good, even if there's little to get excited about. If the English dub is unbearable, a French dub is also on hand, and gives the whole thing a little more respectability. Extras include a trailer and an interview with Franco about the film (from the same interview session as the featurette Bloody Moon) on . You have been warned.