Friday, October 18, 2013

15 Favorite Horror Films - #14

The Devil Rides Out - 1968

    





      In the late 50s, a British production company called Hammer, then known for suspense and science fiction films, started to release horror films.  Unlike the other horror films in the 1950s, these weren't about nuclear tests making animals large size or about aliens taking over the world.  No red scare allegories here or nuclear scare stuff.  The first in Hammer's horror cycle were 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula.  Both starred Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, who are now regarded as the two biggest stars of the company.  The next year they did The Mummy again starring Lee and Cushing.  With these three huge successes, the company produced many horror films until the company lost it's way in the mid 1970s.  They made many Dracula, Mummy and Frankenstein films, but also original films and adaptations of other horror literature.  And for the first time, there was lots of blood... In color.  At the time, the studio was considered by some critics to be in poor taste and disgusting.  Others saw the films as fun for the whole family.  Today they are for the most part quite tame, but for the time they were considered gory with a lot of sex appeal due to the buxom beauties that were included in almost every film they made.  The films had high production values even though shot on small budgets.  There's a reason why the company is so lauded now as a high point in horror film-making.  This film is one of the best they did, and is Christopher Lee's favorite film he did.

     The Devil Rides Out is based on a novel by Dennis Wheatley, a famous author of occult thriller novels.  The movie is an adaptation of a book in the author's Duke de Richlau series.  The duke and his friend find out that the son of their deceased friend, whom they look after, is involved in the black arts.  He's joined a society run by a man called Macata, and they worship the Devil.  That night is supposed to be Simon's re-baptism to become a satan worshiper.  The plan gets foiled, and they must keep Simon and a girl who is also set to be re-baptized from being found and the baptism carried out. 

     It may not sound like much, and I'm sure today it would seem quaint and laughable.  But for 1968?   This was some serious stuff.  The older generation viewed the younger ones of the day with contempt and many were considered to be devil-worshipers.  (They were mostly just hippies or free-lovers.)  The author of the book was one who believed such things too.  I'm sure a lot of them did dabble in Satanism at the time, as LeVay Satanism was founded in 1966 and Charles Manson had his following at the same time.  In Hammer films of the late 60s, early 70s Satan worship was a big thing.  This one was the least silly.  I mean it's still pretty campy, but it's at least enthralling and scarcely laughable.  Charles Gray (who played the criminologist in Rocky Horror Picture Show) is quite menacing.  His glaring blue eyes are particularly menacing in the hypnotism scene. 


     The film would only be frightening to those that believe the devil has power over people, as goes with most of the horror films in that genre.  Horror is very subjective, and it's hard to tell how many people or who a particular film will scare.  I imagine that hard-boiled no nonsense atheists would find no horror films particularly frightening...  At least not those that deal with the supernatural, as they don't believe in it.  For a horror film to be effective, you have to believe somewhere inside of you.  It's easy for me.  Heck, I believe in the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot.  Makes the world a more interesting place if you open your mind to possibilities however small.  For instance, this film has some pretty good special effects for the time.  There's a scene where our heroes stand in a circle drawn on the floor to protect themselves from the forces of darkness sent by Macata.  They see all of these illusions meant to draw them outside of the circle.  The water turns to sulpher, there's a giant spider, even the angel of death shows up on his winged horse!  It's a cool scene.

     Another cool scene is the Satanic orgy, which isn't as sexy as it sounds.  By orgy, I mean party, even if they do call it an orgy.  I suppose the sacrifices and blood make it an orgy.  Anyway, in this scene, the Goat of Mendes (Baphomet) shows up at the baptism.  The Goat of Mendes had started to be used as a symbol for the Church of Satan, but before that it was an idol used by the Knights Templar.  Here he's known as the Devil himself.  The scene is actually pretty creepy in an over-the-top way, and is the one part of this film that would go on to be one of the things from horror films to be used in my favorite band, Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast music video.


     There's an aura of mystery and menace to the film, which is why I really like it.  It was a challenging time to do an occult film in the 1960s, but in that same year, Rosemary's Baby came out as well.  For the next few years, the devil was the big villain in quite a few films ranging from The Exorcist to From The Devil A Daughter to The Omen.  

     I recommend almost any film in the Hammer horror canon.  They have a style to them that's hard to come by.  For modern audiences, I'd say the closest thing to that style would be Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, which had Hammer as a huge influence.  Dark woods, frightened townspeople, battles between religion and atheism, lots of cleavage and sex appeal..  All traits of Hammer horror.  Oh, and of course blood.  Lots of bright red blood.  I would particularly recommend this film, Curse of Frankenstein, Curse of The Werewolf, The Mummy, Rasputin The Mad Monk, Dracula Has Risen From The Grave and Captain Cronos.



    As I said, the film isn't really frightening anymore, but it's good fun.  You don't see satan as a scary evil in many horror films anymore.

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