Movie Review - Twins of Evil

I'm approaching my 50th birthday which means that when this film was released, in 1971, I was four years old and certainly not able to enter a cinema for what was an 'X' certification at the time. The 'X' was a great certification as it let everyone know that they were in for blood and some gratuitous nudity in varying amounts of each. These days you're not entirely sure what you're going to get in a PG film.

Strangely enough I came to this movie via the BBC as much as by the colour stills in my Hamlyn Book of Horror Movies. As a ten-year old (going on ten and a half) the BBC ran horror double bills on Saturday nights during the Summer under the title "Dracula, Frankenstein and Friends". The first movie was always a classic black and white movie, usually from Universal's 30's and 40's list. The second, well that was the territory of Hammer and Amicus International mainly and while rebooted is the current vogue word, back then they were just colour remakes.

Now the chief difficulty for a nearly-ten-and-a-half-year old was how to watch them. As it was Saturday in Summer, this would be post village cricket time. My parents often went out on Saturdays leaving my 7 year old brother and I in the hands of a babysitter. The deal was that my brother went to bed shortly after my parents went out and I got to stay up until the end of the black and white horror. Whilst it may have started like this, it quickly moved on to me watching as much of the next colour movie as possible before the headlights of my parent's car appeared in the driveway, at which point I would scarper up the stairs. I guess I was just lucky that the babysitter liked horror movies too.

Twins of Evil is neither a reboot or a remake, but it is part of a trilogy loosely based on Seridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla'. It never showed on the Summer movie double bills as far as I can recall, but I'd seen enough of Hammer that by the time the VHS video boom occurred it was high on my list of priorities.

Hammer, for me, were never better than when they did period movies with the whole 19th Century Victoriana feel. I like some of the modernised movies, such as Dracula AD 1972, just not as much as the movies that reminded me of Bram Stoker's novel.

This movie is set in an Eastern European village at a time when horse and cart was the mode of travel, barmaids were voluptuous women in Bavarian style clothing and Peter Cushing and his Sunday School friends leant an air of Puritanical intollerance. The local aristocracy, in the form of Count Karnstein, is a ruthless playboy who toys with the Dark Arts, tormenting village girls provided by his aide.

One night one of these rituals goes wrong culminating in the release from interrment of the Count's long dead vampiric ancestor Mircalla. She subsequently initiates her descendant into unlife as a vampire in what is a very well put together sequence.

The story moves along briskly enough, bringing the Count into immediate conflict with Peter Cushing's equally sadistic guardian of the local morals and the handsome, liberal, atheist librarian/music teacher. The arrival of Cushing's twin nieces is perfectly opportune and the Count wastes little time in getting his teeth into one of them. Which one, however, is a plot device that is well used throughout the movie.

I will say no more about the story and instead point out that this movie looks much more professional than some of the earlier Hammer movies. An absence of creaky scenery, some good supporting roles and a solid story, help what could have been a pretty rotten idea.

The Collinson twins, fresh from appearances in Playboy, appear to have been dubbed and fortunately aren't really called on for too much in the acting stakes. Cushing is his usual reliable self, here playing a different character to any I have seen him play before in Hammer movies.

I really do just love the feel of this movie. It's easily my favourite Hammer Horrors and if you are prepared to accept that it's now over 40 years old and not filled with modern special effects, you just might enjoy this eerie romp.