Hallo-Watch: Twins of Evil (1971)

Watched:  10/07/2023

Format:  BluRay

Viewing:  Second

Director:  John Hough

I had watched and even blogged Twins of Evil (1971) previously, but I really didn't remember it  It happens (I sometimes have a cocktail when watching a film).  I didn't even recall it starred Peter Cushing.

But star Peter Cushing it does!  He plays a religious zealot who has formed a posse of like-minded puritans who are taking the fact that there seems to be a vampire on the loose to ride around, finding attractive young Hammer ladies, and then burn them at the stake, suspecting them of being a witch or vampire without ever actually checking.  You know, they just feel it in their gut that this girl who is doing something as shady as walking home is clearly in league with Satan (we get Judy Matheson in a pivotal role here illustrating the problem).  

This movie is part of Hammer's parallel-to-Dracula vampire series, the Karnstein Trilogy.  The series starts with The Vampire Lovers (one of my personal favorite horror films), is followed by Lust for a Vampire (which I recently rewatched and found I loved it on a second viewing), and now we land here, with Twins of Evil.   

Vampire Carmilla Karnstein acts as the central for the three films (the first movie is based on the OG vampire novel, Carmilla) as well as the Karnstein castle, up on a hill over an otherwise peaceful town.  Here, Carmilla appears briefly, but long enough to bestow vampirism on a wicked descendant of the family now occupying the castle.  He was already a *huge* fan of Satan, and so he is pumped to the max to go from closet enthusiast to actual employee of Old Scratch.  

What is unclear in the film is:  who is the vampire killing people before Count Karnstein is turned?  I can't say.  Carmilla is chilling in a tomb til the first act turn.  

Anyhoo, a pair of lovely twin sisters arrive from Venice.  They've recently lost their parents and have come to live with their aunt and uncle, who happens to be the severe Gustav Weil (Cushing).  One twin is the good-hearted one, and the other is the fun one.  And soon she's plotting to run on up to that castle and make time with Count Karnstein (unaware he's a vampire) so that she can get out from her uncle's roof and rules.  

I remember very little about watching this movie the first time, but on a second (and likely more sober viewing) I quite dug the subtext of the film - you're essentially having to pit bad people against a greater evil, but that doesn't erase all the harm they've done.  And when the government has the badguy's back because of his station, are you going to stick to your supposed moral stance when you're now risking your own skin?  

Mary and Madeline Collinson are ideal for the part of the twins - still young enough that Frieda's rebellion feels like a person hitting womanhood who would want to defy authority as they define themselves.  Maria's more docile nature is simply the other path she could have taken.  And they're solid together, figuring out their new life in this town, under the thumb of their clearly dangerous uncle.  What life now lies ahead for them?

Anyway, I liked it.  the gentleman who plays Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas) is terrific, and the movie has some nice photography and appropriately horrific sequences.  It feels like the budget on this one was substantial with the sets, costuming, size of the cast, etc... so Hammer had faith in it.  Who knew we'd still be looking at it in 2023?  So faith well placed.

The movie is not as sexy as the prior two films, but it also isn't trying for that or relying on it.  There's other things afoot, and romance is a bit more perfunctory, as is the seduction aspect so we can get to the meat of the plot, so to speak.

The last fifteen minutes of the movie are excellent and a proper climax to what's been building all along.  Kudos to good scripting.  

Anyway, as much as I enjoy the Dracula and Frankenstein films, I'd never say that the Karnstein movies are anything less than peers to those films. They're different and stand-alone, but I think challenge the audience in ways that are maybe a bit more deft than "we should really stab Dracula".