Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

simeon_flake No. 13 Demon Street--sounds likes a nice place to visit & maybe I would want to stay. But seriously, folks, is there anything here of note beyond the presence of Lon Chaney as Satan. As far as Satan on the big-screen, what could have more fitting during this time than Mr. Chaney--who, unfortunately at this point in his career was probably getting by more on name value than anything else. Not to say the man couldn't anymore, but I'm sure all the serious Lon fans know about the live tv drunk incident that sent his career to B-movie hell.At any rate, Chaney does make a great Satan (shocker, I know). At's that is pretty much the big draw for this film. Satanya is nice to look at, the stories in between Satan's segments passable entertainment & the closing reel is pretty good. Basically this is for the hardcore Chaney purists who will watch pretty anything the man did--even dreck like "La Casa Del Terror."

Leofwine_draca THE DEVIL'S MESSENGER is a film that isn't really a film. What I mean is that it's little more than the joining-together of three episodes from a US/Swedish television series called 13 DEMON STREET which was devised by the late, great Curt Siodmak, screenwriter of THE WOLF MAN and plenty of other classic '40s and '50s horror movies. Herbert L. Strock, who directed I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN among some other less well known B-movies, was the guy in charge of this production. By all accounts, the low budget of 13 DEMON STREET worked against it and what could have been some interesting TWILIGHT ZONE-style anecdotes turn into sleep-inducing amateur efforts and the TV series soon disappeared after just 13 episodes.When I sat down to watch this film, I was hoping for superior anthology thrills in the style of Amicus productions like DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS or Mario Bava's film from the same period, BLACK SABBATH. What I got was a rubbishy amalgamation consisting of three very boring TV episodes with a wraparound featuring a bloated Lon Chaney Jr. hamming it up as the devil. All of the film's advertising focuses on Chaney but he's only in the movie for about fifteen minutes, never moving from a set supposed to depict Hell itself but which looks more like somebody's living room. I always like seeing Chaney on film, even in his later, sometimes embarrassing performances, because he was one of the horror greats – even if only for a brief period. But he has little to do here other than recite some inane dialogue and laugh maniacally. The lack of budget shows in Chaney's costume, consisting of a black shirt and tie – you wouldn't really imagine the devil to be this well dressed! There are three stories in the film and the first one is the most interesting. It concerns a photographer who strangles a girl in a fit of passion and then finds himself being haunted by her ghost which appears on some photographs he's taken of the scene. On each photo the girl seems to be getting closer and closer to the camera. Is he losing his mind or is she really back from the dead? Well, this episode will keep you guessing and ends with a good climax. It seems this later inspired a classic episode of Rod Serling's NIGHT GALLERY in which Roddy McDowall is haunted by a graveyard painting on his wall.The second episode is the longest and less interesting, although the worst is saved for last. This one sees a block of ice uncovered in a cave, containing the perfectly preserved body of a woman. One of the scientists on the scene falls in love with her and soon commits murder in her name, but he's in for a nasty shock when he tries to free her from the icy block. The acting isn't so great in this episode but I did enjoy the twist ending which is fun in its own way.The final episode is the most stultifying and tells the old, clichéd story of a guy who visits a gypsy fortune teller who predicts his death. It eventually transpires in a very uninteresting way. For twenty minutes we have little more than two wooden actors chatting in a room together and I could barely force myself to sit through it. Talk about ending on a low.Chaney gets the final scene to himself in a twist that attempts to update the horror genre to the nuclear age, but this twist doesn't sit at all well with the genteel ghost stories that have preceded it. The decision to have the actors break the fourth wall by speaking directly to camera was also a poor one and ends up being laughable. THE DEVIL'S MESSENGER doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the other horror anthologies that came out in the '60s and '70s and should be a miss even for fans of forgotten B-movies.

classicsoncall Yes, Lon Chaney does look old and worn out in this picture, but he's one of my all time favorites so I'm willing to cut him some slack. I've almost completed watching all the stories in my Twilight Zone Definitive Edition, and it struck me that the ones presented here could all have been reworked as part of the Serling legacy. They have just the right amount of irony with classic twist endings to justify consideration as TZ appropriate stories. My favorite was probably the ice block girl and the professor - come on, you just knew she was going to open her eyes at some point, didn't you? But gee, since when does an iceberg melt from the inside out? Good concept, but it just doesn't hold water.Nor does the idea that the picture of the house in the first episode was the World Magazine guy's favorite, one of the best he's ever seen! What??!! IT WAS A PICTURE OF A HOUSE!!! I'm no expert, but I bet I've seen a dozen pictures today that looked better, and I'm not even trying hard.OK, since I'm at it, I might as well mention the final story, probably the most Twilight Zonish if you will. Guy sees a fortune teller and her crystal ball and becomes convinced he's doomed. He would have been a lot better off if he hadn't stabbed the gypsy. Things like that never end well.Well you don't expect much from these bargain bin flicks, but I have to say, this was better than what I was expecting. Chaney as Satan was the bonus no doubt, looking for a way to annex Earth for his domain to make room for more souls. On that note I'll finish up, I think it's starting to get hot in here.

gavin6942 The devil (Lon Chaney) is the host of a three-part film wherein we get some short tales of evil... people who will soon be joining the devil and his assistant Satanya in heck. The tales include a frozen woman, a murderous photographer, a fortune teller and some other stuff.Why am i being vague? Because, frankly, this film was a pile of rubbish. It isn't even a real film but a compilation of three episodes of some older Swedish show. I mean, it's not bad, the stories are decent... but they're over a decade old. So yeah, you take a decade old television show and try to pass it off as a motion picture... you're going to fail.The jacket that came with the movie also lied to me, saying the plot revolved around a plan to pass around the instructions of a nuclear weapon. That is not even in the film until the end and we never see where it goes... so that's such a misleading thing. I kind of wanted to know, but I guess I won't. And Lon Chaney... I mean, he's awesome, but this doesn't really showcase his skills at all... please, if you haven't, see "Spider Baby".