THE DEVIL'S PARTNER (1961)

In a dilapidated shack in rural Texas, an old man kills a goat in a Satanic ritual, uses its blood to mark up a hexagon sketched out on the floor, then writes something on goat skin. Days later, Nick Richards shows up in Furnace Flats asking about his uncle Pete. Doc Lucas tells him that Pete, the old man in the first scene, was found dead a few days earlier, not mentioning the blood and the goat, signs that Pete might have been murdered, though no one knows why. Pete raised goats to sell goat's milk to the townspeople and Nick decides to stay in town and continue the business. He meets Nell, the doc's daughter and Pete's delivery person, and her boyfriend David, the local gas station owner. Nell takes it upon herself to help the somewhat standoffish Nick meet people in town, but unknown to Nell, we soon find out what we already suspected: Pete made a deal with the devil and Nick is a reborn younger version of Pete. Nick is soon performing rituals in the shack's hexagon, the first of which results in a man dying of poisoned goat's milk. Another ritual causes David's German Shepherd to maul him, leaving him with facial disfigurements. Nick runs the gas station while David recovers, but David's social withdrawal leads Nell to cozy up to Nick. When a renowned plastic surgeon is called to town to work on David, he is killed in a car accident caused by a cow standing in the middle of the road. The doc and the sheriff begin to suspect that Nick is somehow behind these attacks, but can they stop him before more townsfolk die?

This fairly obscure B-film was made in 1958 but not released until Roger Corman acquired it in 1961. Between its cheap look, spotty narrative, and short running time, it sometimes has the grimy feel of the notorious 60s cheapie Manos the Hands of Fate (also set in rural Texas). But this involved professionals. The director, Charles Rondeau, went on to a long career in directing television (Hawaiian Eye, F Troop, Love American Style). The top billed actor in the opening credits is Edgar Buchanan as Doc; though his role is not large, he probably got the billing because of his long career as a character actor in TV and movies since 1940. Ads for the film give first place, more accurately, to Ed Nelson (Nick, pictured), who debuted in movies in 1955 but didn't get famous until he played a major character in TV's Peyton Place in 1964. Richard Crane (David) was Rocky Jones on TV in the 50s and was a regular for two seasons of Surfside 6 in the early 60s. Nelson and Crane are good, Jean Allison (Nell) is a little less effective. The script has good ideas but could have used some doctoring here and there. The opening sequence is nicely creepy, but the film never quite rises to that level again. Still, a nice rediscovery to watch on a Chiller Theater night. [YouTube/Blu-ray]