Customer Reviews

Twins of Evil [Blu-ray]

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TWINS OF EVIL was one of the few early 1970s Hammer Films that I got to see in a theater (or in this case a drive-in). As was often the case, a Hammer title was doubled up with some film of lesser quality which I had already forgotten by the time I got home. This one I remember well for the notoriety surrounding its use of Madeline & Mary Collinson, Playboy magazine's first twin centerfolds, but that wasn't why I went to see it. Like any true Hammer fan, I wanted to see Peter Cushing in his latest outing. I remember not liking it as much as THE VAMPIRE LOVERS because there was no Ingrid Pitt and the movie started off like a ripoff of WITCHFINDER GENERAL / CONQUEROR WORM although it did get better. Old pro Dennis Price (KIND HEARTS & CORONETS) was completely wasted, Damien Thomas (Count Karnstein) was definitely no Christopher Lee and Mircalla Karnstein was only in the movie briefly as a plot device. Still there were several visual and musical moments that managed to stay with me so that when I saw it some years later on TV I was suprised by how much of it I remembered.

I first encountered TWINS on a pretty good quality VHS in the late 1980s and then a few years ago on a restored Region 2 copy which looked absolutely stunning. I'm sure that this Severin Blu-Ray/DVD will be using the same source material which should look even better in a new transfer. Since several other reviews go into the plot in great detail, I will summarize it briefly. Twin girls, one good the other bad go to live with their puritanical uncle (Cushing) who leads a religious brotherhood that scours the countryside looking for young women to burn as witches (sound familiar?). Decadent aristocrat Count Karnstein turns into a vampire halfway through, corrupts the bad twin and then must face the wrath of Cushing and the zealots. Director John Hough (LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS) and ace cameraman Dick Bush have crafted a film that moves along nicely and is consistenly interesting to look at. The last time I saw it, I got a lot more out of it and can't wait to own it on Region 1 DVD. Now if Severin will just release HANDS OF THE RIPPER in their Hammer Horror Collection series, I'll have the last Hammer film that I really want in a quality edition.