D emons of the Mindgets another impressive transfer to Blu-ray from Studio Canal. However, it's Michael Hordern who really steals the show, with a magnificent portrayal of an itinerant priest, screaming hellfire and damnation at whoever he encounters. The film also benefits from an exceptional cast, including an assured Robert Hardy, who manages never to overstep the mark as the dangerous lost soul Zorn how easily in the hands of a lesser actor could this character have descended into swivel-eyed loon. It is a Gothic mystery that deliberately denies us the representative horror figures of vampires or werewolves. This underrated film has since gained a better reputation. Local wenches are being murdered in the woods, and the superstitious peasants think demons are responsible. Jekyll and Sister Hyde 1972 , Virginia Wetherell.
Hammer fans will see the value in the - a shade over 7 Euros a film. To which I say: are you kidding? The youth in the movie are listless, held in abeyance, in check, drained of vitality and life. The dysfunctional family and the fight for their sanity aligns the film with a number of British horror films of the 1970s that featured traumatised children and compromised father figures. And in the end, isn't that the point? Watch this expecting to find a formula Hammer gothic horror and you'll be disappointed. That the film plays seriously, yet overflows with ripe dialogue, riper camera-work in close-ups and zooms, meanders away from a straight path of narrative to a crooked way through the woods, might mean some are not seeing the wood for the trees.
Demons of the Mind is an ambiguous, restless film. Further location work was completed at Black Park and Aldenham Country Park. . Picture is excellent, sharp with grain but lively. Consequently, Demons of the Mind took over a year to get released. Demons Of The Mind is a right load of old cobblers, which mixes costume drama with cod psychology and ends with a particularly gruelling amount of hand loppings, shootings, stabbings, and burning-crucifix-impalings. It's in dual-layered territory and has a high bitrate for the 1.
There are hints of something supernatural - or, at least, supranatural - but they are kept at arm's length, equally attributable to the psychological effects on the viewer of montage technique as anything explicit to the narrative. Hammer needed new blood to maintain its credibility. Michael, having taken over from his father James as managing director in January 1971, was keen to propel Hammer in a different direction. He's enormous fun to watch, whether it's beseeching the heavens for a sign during a torrential rainstorm, or hauling a burning cross aloft as spoiler alert the madness of the crowd, gripped by superstition, finally exacts its bloody reckoning on their lord and master - and, symbolically, the brave new world of science. Sometimes a pretentious script, Robert Hardy's over-acting, the superfluous appearance of Michael Horden's priest and a bizarre unhappy ending does not ruin the enjoyment. And by the end you will react.
As the credits roll on the bleak ending another brave departure for Hammer at the time I found myself chuckling at just how much this film exceeded my expectations. In November 1972 it was dumped onto a double-bill with Tower of Evil 1972 , a very low budget British exploitation slasher filled with nudity and gore. Discredited psychologist Falkenberg Patrick Magee - , analyses the family and it transpires that the children witnessed their mother cut her own throat. Post-production commenced in September 1971. If you remember Robert Hardy from the likes of All Creatures Great and Small, he is barely recognisable in the lead role as Zorn, but still gives a stirring performance.
The pacing seems way to slow resulting in a missed opportunity to bring some much need energy to proceedings. In the early seventies Hammer wished to move away from rather straight gothic horror to films with more psychological themes. Hordern as a priest is adrift, badly clothed, perhaps not of sound mind. The early 70s was a time when Hammer was injecting new life into their output; experimenting with fresh ideas and fresh talent, and not being afraid to take risks along the way. From the five stars it might be clear I am either a monstrous fan, or am afflicted with something akin to that which runs through this Hammer adult-gothic. Symbolism, phallicism, elemental forces, all come bearing down on us.
Even the heroic champion of studiousness he owns many books is not actually much of a pay off. In short, a stroke of what the 70's flavour was edging ever more blatantly toward. Peter Hutchings saw this as a central theme in The Creeping Flesh 1973 and And Now The Screaming Starts 1973 , saying: These films concentrate on the difficult relations between fathers and their children, with the father often seen as preventing his children from becoming adults. They are determined to be, essentially, the exact same discs. Sometimes it descends into ham - Shane Briant, in particular, seems to have been encouraged to go to extremes and, being fairly new to acting, lacks the confidence to step back - but he and Gillian Hills still manage to be sympathetic as the two teenagers kept under close supervision in the confines of a remote stately home. Here he plays a rather rowdy farmer having his wicked way with a local female and is another of the wonderful heritage that Hammer gave classic British actors in their production slate.
Generational, religious, class, and sexual conflicts became the major themes of the film. However, it may be too little too late, as a series of murders have occurred in the village, some of the victims being young women close to Elizabeth in appearance; and the villagers, not without reason, suspect the mad Baron and his children are to blame. Meanwhile, in a locality of 19 th Century Bavaria, a mad priest Michael Hordern and others are gathering. Perhaps he is a reprobate, certainly his zeal is enough to stir the pagan thrust of the populace against the elder monied elite. For blood lusts, a number of brutal attacks, and of course the casual blast of a gun, the twisting of an impaling vast crucifix on fire, axe mayhem, oh i could go on. Demons of the Mind is a welcome contribution to the series of films and deserving of a new Blu-ray release.