DEVIL TIMES FIVE

On a snowy mountain pass in Lake Arrowhead, California, a van transporting children from a psychiatric hospital crashes, apparently killing most of its passengers, aside from a young nun, Sister Hannah, and four of the children: Susan, Moe, David, and Brian. The children and Sister Hannah travel on foot, seeking shelter. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Julie and her boyfriend Rick embark to Lake Arrowhead to visit her father, Papa Doc, a real estate tycoon, at his lakeside chalet.

Julie and Rick arrive at the chalet, along with Papa Doc's conniving business associate, Harvey Beckman and his wife, Ruth; Julie witnesses Papa Doc's new young wife, Lovely, attempting to seduce the mentally disabled house servant, Ralph, and sparks a fight. Meanwhile, the four children break into the wine cellar at Papa Doc's chalet. Back at the crashed van, the children's physician, Dr. Brown, regains consciousness and begins frantically searching for the children. He tracks them to the wine cellar, where the children murder him with Sister Hannah's assistance. They bury his corpse in the snow.

In the morning, the children surprise the residents of the chalet and Papa Doc agrees to let them stay for one night. In conversation, David tells Harvey that he and the others were on their way to make a film in Hollywood when their van crashed. After dinner that night, David and Brian sneak into Ralph's cabin and disengage the generator. When Ralph goes to inspect it, he is caught in a booby trap that strangles him to death.

The next day, Rick finds Ralph's corpse hanging from a noose in front of the generator. Papa Doc assumes Ralph committed suicide, but Rick suspects the children. He subsequently discovers that Papa Doc's car has been tampered with and that the guns and knives in the house have gone missing; he fears the children are out to do them harm. David, who is adorning himself in makeup and a dress, overhears Rick vocalizing his suspicions. Shortly after, David hacks Harvey to death with an ax while he chops wood outside.

Sister Hannah drowns Lovely in a bathtub, while Moe sets Papa Doc's pet piranhas loose in the bathwater to devour her. When Papa Doc witnesses the children dragging Lovely's body through the snow, he chases after them to Ralph's cabin, where he is killed with a knife in another rigged booby trap. Armed with the stolen guns, the children return to the chalet, first attacking Ruth, who begs Susan to let them go; the children douse Ruth in gasoline before Susan throws a lit match onto her, burning her alive. Rick and Julie flee, attempting to escape on a boat, but David forces them back to the chalet at gunpoint and the two barricade themselves in a second floor bedroom.

In the morning, David uses a ladder to reach the bedroom window and impales Julie through the neck with a pole that he forces through the glass, killing her. Rick, now alone and desperate, witnesses the children gleefully throwing snowballs at Papa Doc's corpse. This sparks rage in Rick and he decides to confront the children outside, only to be caught in an animal trap. Sister Hannah slashes Rick's throat with a knife, killing him. With all the adults dead, the children drag their corpses into Ralph's cabin and seat them around a table, playing with them as though they are dolls. After a brief time, Susan and Brian declare that it is time to move on. Moe expresses that she wants to continue playing, to which Sister Hannah responds that they will find new "toys" to play with.

The film ends with the words "The Beginning".

By the film’s end, the children, aided by Sister Hannah, have systematically murdered nearly all the adults at the chalet, culminating in scenes of gleeful celebration over their handiwork.

The ending of Devil Times Five is a bleak statement on innocence corrupted and adult impotence in the face of unbridled malice. The children’s triumph, capped by their apparent joy in violence, leaves no catharsis or safety for the viewer—only a chilling reminder of the threat lurking beneath the surface, and how easily the boundaries of civilization can be shattered in isolation.