Maria and Fredia Gellhorn (Mary and Madeline Collinson) have just arrived in the bleak village of Karnstein to live with their uncle Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing). Uncle Gustav is stern and also the leader of the Brotherhood, a group that defends the locals from the evils of witchcraft and demons. They define witchcraft as pretty much anything they don't like however.
They're not exactly wrong, however, as there have been a series of deaths. Each victim was found totally drained of blood and only two puncture wounds on the neck. Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas) is utterly indifferent to his subjects being slaughtered, busy as he is with conducting Satanic rituals in his castle.
Maria and Fredia don't exactly fit in. Maria thinks they should keep their mouths shut and do what their uncle says, whereas Fredia believes if she's going to be stuck with a crazy loon it should be one who lets her have fun.
Speaking of fun, the count is growing weary at pretend wickedness and wants what his ancestors had. Killing a local girl over the crypt of the his ancestor the Countess Mircalla (Katya Wyeth) ends with the countess coming back to life and offering him immorality and all the power he can have. The count accepts.
Fredia picks the next night to pay a visit to the count. She's shocked at his being newly undead but not so shocked as to reject his offer to get in on the ground floor of his new court. She proves to be quite the glutton, slaying three people in as many days. She just polishes off the local schoolteacher when the victim's brother Anton (David Warbeck) returns.
This leads to some problems, as the Count breaks Fredia out of jail and replaces her with Maria. Uncle Gustav doesn't seem to notice or care as long as he gets to burn someone. Anton manages to figure it out when "Maria" doesn't cast a reflection. With a last minute save, can the assembled townspeople stop the vampires?
All told a fitting end to the Karnstein saga. One note about Peter Cushing; his wife Violet Beck had passed away before filming (in fact her illness had prevented him from working on Lust for a Vampire). The man looks utterly beaten down and broken.
Twins of Evil doesn't fully live up to its potential, but it comes closer than most of Hammer's 70's fare. It's a good shot in the arm, but even rampant nudity couldn't save the studio at this point.
No comments:
Post a Comment