[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Twins of Evil (1971)

The third and final film in Hammer's Karnstein trilogy (The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Lust for a Vampire (1971) being the other two films) and again penned by Tudor Gates, is one of Hammer's bleakest movies.

The story involving the vampire Mircalla is again loosely based on the 1872 novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Here Mircalla is brought back to life in a sacrificial rite by Damien Thomas's Count Karnstein who is then turned into a vampire by the resurrected vamp. Karnstein then takes a shine to Peter Cushing's nieces as played by the Collinson twins Mary and Madeleine and proceedings really begin to get bloody and sexy.

For once Hammer blurs the boundaries between good and evil. Peter Cushing is on top form and playing against type as the hypocritical head of a puritan brotherhood, Gustav Veil, and is happy to put to death any young woman suspected of being a witch, vampire or basically anything other than a god fearing puritan. Veil is certainly reminiscent of Vincent Price's Matthew Hopkins from 1968's Witchfinder General and even comes to a similar end with an axe in the back.

It's this blurring that gives the movie it's grim tone, or at least that and the gory deaths, such as Dennis Price having his throat ripped open for instance.

John Hough directs with stylish verve and the film looks fantastic, whilst the the Collinson twins certainly provide the film with glamour and sex appeal, and the score from composer Harry Robertson is one of the best ever heard in a British horror film.

I love Twins of Evil. It combines so many motifs of classic Gothic horror - vampires, satanic cults, witch hunts, gloomy castles, dark woods, huge dollops of atmosphere, gore, mild erotica and of course a stand out performance from Peter Cushing.

Seeing the film on Network's Blu-ray for the first time last night was a joyous occasion.