Twins of Evil (1971)

"One uses her beauty for love! One uses her lure for blood!"

Plot

In 19th century middle-Europe, orphaned identical twins Maria and Frieda go to live with their deeply religious uncle who heads The Brotherhood, a group of witch-hunters who burn any females they are convinced are vampires. The Brotherhood is also in conflict with Count Karnstein, whom many suspect practises black magic. Frieda finds herself drawn to the mysterious Count and visits him in his mountain castle. Bored of satanic rituals, Karnstein has become a vampire and proceeds to turn Frieda into one too.

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One of Hammer's later films, Twins of Evil goes back to their roots of creating effective, serious horror films instead of the campy, silly outings they'd turned into. Hammer's later films were solid but not very memorable, mostly rehashing old ideas and dragging out tired franchises as much as they could because they didn't really know how to adapt to the times - evident within the years following this as the studio looked old fashioned compared to the modern American horrors that were terrorising audiences such as Night of the Living Dead and The Exorcist. With Twins of Evil, the studio creates one of its finer films filled with sadism, violence and a generally more sadistic and bleak outlook than it had created for a long time. Hammer trademarks are all here: the quality score, the Gothic atmosphere, the authentic sets and the odd peppering of character actors to beef up the lesser roles. But even with all of this, Twins of Evil just feels quaint and too old school.

The third of Hammer's trilogy of vampire films adapted from J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s story Carmilla (The Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire being the other two), Twins of Evil is the best of the bunch though a few pondering problems stop it from achieving top tier Hammer status. One of the more noticeable differences with Twins of Evil over its earlier Hammer brethren is the nasty and sadistic tone that underpins it. This isn't just your typical period vampire film as it mixes usual vampire lore with more extreme parts from the witch-hunting exploits of the likes of Witchfinder General. Hammer saw how much they could get away with now and decide to push their own boundaries a little further which makes a welcome change to the intensity and tone of the film. Twins of Evil opens a little too well as The Brotherhood find a young woman suspected of vampirism and brutally burn her at the stake. It's a hopeful sign of things to come but the film rarely re-captures the intensity and imagery of this opening until the finale.

Twins of Evil does lag a little in the middle but there are enough burnings and bitings to satisfy and the plot is involving enough not to bore you outright. The big deal of casting twins in two of the leading roles was obviously to fill out the plot twist that one is a vampire. Although the plot device is a little too obvious (see if you can spot which one it's supposed to be), it's actually a pretty intense few moments as you're not sure whether the innocent twin is going to get it from The Brotherhood. Twins of Evil then ends strongly at the castle of Count Karnstein with plenty of solid gore effects and kills, including a particularly nasty and very effective decapitation. You do get the sense that the big set pieces and plot twists were thought of first and a flimsy workaround plot was devised to keep the narrative moving from A to B to C. This leads to a number of contrivances and lapses of logic which could hamper the film if it wasn't so innocently going about its business without realising.

Mary and Madeline Collinson, the twins of the title, are both up to the jobs needed of them. By that I mean they look very nice in low-cut lingerie, one of them acts evil and dark and the other pure and innocent. That's about all they need to do and they do that. If you think they're here to act, you're mistaken. Why else would you cast two Playboy centrefolds? Actually to say they've been cast for their natural attributes, the film does little to show us what all of the fuss is about! It's a shame that they didn't do more work with Hammer as they certainly 'got' what it took to star in a Hammer horror (and I don't just mean the physical attributes).

It's Cushing that steals the show as Gustav Weil, the cold and multi-dimension character who strongly believes that he is doing what God would want him to do but ultimately he's just as hypocritical and corrupt as the man he despises. It's one of his better roles in his later career and one that definitely anchors the film despite a script which totters all over the place at times - this is Cushing at one of his most cruel and calculating. Damien Thomas just looks slimy and evil so he's a good choice to play the Count, turning him into an arrogant and sadistic man who relishes the power he has. But he's a strictly one-dimensional ‘boo me’ type character designed to fill the shoes of Dracula. The two men are supposed to play polar opposites but the script cleverly has both men crossing over into the other's territory, with Weil posing more of a threat to the village at times than the vampire. To have such a character tow the line between hero and villain is not an easy feat.

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Final Verdict

Twins of Evil balanced the modern Hammer demands of gore and nudity with the great acting, well-rounded plot and solid cast that made the earlier horror outings so enjoyable. And of course, it's got Peter Cushing burning witches and slaying vampires - what more do you want?

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Twins of Evil Director(s): John Hough Writer(s): Tudor Gates (screenplay), Sheridan Le Fanu (characters created by) Actor(s): Peter Cushing, Dennis Price, Madeline & Mary Collinson, Isobel Black, Kathleen Byron, Damien Thomas, David Warbeck Duration: 87 mins