Twins of Evil

Twins of Evil

1971

Director- John Hough

Cast- Mary Collinson, Madeleine Collinson, Peter Cushing, Damien Thomas, David Warbeck, Katya Wyeth, Luan Peters

“We walk the Earth, but we exist only in Hell.” That line lets you know that you are in for more than a standard vampire film. Intended to be the third installment in Hammer’s “lesbian vampire” Karnstein trilogy (proceeded by Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire), this film proved to be so much more with its successful combination of two different horror genres.

Peter Cushing is a puritanical witchfinder who leads “The Brotherhood” on nightly escapades to capture and burn young girls. For younger fans who only know Cushing as the villainous Govenor Tarkin from Star Wars, they may be surprised to know he was famous for his portrayals of heroes like Abraham Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Who. It’s a good thing he took on the role of the villain here because he was fantastic. Cushing was dealing with the recent death of his wife and he may have poured himself into the role as an escape. His witchfinder, Gustav Weil, is the prototypical religious zealot, but also seems to have a genuine belief in the rightness of his actions.

His social rival is the hedonistic Count Karnstien (wonderfully played by Damien Thomas). The count is the latest in a long family line of sinister aristocrats. Bored with the pleasures of the flesh he endeavors to sale his soul to the devil, and is turned into a vampire, which is fine by him.

Enter into this, Gustav’s twin nieces (the beautiful Collinson twins Mary and Madeline). They have just arrived into the care of their uncle Gustav and he views their cosmopolitan upbringing as a sure sign of their sinfulness. Maria (Mary) tries to abide by Gustav’s strict rules and fit in. Frida (Madeline) rebels and is drawn to the evil Count. She is seduced and brought into the vampire fold.

Gustav and the Count eventually come into conflict with Frida as the Count’s partner and Maria as a pawn. Added to this is a local school teacher (David Warbeck) who is the voice of reason and also the resident expert on vampiric folklore.

The Collinson twins (who do an admiral job and are quite believable) are the main attraction here, but everyone does a good job. The twins are beautiful and possess a youthful, voluptuous sexuality that seemed more common of sex symbols of that era, but much less common today. It’s a well put together movie and works as both a vampire and an inquisition movie. Highly recommended.