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Devil Rider!
BOOTLEG/APPROX. 68 MINS/1970/USA UNRATED
BOOTLEG/APPROX. 68 MINS/1970/USA UNRATED
4
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During the tail-end of the 60s to the mid 70s, bikersploitation films were all the rage at the local grindhouses & drive-ins. I mean just look at the
sheer number that were made between the period of 1966 to 1975, I can think of at least 30 titles just off the top of my head! And why wouldn't
they be popular with both Producers and Exploitation fans? On one side of the coin they were cheap to make and for the film fans they were
usually full of violence and rebellion and any other kick people were looking for at that point in time.
However, with every subgenre of film there is always going to be one title that is considered the absolute worst of the worst... and I think I found
it.
The whole premise of Devil Rider! (which, by the way, would have to get an award for the most misleading title in cinema history, as there is not
even any mention of El Diablo, let alone a shot of him riding a bike! and while we are on the subject- the amount of screen time taken up by
anyone doing any bike riding equates to about 2 minutes) is about a teenage girl named Kathy (Sharon Mohan) who has a fight with her boyfriend
(who just happens to be a karate instructor). Kathy heads off down the beach to sit and think, when she is confronted by a couple of bikers who
ask Kathy if she wants to go for a ride. Kathy accepts the offer and is taken to a remote part of the bush where the rest of the gang are waiting.
Meanwhile when Kathy doesn't return home, her parents start getting worried that she may not be coming back, just like her older sister Penny.
Kathy's parents hire a private detective to track down Kathy, but for some reason the PD goes out and finds Penny to find out what happened to
her. It turns out on Penny's 18th birthday she also decided to go for a ride with a motorbike gang, who proceeded to rape her (in the most boring
rape scene in film history! I mean c'mon, it looks like it was ported over from a bloody romance film!), thus making Penny decide that her life must
now revolve around working off the local street corner as a hooker.
Anyways, the PD tracks down where the gang have Kathy, through information found out via her boyfriend, and goes down dressed as a bikie to
try and save the day, but the gang see through his disguise and beat the crap out of him with sticks. Kathy's boyfriend also decides to do his own
investigating and winds up at the same place. Turns out both Kathy's boyfriend and the Gang leader know about each other and decide to have a
fight, with the winner taking possession of Kathy.
Really there isn't a lot more to say about this film. The basic elements of nearly every bikie film are present, infighting with other members of the
same gang, dropping acid, and all the other usual crap. However in all the other films those sort of elements usually have something to do with the
actual story, not just something to put on screen just to pad out the running time.
Seriously folks, it's extremely rare that an Exploitation film from the era doesn't have at least 1 redeeming quality at all, but here is a perfect
example. The camera work on this film is the worst I have ever seen! Christ it makes Andy Milligan's films look like Hollywood Blockbusters! Acting is
terrible, which would explain why only 1 of the actors actually has more than 1 credit. But the absolute worst thing about Devil Rider! is that the
film is sooo fucking boring! Luckily enough the running time was only about 68 minutes (which seems to confirm my suspicions that the film was
most likely used on a double feature bill) as I was just about to get up and kick the living bejesus out of my telly!
Luckily, Director Brad Grinter (who also makes an appearance in the film as Kathy's father!) must have learned from his mistakes when it came time
to make his next film, the immortal drive-in trash classic Blood Freak. Whilst Blood Freak may not be the most technical film known to mankind
(which it sure as hell isn’t!) at least it flows a lot more freely than Devil Rider, and is a film you can get into, rather than fast forward through.
In summary Devil Rider is a film that is unheard of for a reason. A terrible shoddy mess, Devil Rider should only be seen by absolute
Bikersploitation freaks who have seen every single other film first..... Although if your still curious head over to www.superhappyfun.com. The
DVDR available seems to have been lifted from a VHS, with burned Russian looking subtitles.
And for anyone looking to get into the world of Bikersploitation films, may I recommend starting elsewhere, as in Northville Cemetery Massacre,
Satan's Sadists or the Aussie classic Stone.
sheer number that were made between the period of 1966 to 1975, I can think of at least 30 titles just off the top of my head! And why wouldn't
they be popular with both Producers and Exploitation fans? On one side of the coin they were cheap to make and for the film fans they were
usually full of violence and rebellion and any other kick people were looking for at that point in time.
However, with every subgenre of film there is always going to be one title that is considered the absolute worst of the worst... and I think I found
it.
The whole premise of Devil Rider! (which, by the way, would have to get an award for the most misleading title in cinema history, as there is not
even any mention of El Diablo, let alone a shot of him riding a bike! and while we are on the subject- the amount of screen time taken up by
anyone doing any bike riding equates to about 2 minutes) is about a teenage girl named Kathy (Sharon Mohan) who has a fight with her boyfriend
(who just happens to be a karate instructor). Kathy heads off down the beach to sit and think, when she is confronted by a couple of bikers who
ask Kathy if she wants to go for a ride. Kathy accepts the offer and is taken to a remote part of the bush where the rest of the gang are waiting.
Meanwhile when Kathy doesn't return home, her parents start getting worried that she may not be coming back, just like her older sister Penny.
Kathy's parents hire a private detective to track down Kathy, but for some reason the PD goes out and finds Penny to find out what happened to
her. It turns out on Penny's 18th birthday she also decided to go for a ride with a motorbike gang, who proceeded to rape her (in the most boring
rape scene in film history! I mean c'mon, it looks like it was ported over from a bloody romance film!), thus making Penny decide that her life must
now revolve around working off the local street corner as a hooker.
Anyways, the PD tracks down where the gang have Kathy, through information found out via her boyfriend, and goes down dressed as a bikie to
try and save the day, but the gang see through his disguise and beat the crap out of him with sticks. Kathy's boyfriend also decides to do his own
investigating and winds up at the same place. Turns out both Kathy's boyfriend and the Gang leader know about each other and decide to have a
fight, with the winner taking possession of Kathy.
Really there isn't a lot more to say about this film. The basic elements of nearly every bikie film are present, infighting with other members of the
same gang, dropping acid, and all the other usual crap. However in all the other films those sort of elements usually have something to do with the
actual story, not just something to put on screen just to pad out the running time.
Seriously folks, it's extremely rare that an Exploitation film from the era doesn't have at least 1 redeeming quality at all, but here is a perfect
example. The camera work on this film is the worst I have ever seen! Christ it makes Andy Milligan's films look like Hollywood Blockbusters! Acting is
terrible, which would explain why only 1 of the actors actually has more than 1 credit. But the absolute worst thing about Devil Rider! is that the
film is sooo fucking boring! Luckily enough the running time was only about 68 minutes (which seems to confirm my suspicions that the film was
most likely used on a double feature bill) as I was just about to get up and kick the living bejesus out of my telly!
Luckily, Director Brad Grinter (who also makes an appearance in the film as Kathy's father!) must have learned from his mistakes when it came time
to make his next film, the immortal drive-in trash classic Blood Freak. Whilst Blood Freak may not be the most technical film known to mankind
(which it sure as hell isn’t!) at least it flows a lot more freely than Devil Rider, and is a film you can get into, rather than fast forward through.
In summary Devil Rider is a film that is unheard of for a reason. A terrible shoddy mess, Devil Rider should only be seen by absolute
Bikersploitation freaks who have seen every single other film first..... Although if your still curious head over to www.superhappyfun.com. The
DVDR available seems to have been lifted from a VHS, with burned Russian looking subtitles.
And for anyone looking to get into the world of Bikersploitation films, may I recommend starting elsewhere, as in Northville Cemetery Massacre,
Satan's Sadists or the Aussie classic Stone.
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