The Devil Rides Out

  

 

The Devil Rides Out

1968

Director- Terrence Fisher

Cast- Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Nike Arrighi, Leon Greene, Patrick Mower, Sarah Lawson, Paul Eddington

            With absolutely no amount of hyperbole I can say that this is one of the best occult movies ever made. The Devil Rides Out (billed as The Devi’s Bride in the U.S.) is intelligent and suspenseful. It takes the subject of magic seriously and seems well informed. Despite centering around a Satanic cult it never detours into the lurid or sensationalistic. In short, like The Ninth Gate, this is an occult movie for the thinking person. But don’t think it’s dry or slow. It moves at a good pace, keeps the viewer’s attention and has memorable imagery. This is a horror classic brought to you by Hammer, the masters of horror.

            Two old friends (Christopher Lee and Leon Greene) discover that the son of a dead friend has gotten himself involved with a Satanic cult led by a powerful magus (played wonderfully by Charles Gray). Conflict ensues when they try to prevent their young friend from going through with his Satanic baptism.

 

 

            Most folks would say that Dracula was Christopher Lee’s best role but I think it was this. He plays the Duke de Richleau, an aristocrat with no small amount of occult knowledge, kind of like an upper class John Constantine. Lee looks rather satanic himself with his goatee but he goes against type as the hero. He is so charismatic and intense that you can’t take your eyes off of him.

            Charles Gray’s portrayal of the cult leader is strong. He is obviously an Aleister Crowley figure but plays it very dapper. He pushes the evil to almost Bond-villain levels but doesn’t make it cartoonish. He seems to be smiling to himself no matter what horror is occurring. At one point, after being rebuffed by a family guarding an escapee from his cult, he says, quite charmingly “I shall not return. But something will. Tonight.”

 

        

    

    Nike Arrighi is also good as the young girl caught up in the cult. She is a sympathetic character who seems to have resigned herself to the eventual loss of her soul. She had a small appearance in another Hammer film, Countess Dracula.

            The film is based on the 1934 novel of the same name, by Dennis Wheatley. Though Wheatley wrote a lot of spy novels he was also very knowledgeable of the occult. His book, The Devil and All His Works is an excellent survey of occult lore through the ages. No less than three of Wheatley’s novels became Hammer films including the similarly themed To the Devil a Daughter (which also starred Lee but as the villain). The other, Uncharted Seas, was filmed by Hammer as The Lost Continent.

 

            If you want an intense, well-crafted thriller then you’ll enjoy The Devil Rides Out. Its imagery will stick with you. Two moments in particular stand out. The first is the summoning of the Devil, which appears as a goat headed man presiding over a cult of worshipers.  The other is the appearance of the Angel of Death as a black knight on a winged horse. It’s a good companion piece to another British occult thriller, Night of the Demon. Of interest to metal fans, the film's poster was the inspiration for the album cover for Witchcult Today, by the English band, Electric Wizard.

 

The Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf

  

The Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf

1985

Director- Phillippe Mora

Cast- Christopher Lee, Sybil Danning, Annie McEnroe, Reb Brown, Marsha Hunt

            

     Howling 2 is nominally a werewolf movie in that it has werewolves. It also has an ancient cult (pack?) led by a sorceress queen, a gargoyle bat, an undead dwarf and so much weird stuff that it’s just barely a werewolf movie.

            

     

     The story begins with a quote from Revelations (read by Christopher Lee) about The Whore of Babylon, an allusion to the movies chief antagonist , Stirba (Sybil Danning) the queen of the earth’s werewolves. A type of werewolf apocalypse is coming. We don’t know what this means other than “all werewolves will reveal themselves”, but it must not be good.

Their queen, Stirba, is about to have her 10,000^th birthday and they are apparently throwing a big werewolf party to usher in the new age. Stirba is a type of Elizabeth Bathory character. She appears as an old crone, but after the sacrifice of a young girl, she transforms into the super-hot Sybil Danning.

Christopher Lee is an occult investigator who has an extensive knowledge of werewolves. He leads a team to Eastern Europe to destroy Stirba and her werewolf cult. He has to confront much more than the standard werewolf problems. Stirba has the forces of darkness at her command. She can cast spells, perform mind control, and summon a gargoyle.

           

     The original Howling is at least one of the 3 best werewolf movies of all time. It was really scary and had revolutionary werewolf designs. The Howling 2, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t make anyone’s werewolf top10 list. It was generally panned by critics, but what do they know? If the film hadn’t been called “The Howling 2” it probably would have been better received. Much like Halloween 3, it has been maligned for its departure from its source material. The Howling franchise was long and varied and none of the other volumes lived up to the original. At least part 2 tries to do something different and fun.

           

     

     The only area where the movie is really lacking is in its werewolf designs. Most of the werewolves look like either extra-hairy cavemen or at best extra-angry Sasquatches. There are a few really good designs though. Veteran genre actor Freddy Mayne has a small role as an elderly werewolf and they did a really good job of capturing what an old werewolf looks like. Sybil Danning never goes full wolf but spends a lot of time as a blonde hirsute she beast. She still manages to look hot despite being covered in hair.

            

     Howling 2 has a lot going for it, if you’re willing to forget that it has nothing to do with The Howling. As previously stated, it’s weird. Along with the sorcery there is a giant werewolf S&M orgy (you read that right) that seems to last for half of the film. Sybil, in her main costume (a sexy leather and brass design), looks like the lead singer of an 80s glam band.  It has a real frenetic energy, at times, helped by its New Wave soundtrack. The location adds a lot of authentic atmosphere. It was shot in Czechoslovakia and the real castles and villages create the atmosphere of the old Universal horror films.

The movie was obviously done with less resources that its predecessor, but it’s one of the best vehicles for Sybil Danning I’ve ever seen. She and Christopher Lee have so much charisma, they make up for a lot of the movie’s shortcomings. Christopher Lee hated the movie, probably because he was expecting something more like the first film, but he still turns in a good performance and is entertaining.

Watch the movie if you want something crazy weird or if you just like Sybil Danning.

           

Fun fact- This movie has a special Hammer films connection. Not only does it star Christopher Lee himself, it also stars Marsh Hunt as Mariana, an up and coming werewolf in Stirba’s cult. Marsha is probably better known for her role as Gaynor in Dracula 1972 A.D. (which also starred Lee).

 

 

Satanic Rites of Dracula

  

Satanic Rites of Dracula

1973

Director- Alan Gibson

Cast- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Coles, William Franklyn, Freddie Jones, Joanna Lumley, Valerie Van Ost, Richard Vernon, Barbara Yu Ling, Mia Martin

           

     Known in the States by the less controversial title, Dracula and His Vampire Brides, this movie is a direct sequel to Dracula 1972 A.D., taking place in the same timeline. It’s less of a horror film and more of a sci-fi / spy thriller with a little bit of horror thrown in.

           

     A British spy agency has been monitoring a secretive group that has high ranking members of British society in its ranks. The members all participate in salacious Satanic rites where they watch a beautiful nubile young girl get sacrificed on an altar, only to rise from the dead. The horny old men are appropriately aroused and enthralled, but its smoke and mirrors, so to speak. It’s not Satan that is bringing the girl back to life, its good old fashioned vampirism. The sacrificial girl and all of the other women serving the coven are vampires (unbeknownst to the men).

            

     Dracula is using these powerful men to engineer a world ending Armageddon utilizing a new strand of the Black Plague. Along with his stable of vampire women, Dracula also has an army of dirt bike riding henchmen, complete with matching outfits. Fearing reprisal from the powerful men in the coven, the spy agency brings in an outsider, a detective from Scotland Yard (Michael Coles, reprising his role from the previous film). The detective, upon learning of the occult details of the case brings in his old friend Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). Van Helsing brings in Jessica (played by Joanna Lumley this time instead of Stephanie Beacham). So much for secrecy at this point.

            

     

    Van Helsing suspects that his old nemesis is at the center of this cabal and confirms it when he confronts the Count , now living in a high rise apartment built on the site of the old church from the last film.

            

     The rest of the crew infiltrate the coven’s headquarters and the detective finds himself cornered in the basement with the Counts harem of brides. No worries though. Our old friend running water makes its triumphant return when he activates the sprinkler system and kills all of the women with one fell swoop. You know, if the vampires are that vulnerable to water, maybe putting their coffins underneath a sprinkler system was a bad idea. Kind of like the Wicked Witch leaving a bucket of water lying around. Lame.

            

     

      Dracula’s world ending plot is foiled and The Count , chasing after Van Helsing, meets his most humiliating death yet. He runs into a hawthorne bush and gets snagged on the thorns. He screams and writhes and weakly crawls on the ground until finally collapsing in exhaustion. Van Helsing ends the sad display by sticking a fence post in the Count.  So after being killed by sunlight, stakes, lightening, and the Power of God, the thing that finally got the Lord of the Undead was a bush. Yep, a bush. Oh Van Helsing might have put a fence post in him but that was just to save the Count further humiliation.

           

      This is a bad film. No two ways about it.  This was Lee’s last appearance as the Count for Hammer. He was thoroughly disgusted by the role, describing it as a cross between Dr. No and Howard Hughes (Dracula doesn’t even show up until half an hour into the film).  Though the film, and the role, are bad, it would be over stating it to say that this film is what finally turned him off. Lee had been losing interest in the franchise for some time and this volume was just the final nail in the coffin.

           

     Beyond that, the movie doesn’t even feel like a Hammer film, despite the presence of Lee and Cushing. It was directed by Alan Gibson who gave us Dracula 1972 A.D. but it doesn’t even feel like that film. It didn’t look like a Hammer film. It was missing that rich color palette that so many of the films had. It was also missing the recognizable faces that made Hammer films seem like a family reunion. It was also missing the Hammer starlets. Oh there are attractive women, but none of them are genre stars in their own right like what we had seen in the previous films. Every volume of the franchise up to that point had at least one memorable, iconic girl. The women in this film are just used like background scenery.

            

     As bad as the film is, there are some people that will like it and it does have some redeeming qualities.  The concept is original even if poorly executed. If it wasn’t a Hammer film but say, some lower budget Italian or Spanish film with Paul Naschy, I think I would have been able to enjoy it more.

            

     Although Hammer  was on its last leg, it would have one more installment of the Dracula franchise in store for us, a crazy one, that would at least end the franchise on a high note.

Fun fact- In this film, Dracula uses his power to trick a bunch of Satanists. A similar concept was used in the animated Tomb of Dracula movie, Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned. In that film, Dracula convinces a coven that he is the Prince of Darkness and steals one of their members for his wife.

Fun fact #2- Look out for a young  Freddie Jones (to the extent that he was ever young) as one of the coven members.

  

 

Dracula 1972 A.D.

Dracula 1972 A.D.

1972

Director- Alan Gibson

Cast- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Stephanie Beacham, Christopher Neame, Caroline Munro, Michael Coles, Janet Key, Michael Kitchen, William Ellis

            

     Like its predecessor, Scars of Dracula, this film takes place outside of the timeline established at the beginning of the series. Unlike its predecessor there’s no one named Paul! It also features the return of Peter Cushing to the franchise, his first appearance since Brides of Dracula.

            

     The film begins with Dracula and Van Helsing (Lee and Cushing) fighting it out on a runaway carriage. The carriage crashes. Van Helsing is mortally wounded but holds on long enough to see that Dracula has been impaled on a wagon wheel (not the most glamorous death). The lord of the undead soon withers away to dust and Van Helsing keels over dead. Unfortunately, one of Dracula’s acolytes soon swoops down and collects the Counts remains and buries them next to a church yard.

            

     Fast forward a hundred years to modern (for the time) London. Van Helsing’s descendant (played by Cushing) is an anthropologist that specializes in the occult. His niece, Jessica (Stephanie Beachum) hangs with a group of miscreant hippy types. Most of their thrills are limited to crashing house parties and free love. However, a new member of the group, Johnny Alucard (yeah that old gag again) seems to have more sinister interests.

            

     Johnny talks the group into conducting a black mass for kicks (it was the 70s you have to remember).  Like Taste the Blood of Dracula, this film tries to draw a parallel between Dracula and the Devil. The ceremony takes place in a desecrated church (right next to where Drac’s ashes are buried).Johnny is the latest descendant in a line that has always served Dracula and he uses the ceremony to bring the Count back from the grave. The group of kids freak out when things get weird and aren’t aware that the Count has returned. Dracula has his first snack on the beautiful Caroline Munro.

            

     The police investigate the murder and soon tie it to Jessica and her uncle. Van Helsing has a pretty good idea what’s going on and surprisingly the police detective leading the investigation (Michael Coles) believes him.

            

     Dracula bites his way through Jessica’s crew with the help of Johnny (now a vampire himself). The Count really wants Jessica but it seems like if you want something done right you have to do it yourself because Johnny is pretty pathetic as far as vampires go. When fighting Van Helsing, he seems to have absolutely no special vampire powers and pulls a switchblade. And how does Van Helsing kill him? Did he use a stake? Fire? Sunlight? No. Johnny gets killed by a shower. He falls in the shower and the running water kills him. Pathetic.

           

     

     The Count does get his hands on Jessica, leading to a final confrontation between the two sworn enemies. This time the Count meets his end by falling into a hole with sharp sticks. Not a very dramatic end but much more dignified than the way he would die in the next installment of the series.

            

     Compared to the rest of the franchise, Dracula 1972 A.D. is about middle of the road. As a Generation Xer I’m too young to really appreciate the whole free love thing. I kept expecting Austin Powers to show up in some of the films more groovy scenes.  I don’t think the modern setting worked very well compared to the other films, but kudos to Hammer for taking the chance and changing things up.

            

     The best reason to recommend the film is the cast of lovelies. One face that horror fans may recognize is Marsha Hunt, who plays one of the girls in Jessica’s circle of friends.  Marsha would have a much more prominent role as Mariana, the young hot werewolf in Howling 2.  Caroline Munro is the most recognizable starlet in the film having starred in numerous genre films including another Hammer vampire film, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. The main attraction though is Stephanie Beachum. Hammer wardrobe choices always showed off the ladies tangible assets but Stephanie’s dress at the end of the film seems to be defying physics.

            

     Over all, an enjoyable film despite the annoying hippies. It was good to see Van Helsing vs. Dracula again.