THE DEVIL'S PARTNER (1961) + Bonus Film, CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA (1961) (Film Masters Blu-ray Review)

THE DEVIL'S PARTNER (1961) 

+ Bonus Film, CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA (1961)

Label: Film Masters
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 73 Minutes 53 Seconds (Theatrical & TV Version of The Devil's Partner), 60 Minutes 26 Seconds (Theatrical Version of Creature from the Haunted Sea), 74 Minutes 53 (TV Cut of Creature from the Haunted Sea)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA & Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Charles R. Rondeau (The Devil's Partner), Roger Corman (Creature from the Haunted Sea) 
Cast: Edgar Buchanan, Jean Allison, Richard Crane, Spencer Carlisle (The Devil's Partner), Antony Carbone, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Robert Towne (Creature from the Haunted Sea) 

Film Masters continues it's deep-dive into the films of Roger Corman with a third installment of The Filmgroup series, kicking off with the Satanic shocker The Devil's Partner (1961) which was double-billed with the second half of this set, Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961). Directed by  Charles R. Rondeau (TV's Bigfoot and Wildboy), the film tells the occult tale of an elderly man named Pete Jensen who lives in Furnace Flats, New Mexico.  At the start of the film Pete sacrifices a goat inside his dilapidated shack and draws an occult hexagon on the floor with it's blood, he then dips his quill into his own vein and writes a contract for his soul on some goat skin, making a deal with the devil, before dying. A few days later a handsome young man named Nick Richards (Ed Nelson, The Boneyard) arrives by bus, declaring that he is Pete's nephew, and takes up residence in the shack. 

While in town he seems a friend to everyone, but like his uncle before him he uses black magic to secretly lure local looker Nell (Jean Allison, Hardcore) away from her gas station attendant boyfriend Dave (Richard Crane, The Alligator People), first by using his occult prowess to make Dave's own dog attack and mutilate his face! He also transforms into a black stallion to horse-stomp an alcoholic hobo (Byron Foulger, Terror in a Texas Town) to death. It actually turns out that Ed is not just calling upon the dark forces of the supernatural to send animals on the attack, but is actually transforming into the beasts himself, which becomes evident later in the film when a rattlesnake that attacks Dave is shot, and we see Ed wounded in the aftermath. The film was actually made in 1958 but was never released until Filmgroup picked it up for distribution in '61, and it's a pretty wicked little number, pre-figuring the devil worshiping subgenre of ‘70s. There's all manner of cool touches that make this a gem, I love how Nick comes off as this handsome almost too good to be true nice guy, but is secretly working against everyone, using the occult to bring ruin, particularly to poor Dave, who seems like a nice guy done dirty by the devil, who wants to steal his girl. I also love how the local doctor (Edgar Buchanan, Ride the High Country) takes notice that Dave never seems to sweat even though it's a hundred degrees outside, and later he tells some one the reason he doesn't sweat is that he's the Devil, and Hell was getting to hot so he came to Furnace Flats on vacation! Also cool, the occult rituals involving goat blood and a hexagon instead of a pentagram, maybe a full pentagram would have been too much for audiences of the day, and I like how they portray him as being pretty drained after each of the transformations as well, that using these occult has a price. Lots of great small town atmosphere in this one with a score by Ronald Stein that does a lot of the atmospheric heavy lifting. Also notable, some cool old age make up and time-lapse dissolves to convey the transformation from young to old. 

The second half of this Filmgroup double-feature is the Roger Corman directed Creature from Haunted Sea (1961), part of the Puerto Rico Trilogy he shot in four months, this being shot immediately after filming was completed on both The Battle of Blood Island and  Last Woman on Earth when Corman realized  he had enough film left over to make another film, which is such a Corman move, based on a script by Charles B. Griffith (Little Shop of Horrors), clearly pulling from The Beast from Haunted Cave, and layering in more slapstick comedy and a kooky-looking water-beast. Like The Devil's Partner, this too sat on the shelf unrelease for two years before seeing a release at the cinema. 

This is a bit of spoof of spy/gangsters/monster movies set during the Cuban Revolution, and it stars Anthony Carbone (Pit and the Pendulum) as a American gangster/smuggler named Renzo Capetto, who recruits a team of Cuban loyalists/mercenaries lead by General Tostada (Edmundo Rivera Álvarez,), to steal gold from the Cuban National Treasury. The loyalist plan to use the loot to fund a counter-revolution but Capetto plans on killing members of the ship’s bungling crew, murdering them with a claw gardening tool and going so far as to leave "creature" footprint behind - made by a toilet plunger,  and blame their deaths on the the local myth of the "Creature from the Haunted Sea", all the while unaware that a googly-eyed monster is actually out there! Also thrown into the zany mix is American secret agent XK150, who has infiltrated the heist-crew using the alias Sparks Moran, he's a bungling sort and also narrates the feature, and has fallen for Capetto's bad-girl love interest Mary-Belle Monahan (Betsy Jones-Moreland, Last Woman on Earth). Interestingly Spark is played by legendary Chinatown screenwriter Robert Townes under the pseudonym Edward Wain. Capetto's also has a pair of loyal henchmen, a former tennis-bum named Happy Jack (Robert Bean, The Wilde Ride) and the oafish named Pete Peterson Jr (Beach Dickerson, The Dunwich Horror), the latter of whom speaks almost exclusively in various animal sounds. 

Eventually the creatures interference with Capetto's plan lead him to scuttle the ship in 30 feet of water with a plan to recover the loot during a later scuba diving excursion, but again, the pesky creature... This is totally absurd comedy flick and screenwriter Charles B. Griffith's offbeat humor is all over it, if you're a fan of other early Roger Corman produced comedies like Little Shop of Horrors and A Bucket of Blood - both also scripted by Griffith - this is a must-watch. 

As bonus the Film Masters Blu-ray also offer the TV cut of Creature From the Haunted Sea (presented in 1.37:1) which includes an additional 15 minutes of footage shot years later to extend the film for a sale to Allied Artists, among the newly shot scenes is a fan-favorite song sung by Mary-Belle, presented here also HD from a restored 4K scan. 

Audio/Video: Both films arrive on region-free Blu-ray from Film Masters, presented in 1080p HD in both widescreen (1.85:1) theatrical and 1.37:1 fullframe TV versions, both sourced from 4K scans of 35mm elements. The sources are n great shape, grain is present and finite, detail and textures are nicely resolved, and we get pleasing contrast and decent depth and clarity, and pleasing black levels. Creature from the Haunted Sea required more restoration work than the feature film for this release, and it does showcase a bit of blemish and milkier blacks at times but still looks great. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono or lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English subtitles. I honestly didn;t detect that much of difference between the two for these low-budget features, but both tracks are clean and well-preserved, dialogue is always intelligible, and the theremin infused Ronald Stein (Attack of the 50 ft Woman) score for The Devil's Partner sounds great, as does the Fred Katz (Bucket of Blood) score for Creature from the Haunted Sea. 

Onto the extras, Film Masters has yet to disappoint, and that streak is unbroken with this release. We get a new Audio Commentary for The Devil’s Partner by Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan and Matt Weinhold of the Monster Party podcast, plus a dedicated Audio Commentary for Creature From the Haunted Sea by fan favorite Tom Weaver, with contributions from Roger Corman, Kinta Zertuche and Larry Blamire. No Film Master release is complete without a new featurette from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures Hollywood who offer up the 21-min Intruders: The Filmgroup Story with Part III of the story. There is also a new 11-min Interview with Roger Corman on the formation of The Filmgroup plus a Recut Trailer for The Devil's Partner, based on the original theatrical trailer, and the Original Creature From the Haunted Sea Theatrical Trailer (from 16mm archival elements scanned in 4k), a 1-min 2024 Re-cut Trailer for Creature from the Haunted Sea, and a cool 3-min Before-and-after Restoration Video for Creature from the Haunted Sea that shows how much love and care they put into their release. 

The 2-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork. Tucked away inside is an illustrated 24-Page Collector's Booklet with liner notes by Tom Weaver on Creature from the Haunted Sea, and essay for The Devil’s Partner by author Mark McGee.

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary for The Devil’s Partner by Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan and Matt Weinhold of the Monster Party podcast
- Audio Commentary for Creature From the Haunted Sea by fan favorite Tom Weaver, with contributions from Roger Corman, Kinta Zertuche and Larry Blamire.
- Ballyhoo Motion Pictures' Hollywood Intruders: The Filmgroup Story Part III (21:04)
- New interview with Roger Corman on the formation of The Filmgroup (10:46)
- 2024 Re-cut Trailer for The Devil's Partner, based on the original theatrical trailer (1:24)
- Original Creature From the Haunted Sea theatrical trailer (from 16mm archival elements scanned in 4k) (1:00) 

- 2024 Re-cut Trailer for Creature from the Haunted Sea (1:25)

- Before-and-after Restoration Video for Creature from the Haunted Sea  (2:36)
- 24-Page Illustrated Collector's Booklet with liner notes by Tom Weaver and essay for The Devil’s Partner by author Mark McGee.

Screenshots from the Films Masters Blu-ray: 

The Devil's Partner (1961)