Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Hell's Bloody Devils Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 20, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection.

Disc Five of The Masterpiece Collection , as with some other discs in this set, offers an aggregation of two films that share at least some of the same footage. The Fakers, which is listed that way in this set but which actually offers a Smashing the Crime Syndicate title card in the film itself, apparently hails from around 1968, though almost all online data simply conflates this film (whatever you want to call it) with the second film on this disc, Hell's Bloody Devils, which appeared in 1970 and included scenes from the earlier film along with newly filmed biker material obviously added to cash in on the then trendy Easy Rider craze.

Adamson and Sam Sherman weren't ones to let a trend go to waste, and the two often tried to capitalize on either hits they had made themselves, or big box office sensations they felt they could "mimic" in some way. Probably inspired by their own unexpected success with Satan's Sadists as well as the Easy Rider juggernaut, and since The Fakers (and/or Smashing the Crime Syndicate) seems to have disappeared as soon as it was screened (if it ever was screened in any big way), the enterprising partnership decided to interpolate some biker material into an already overstuffed plot to offer Hell's Bloody Devils. Unfortunately the two elements mix pretty much like oil and water, with Russ Tamblyn once again on hand as a biker chieftain. The fact that this was cobbled together is almost ludicrously obvious, and the film's attempt to weave a coherent plot out of completely disparate material is an exercise in patent absurdity. Perhaps because of these issues, Hell's Bloody Devils is actually surprisingly enjoyable, albeit in a completely "WTF" way.

Hell's Bloody Devils Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hell's Bloody Devils is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This film has a much rougher opening than The Fakers, with tons of green scratches, occasional jumps and just a generally very damaged appearance. All of the biker material is almost devoid of color, as can be made out in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. When things get to the footage previously utilized in The Fakers, things improve substantially, but even some of this material doesn't offer quite the same levels of clarity as in The Fakers' presentation, though the palette often looks about as robust as it did in that version.

Hell's Bloody Devils Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hell's Bloody Angels features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that has at least some of the same damage exhibited in the video presentation. This has a somewhat more rock inflected score (with the Nelson Riddle penned "The Fakers" still used as a title song, weirdly enough, albeit this time with some pretty significant jumps like a skipping record). There are pops and cracks throughout this presentation, and actually missing nanoseconds of soundtrack, frequently tied to substantial damage in the video. As such, this is a less consistent presentation, but with the help of the optional English subtitles (available via the button on your remote), you can decipher most of the dialogue.

Hell's Bloody Devils Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Archival Audio Commentary with Producer / Distributor Samuel M. Sherman


• Sam Sherman Interviews Actor John Gabriel (480p; 20:03) is an enjoyable archival piece.


• Trailer (1080p; 2:59)


• TV Spot (1080p; 00:33)