Ruby/Review

As one of the latter films of the possession clones this film tried to improves its chances of rip-off payola by incorporating the marketing for CARRIE, which was huge hit at the time. The movie is, in fact, not named after the possessed child but instead her mother. The reason for this is that the role is played by Piper Laurie, who received an Oscar nomination for playing Carrie’s religious zealot mother. The marketing paid off with RUBY becoming the most successful independent film ever, until it was surpassed the following year by a little something called HALLOWEEN.

The story opens in 1936 with gangster moll Ruby, pregnant and ready to pop, witnessing the gangland slaying of her lover Nicky Rocco (Sal Vecchio) at the hands of his own posse. The traumatic event sends Ruby into labor, giving birth to her daughter as Nicky simultaneously dies.

Sixteen years later, Ruby now owns a dilapidated, backwoods mansion and adjacent drive-in theatre. She inexplicably has the same men who killed Nicky working for her at the outdoor theatre who suddenly start being killed in bizarre, gruesome ways like being strangled by film stock running through the projector.

At the same time Ruby’s mute daughter Leslie (Janice Baldwin) begins acting strangely. She begins speaking in a guttural male voice, revealing her to be possessed by the soul of her dead father seeking revenge from beyond the grave. Despite not being taken over by a demon Leslie inexplicably still shows signs of demonic possession like levitation, telekinetic powers and violent body contortions.

RUBY suffered nearly as troubled a production as the previously mentioned LISA & THE DEVIL/HOUSE OF EXORCISM. Director Harrington was able to create a dreamy, atmospheric ambiance that wasn’t appreciated by its producers. They proceeded to shoot new footage (including new actors as well) that did nothing more than pad the film and muddle the storyline. The final product left Harrington so disgusted that he dropped his name from the credits and had it replaced with “Allan Smithee”, a blanket name used by filmmakers who disown their films.

Reviewed by Angel Orona