The Devil's Messenger

This may be a 60s Black and White, but it was way ahead of its time. One could easily call it an excellent forerunner of the "Devil's Advocate." The world will probably remember Chaney Jr as the gentle and sympathetic wolf man. But he is a GREAT devil! The movie starts with a young woman (Kadler) who killed herself over lost love. She confronts the devil and he says: "Love, well, love is such a stupid emotion." This may sound strange, but think about it! Isn't it stupid to kill yourself over someone who doesn't love you?Moving on, perhaps seeing her potential, Chaney makes a deal with her that if she does some tasks for him, she could escape the worst parts of hell. (She has to deliver cursed items up to earth.) This leads to 3 separate stories that eventually connect. (The 1st deals with a man sexually obsessed with several women. The 2nd deals with a man who betrays his profession and friends over a woman frozen in ice.)The signature moment is when Kadler rebukes the devil for messing up people's lives, and he responds: "Dear, people ruin their own lives." The devil can tempt and persuade, but we make our own decisions. If we notice, the parties the devil picks out already had problems to begin with.In an especially chilling moment, Chaney manipulates Kadler's most vulnerable emotion. He offers her a chance to get even with the man who rejected her. Needless to say, Kadler gets more enthusiastic about her work. The 3rd story deviates from the standard formula and focuses on revenge more than anything. (Kadler's x lover is not really a bad person, and we really have no reason to dislike him.) One could even defend his act of murder in that a reasonable person would have felt threatened. But the 3rd story does compensate with fear, suspense, and tragic irony.Another reason I consider this a masterpiece ahead of its time is because while some movies glorify war, this movie seems to emphasize that war is hell on earth. And while suicide over love is a common thing, we have an interesting conversation that could occur between the parties: "I'm not in love with her, and I haven't been for a long time!" In one brief moment, we see how stupid suicide over love is.Between the great acting, the scenery, the scary stories, the memorable themes, and the sudden unification of 3 great stories, this movie is a masterpiece of horror!

The Devil's Messenger - 2 Stars - Not Too Bad3 shorts tied together by the Devil sending his messenger to deliver a parcel each time. The premise is fairly original for the time period. The Devil offers a suicide victim somewhat of a reprieve if she'll help him prank some people on earth. She delivers an item to each, hence the title. The items are presumed cursed and are part of the victim's demise.It stumbles in a few spots. The messenger isn't all that interested in saving her soul. She's forced to act as a messenger until the third task, in which she gets to exact her vengeance. The second story is somewhat lame. I'm not sure what happened. It starts out promising; a naked woman frozen in an ice block. But she's modern looking, not a stone ager. I think she's supposed to be a beautiful prehistoric woman. Peaks one's curiosity. How did a woman end up frozen in an ice floe deep under ground. [She's discovered by miners.] Well, suddenly, one scientist develops an unhealthy obsession [falls in love] with the Ice Woman. He becomes a real fruitcake over this woman. He claims to have known her thousands of years ago and her name is Angelica. Turns out she's in suspended animation and comes to life as the ice block thaws. He rescues her from the ice and it really gets wierd.Overall, it's worth a look for schlock lovers. Lon Chaney Jr. plays a mischievous Devil or Devil's Advocate.

Did any horror geeks who watched this realized that the first story was ripped off by Rid Sterling for the Pilot movie for Night Gallery. Different characters and location but basically the same story. As for the movie. I watched it because it was originally paired with Carnival of Souls for a double bill and I wanted to get a sense of that evening at the drive-in like. . Turns out it was a very interesting evening. The Devils Messanger is among the group of low budget horror films that I find fascinating. Such as the aforementioned Carnival of Souls, Gallery of Horror, Dungeon of Harrow and Horror at Party Beach.

Not a bad movie. PIcture was a bit grainy. I'm trying to view as many Lon Chaney Jr. films that I can find.

not Lon Chaney' best movie, but still good.I am a big fan of Lon Chaney.

I know that Lon Chaney Jr.'s career highlight was being in the Universal monster movies. I realize that the end of his life seems sad - he suffered from throat cancer and heart disease after decades of hard drinking and smoking. In fact, Robert Stack claimed in his autobiography that Chaney and Broderick Crawford were known around the Universal lot as "the monsters" due to how much they drank and raised hell.Despite living in his father's shadow, Chaney could be one hell of an actor. After all, he played Lennie Small in the original Of Mice and Men. You get reminded of that when you watch late period Chaney and he has to use his voice and body instead of makeup in films like Spider Baby (why I haven't reviewed that yet I have no idea).That brings us to The Devil's Messenger, a 1961 anthology that takes three episodes of the Swedish TV series 13 Demon Street. From the tale of a 50,000-year-old woman trapped in ice bewitching scientists to a man who learns of his death in a dream to a photographer who attacks a woman in teh snow and can't escape her, these are some pretty decent stories. And oh yeah - there's a framing device starring Chaney, Karen Kadler and John Crawford that was directed by Herbert L. Strock (I Was a Teenage Frankenstein).Guess what? Those three Swedish episodes - The Photograph," "The Girl in the Glacier," and "Condemned in Crystal" - were directed by Curt Siodmak. Who is that? Oh, only the guy who wrote the original The Wolf Man, I Walked with a Zombie, Son of Dracula and House of Frankenstein as well as directing Curucu, Beast of the Amazon and The Magnetic Monster.Look, any movie where Lon Chaney Jr. makes good on Satan's plot to nuke the world is one I'm going to love.

I LOVE IT