Shelley Morrison, born Rachel Mitrani in 1936, made her mark in cult cinema with her performances in Blume in Love (1973) and Devil Times Five (1974). In Blume in Love, she showcases her comedic timing and flair, while Devil Times Five allows her to explore darker themes within the exploitation genre. With a background in theater and television, Morrison's versatility shines through, making her contributions to these films significant in the realm of cult and grindhouse cinema.
Devil Times Five
A winter retreat turns savage when five stranded children arrive at a secluded lodge and quietly begin eliminating the adults inside. By the time their hosts recognize the danger, every childish disguise is hiding a different method of murder. This quirky psychological thriller involves a quintet of weird kids who stumble into the luxurious winter retreat of a wealthy patriarch (Gene Evans) and his arrogant guests. Little do the effete vacationers realize that the children are escapees from an asylum for the criminally insane -- a fact they realize only after their doom has been sealed. The only known film from director Sean MacGregor (released theatrically as People Toys), this is a seldom-seen but thoroughly satisfying horror sleeper with a sardonic sense of morality, taking great delight in knocking off Evans' circle of decadent snobs in graphic and innovative ways (one guest is joined in the bath by piranhas; another is pummeled with chains in a creepy still-photo montage). Known also to some drive-in venues as The Horrible House on the Hill, no doubt as part of a double-bill with Wes Craven's Last House on the Left. After five insane young children survive a VW mini-bus accident in the snow, they make their way to a snowbound chalet where they first terrorize and then kill three adult couples whom they believe have insulted them or been rude to them. Five extremely disturbed, sociopathic children escape from their psychiatric transport and are taken in unwittingly by a group of adult villagers on winter vacation.
