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Twins of Evil. (1971)

Dir: John Hough

Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing) is head of 'The Brotherhood', a group of fanatical Puritans who are roaming the countryside hunting down anyone (mostly attractive, single Females) who they believe to be in league with Satan.

Gustav's becomes Guardian of his two Nieces, Maria (Mary Collinson) and Frieda (Madeline Collinson), when their parents die.
Maria is kind and shy while Frieda is wayward and cruel. And from the start Frieda defies her Uncle.

The local Nobility, and sworn enemy of Weil, is one Count Karnstein, (Damian Thomas), an evil sadist who craves sin and blasphemy to add thrills to his decadent lifestyle. His cruelty is well known, but his close ties with The King protect him from the wrath of 'The Brotherhood'.

Local sleaze merchant Dietrich (Dennis Price, doing a fine job and at the start of his slide into Euro/Exploitaion obscurity) supplies Karnstein with local girls and pseudo-Satanists to entertain him. But he ties of these weak pleasures and one night sacrifices one of Dietrich's girls on an altar.
Her Blood runs into it and revives the Queen of Vampires herself, Mircalla Karnstein (here briefly essayed by Katya Keith) who promptly bites her evil relative, turning him (very willingly and after a rather dubious sex scene that sees 'Hammer' use a candle to 'mime' what it could not show) into a Vampire.

Soon a spate of Vampire killings adds fuel to Weils religious zeal, and a local music Teacher named Anton (David Warbeck) tries to calm 'The Brotherhoods' fanatical tide. But as Frieda embraces the psycho/sexual charms of The Count a final confrontation between Good and Evil, and all that lies in between, is inevitable…

The final part of 'Hammer's' "Karnstein" Trilogy that started with "The Vampire Lovers" (loosely based on Sheridan Le Fanu's Lesbian tinged tale of Vampyric erotica "Carmilla"), is one of the gems in their crown.

A truly outstanding performance by Cushing, is the films highlight. With Gustav Weil he is s given one of his most multi-faceted characters ever to play. He is a complex and ultimately hypocritical man. A man who does indeed recognize evil, who does want to rid the land of this evil and yet his fanaticism corrupts him as much as Count Karnstein is already corrupted. His rigid religious beliefs simply overtake the goodness in him. Deep down it is obvious he has no real proof of the guilt of the Women he burns, I would even go so far to say that he knows some of them to be innocent, yet their lifestyles compel him to deliver his God's justice.
He is just as much a sexual fanatic (or anti-sex fanatic if you will) as a religious one.
Single, non-church going, pretty young Women are a sin just waiting to happen and must be stamped out.
Cushing is the lynch pin that holds this excellent film together.
His coldness to all those around him is uncompromisingly shown in a scene where he proves to a disbelieving Anton that Vampires do indeed exist. It is perhaps one of the psychologically cruel scenes a Cushing character has ever been in. And the 'Gentleman of Horror' pulls it off to perfection.
It is a fantastically judged, emotionally complex piece of acting.

The rest of the cast is also delivering marvelous work. A young Warbeck is in top form here, in another role that is so much more than what we see on the surface. He is a character that we see develop and change as the horrific events unfold.
And full marks to Damian Thomas as well, who makes a truly nasty, sadistic and arrogant villain (he is so good in fact that it is a shame he never got a chance to portray Dracula himself). And again Writer Tudor Gates gives us a far from simplistic character, Karnstein is just as able to see the true evil that haunts Weil's heart as Warbeck's Anton is and at one point he actually becomes the word of truth as he confronts Gustav about his and his Men's reign of Puritanical terror. He is one of the most wickedly enjoyable, and also intelligent villains in all of 'Hammer's' films'

"Playboy" 'Playmates', the Collinson Twins are actually pretty good and more than just typical 'Hammer' eye candy, as the 'Evil Twin' Madeline is especially effective.

But it's not just the Characters, and the wonderful performances that bring them to life, that are the joys in this film.
We have a truly excellent and vibrant score by Harry Robertson that has one of the best main themes in any 'Hammer' film, and punctuates the action perfectly

We have wonderful looking sets (Karnstein Castle is a superbly crafted, Gothic home to house the Counts black sins) and the combined work of Art Director Roy Stannard and Cinematographer Dick Bush help to create one of 'Hammers' most atmospheric and realistically historical looking films.

The Direction by Hough (who's sadly mixed quality of work combines everything from "The Legend of Hell House" to the infamous 'Disney' bomb "The Watcher in the Woods") is expert, moving the film along at a brisk pace (it's easily one of 'Hammer's' fastest moving and involving films), giving us many sub-plots to hold the attention and yet never sacrificing the time spent on essential characterization.

As we are also at the start of the 'explicit 70's' "Twins", as well as delivering beautifully wrought plotting and characters, also provides some choice exploitation moments.
The brief gore is well done and one scene in particular delivers an explicit and sudden punch.
The nudity is actually pretty restrained (their nightgowns cleverly hide much of the Collinson's fine frames, though a latter sequence does indeed show us what "Playboy" saw in these attractive young Ladies) but delivers just enough flesh, including two subtle female full frontal shots, to add to the films 'thrills' yet never goes too far into the dank cellar of all out sleaze.
But the most explicit facet of the film is something less obvious than breasts. It is in fact the surprisingly explicit sexual sadism that flows from The Count, and later Frieda. Karnstein's obvious sexual pleasure in both emotionally and physically torturing his victims is blatant, and he does not care if he shows it in front of people.

His sadistic, sexually charged arrogance, when he announces to an obviously worried Dietrich that he and Frieda will 'play' with one of Dietrich's girls, is wanton. Together, The Count and Frieda, become the closest 'Hammer' ever came to portraying sexual serial killers, and the film is all the more powerful for it.

With "Twins of Evil" we see a rare beast indeed. A fairly explicit exploitation film that delivers on the audiences changing expectations, and yet still manages to be a beautifully made, wonderfully acted and genuinely classy horror movie. A perfect, and rare, combination.