Product Details

• Actors: Lon Chaney Jr., Karen Kadler, Michael Hinn, John Crawford, Ralph Brown
• Directors: Curt Siodmak, Herbert L. Strock
• Writers: Curt Siodmak, Dory Previn, Leo Guild
• Producers: Gustaf Unger, Kenneth Hartford
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: April 15, 2003
• Run Time: 72 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008J2G8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #139,373 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two Outta Three Ain't Good, June 29, 2003

By	Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein "bigfootsalienbaby" (under the rubble) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Lon Chaney jr. plays the devil in this 3 part horror anthology. He gives one of his female lost souls a chance to be his assistant on earth. Her name is "Satanya" and she delivers various key items to the main characters in each story. The first one involves a psycho photographer, who takes a picture of a strange girl before murdering her. Let's just say that she is not happy! She haunts the man in a unique way. In the second story (the weakest of the three), a girl is found underground, frozen in ice. An anthropologist falls in love with her and kills one of his colleagues for trying to study her. He then defrosts his "girlfriend" and a strange surprise awaits him. The final story is about a man who dreams of being on a dark street and entering a door. His psychologist convinces him to actually visit the place. When he does, he runs into a fortune teller who tells him that she will kill him by midnight. This is the best of the trilogy, and has a cool twist ending. All in all a fair production. Lon is wasted in my opinion. He defintely had better days...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, Alpha Video improves quality, May 10, 2003

By	Michael W. Miller (Franklin, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is hard to resist the Alpha Video titles with their great cover art and low prices even after buying some of their early releases that were of such poor quality. However, the quality of their recent releases is improving dramatically. The Devil's Messenger fits into that category.

The Devil's Messenger is actually just 3 episodes of an unreleased TV series filmed in Sweden called "13 Demon Street." Curt Siodmak wrote and directed the series but was unable to find a US distributer. No company ever wants to see their celluloid go to waste, so 3 of the best episodes of the series were linked together using Lon Chaney as the Devil to form the Devil's Messenger.

A woman has committed suicide and meets up with the Devil (Chaney) at the gates of Hades. He offers her a deal if she will deliver 3 messages to the surface. This is how the three episodes are introduced. I won't spoil the stories. While this is no classic, it is nice to see Chaney and the transfer is quite good. Plus, you just can't beat the price and DVD cover art. I hope Alpha continues to release these obscure titles for genre fans.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece Way Ahead of Its Time!, June 11, 2008

By	Bradley Headstone "Sean ARES Hirsch" (New York) - See all my reviews

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!