Devil Times Five (1974)★★☆☆☆

So, first things first, I have no idea what to call this movie. I first heard of it as Peopletoys, which was an intriguing enough name…and when I looked it up to pull movie details, it was listed as Devil Times Five, which is…fine, I guess.

Then I started the film, and the title screen shows The Horrible House on the Hill, and when I went to look that up to make sure it was the same film, I learned it was also released on video as Tantrums, which I think I like better than both Devil Times Five and The Horrible House on the Hill, but not as much as Peopletoys.

Now, all that out of the way, this movie is not as good as ANY of its names.

(Spoilers ahead) It was fitting to watch this around the first real winter storm of the season, but that’s about the only fitting thing. The movie does some weird slow-motion stuff during the violent scenes, and I swear even went full on sepia-toned for the first one?

The camerawork was messy, the sexy scenes were hilarious, and it was so weird seeing a young Shelley Morrison (Rosario!!). And the pacing was a bit weird - it felt like all the “good” stuff happened in the last ten minutes.

There’s conceptually some interesting stuff here - creepy kids are creepy, being snowed in with a bunch of creepy kids is creepy, and the weird kiddie music soundtrack is creepy…but the movie just kind of fell flat and boring. At least it’s only an hour and a half?