Peopletoys

Film: Peopletoys

Year: 1974

Director: Sean MacGregor

Writer: John Durren and Sandra Lee Blowitz

Starring: Sorrel Booke, Gene Evans and Taylor Lacher

Review:

This was a film that I didn’t know about until hearing about it on a podcast. What gets confusing here is that it also goes by the title, Devil Times Five. I saw it under the reissue title, The Horrible House on the Hill. I selected this as a featured review looking for winter based horror and this is also from 1974, so it doubled as a Foray through the Fours.

Synopsis: after five insane children survive a van wreck, they go to a lodge and attack the people staying there who insult or are rude to them.

We start this off with seeing a van drive along a wintery path in the woods. This is the mountains of California as further clarification. We are also seeing this paired with Rick (Taylor Lacher) picking up his wife, Julie (Joan McCall). They’re meeting her father in the mountains so he needed to get the car ready. Rick isn’t stoked about this trip, aside from spending time with Julie and getting away from the city. The big thing here is that her father is Papa Doc (Gene Evans), all he thinks about is work and he’s hard on his son-in-law.

Tragedy strikes this van as well, like the synopsis says. It crashes and we see a group of children appear from it. There is David (Leif Garrett) who is dressed in a little suit. He tells stories and dresses up. Brian (Tierre Turner) thinks he’s a soldier. There is also Sister Hannah (Gail Smale), who is dressed as a nun, Moe (Dawn Lyn) who is sickly and Susan (Tia Thompson) who is a pyromaniac. They head off into the woods, looking for civilization. Following them is Dr. Brown (Henry Beckman). The children thought he was dead. He follows their tracks.

This group of children finds the lodge that belongs to Papa Doc. Staying with him is his younger wife, Lovely (Carolyn Stellar). She is trying to hook up with any man here who will give her attention, including the simple worker, Ralph (John Durren). Also here is Dr. Harvey Beckman (Sorrel Booke). He works for Doc and he’s working up the courage to ask for a raise. Harvey’s wife is Ruth (Shelley Morrison) who is also here. She’s an alcoholic. This group is joined by Rick and Julie.

The children find shelter in the basement. They kill Dr. Brown when he shows up. They then go upstairs, shocking Ruth. Papa Doc allows them to stay and gives them food, until he can figure out what to do. Strange things happen, like the generator and Doc’s car being tampered with. Also, strange things happen to people staying here.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an odd film with choices that were made. It is also interesting that this is a slasher film of sorts as well. It doesn’t hide that fact, as Dr. Brown is murdered by this group within the first 20 minutes. The title also makes more sense when you see the children appear from the wreck. This film is more about the adults not realizing who is doing this until it is too late. They’re also wrapped up in their own lives and missing the signs. They also can’t fathom who could be doing this, so that adds to the overall atmosphere as well. I was on board here.

Now that I’ve set that up, let me delve more into this overall concept. This sets up after Dr. Brown is killed as to where these children were coming from or heading back to. It does feel like plot convenience to have this group of kids together, but I could also see the idea that maybe one or two are homicidal. Since all these children have mental issues of varying variety, I could see them following along not realizing what is right or wrong. It does make for a creepy kid movie, especially seeing how each interacts with the adults. They lull them into a false sense of security until it is too late. Then this setting of an isolated lodge that is snowed in, that’s great too.

Let’s then just briefly go into the adults. What is interesting is that Papa Doc is rich so he likes things a particular way. He seems to have no idea or doesn’t care that his wife is cheating on him, or from what we see, is trying to. Harvey is stressed by his wife talking down to him and focusing on how to ask for this promotion. Ruth is an alcoholic. Rick and Julie are doing their own thing. There is also Ralph who is mentally slow. It is believable to not realize until it is too late with this group of characters.

Since this is more about the characters than the story, let’s shift to the acting performances. Brooke and Evans are solid as these two older characters who want to continue to get better financially. It makes for a good dichotomy to the younger generations with Lacher and McCall. Morrison and Stellar are fine as these two unhappy wives. Durren fits as the caretaker. It is fun to see a child version of Garrett. He’s an interesting character who talks older than he is. Smale is also intriguing. She is dressed as a nun, which makes the adults think she is in a position of authority with her peers. Turner is funny with his soldier talk. I also thought that Lyn and Thompson would round out that group. The acting here isn’t great, but it fits what was needed.

All that is left then is filmmaking and this is where I have issues. The cinematography and framing are good. They capture the isolation and how cold it is here. The effects are limited but what we got was solid. The framing helps there. My issue is that there are odd choices like a couple of the kill sequences done in slow motion. That didn’t work for me. The soundtrack is also quirky and odd. At times it works and there are others where it just didn’t necessarily fit.

In conclusion, I do think that this is an interesting early slasher film. The purist won’t consider this due to having multiple killers. It is an eerie story of mentally disturbed children killing adults at this resort for no reason. Having everyone being trapped at this isolated location due to the elements adds tension. The effects were limited, but no issues there. The acting was solid enough for what was needed. I do think there are odd choices with slow motion and soundtrack that don’t necessarily work. This is still an interesting one to check out, especially if you like killer kids or slasher films. It is a gem there.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10