The Devil Rides Out (1968)

1930s England and Rex Van Ryn departs from a plane to be met by his friend Duc De Richleau . If his name sounds strange then that's nothing compared to his personality . Within a very short space of time Richleau is harping on about the black arts and he's not talking 50 Cent and Snoop Dog . If Rex had any sense he'd go straight back to the airstrip and depart never to return again but he can't do that because he's an all too obvious plot device where Duc De Richleau needs a companion present so he can explain everything about the Occult since the audience aren't too clued up about the subject

This is considered to be one of the very best horror movies Hammer produced . I know what you're thinking something along the lines of " That's not saying much Theo " but deserves to be rated on its own merits rather than winning by default against films where impossibly beautiful maidens get their cleavage out and pop round to Dracula's Castle . Having acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson doing the script helps greatly as does having Terence Fisher as director . Fisher was never in danger of winning an Oscar but is almost certainly the best director of the Hammer horrors

The story itself is utter nonsense featuring a Satanic cult wanting to get the souls of a young man and woman and featuring a cameo of some bloke with the head of a goat but everything is done in such a serious dead pan manner that you can't help being caught up in it . As soon as someone mentions something vaguely important to the plot a crescendo of music blasts over the soundtrack and nothing unimportant happens , not for a second . As soon as anyone has the temerity to say " You can't believe that " a reply of " I've never been more serious in all my life " then the band plays up again . In fact no one ever has been as serious as Richleau and one wonders if Rex isn't to blame . After all if he hadn't wandered in to the film Richleau wouldn't have had anyone to talk to and the band wouldn't have got paid

I often thought the only time Christopher Lee was impressive was when he was in LORD OF THE RINGS but he does carry the film to a large extent as the charismatic good guy and if we had Peter Cushing as Richleau we'd have a different and rather inferior film . I'm not implying that THE DEVIL RIDES OUT is some forgotten masterpiece ready for reevaluation but as pulp horror produced as mass entertainment it is very enjoyable and engaging

Fmovies: Very cool Hammer film from the great Terence Fisher with Christopher Lee playing the good guy for a change. Lee plays the Duc de Richleau who, along with his friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene), rescues a late friend's son and a young woman from a Satanic cult led by a powerful man named Mocata (Charles Gray). Now holed up at a country estate, de Richleau and Rex must fight off Mocata and the forces of evil.

One of my favorite Hammer films. The screenplay comes from Richard Matheson, adapted from a novel by Dennis Wheatley. Fisher's direction is terrific. The movie has a great 1920s period look and at times a very creepy atmosphere. The cast is excellent, with Lee giving one of his best performances. Charles Gray gives a subdued turn that makes him all the more menacing. I really like this one and rewatch it more than most Hammer movies I own. It's an exciting, enjoyable movie that will surely please Lee and Hammer fans.

Watching this on DVD after gap of a couple of years, more or less immersed in the horror of Italian giallo and the product of Japan, I am surprised at just how good this is. Has to be hot candidate for the best Hammer and one of the best Christopher Lee performances. He actually seemed to enjoy this role as an upper class Brit struggling to pit himself against the powers of evil. This reminded me a little of Night of the Demon and certainly shares with that film the 'ordinariness' of the chums struggling against the devil himself and the believable power of that 'dark side'. For me this just fails to get 100% due to what I reckon is the only disappointment; Leon Greene and it is a bit unfair because its probably more the way his part is written. This very English tradition of having a bumbling Dr Watson type character to help the lead to explain what's happening to the audience and also to show how very clever he is. Still, it's a minor gripe when this is such a glorious, non-stop, thrill of an adventure which I should also mention includes a most effective and key performance from Nike Arrighi who is most convincing as 'the possessed'. Excellent.

The Devil Rides Out fmovies. The Devil Rides Out (1968) The Devil Rides Out is one of the most beautiful color films from 1960s Europe. An impeccable series of images has been welded together here by assured hands with all the confidence of the builders of a new church. This is a stained-glass window – made to honor the god of cinema.

Because it is also a Hammer Film Production, there is much here for the not-so-aesthetically inclined. Fast cars, a black mass, giant spiders: A Wimsey novel for the horror fan. The Dennis Wheatley novel that inspired it is a hymn to social snobbery and political reaction, but the movie throws the offal of the novel away; from the bare superstructure of plot comes an infernal pageant of crises.

Christopher Lee is very strong here, as he is in The Wicker Man; we see the often-typecast man exploring a character of wit and determination. Lee's Dracula is usually all guile and glowering insolence; here Lee's Duc DE Richleau is the lordly savior the British Empire always dreamed it could produce.

The Devil Rides Out doesn't have any points to make. This makes its point about the false consciousness bred by all religion all the more powerful.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, while it came along almost 10 years after Hammer first started churning out horror films, is possibly the best horror film they ever produced. Even though HORROR OF DRACULA and CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF rank highly with fans and critics alike, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT is just now receiving the acclaim it deserves.

Christopher Lee turns in one of his best performances as Duc de Richelieu, a religious man who stands firmly against witchcraft. His friend Simon has been chosen for baptism into a Satanic cult in the English countryside and Richelieu, along with his friends Rex and Roger, intend to stop the dastardly deed from occurring. To avoid the wrath of the Mercata, the leader of the cult (played by ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW's Charles Gray), Richelieu draws an ancient protective circle and places all the involved parties inside to spend one terrifying night trying to protect themselves against demons and spirits of all kinds.

Not your average Hammer production, DEVIL RIDES OUT was released in the U.S. as THE DEVIL'S BRIDE since RIDES OUT was deemed a title for a Western. RIDES OUT makes much more sense during a certain sequence featuring the Angel of Death riding a jetblack horse. The visuals in this film are astounding: a giant spider, a goat-headed devil, a black man with yellow piercing eyes, and the infamous goat's blood scene. All these and more are in store for you when you see THE DEVIL RIDES OUT. I recommend this not only to initiates of the Hammer cult (no pun intended), but also to those who want to see one film that will make them fans. This or HORROR OF DRACULA should do the trick.

Last night I saw this film for the first time in 35 years. Time has been kinder to it than it has to many Hammer films, but this one is less driven by effects and make-up and more by dialog.

That's all for the better because once again, when need be, Hammer fails in the effects department. I had forgotten how the theater went wild in 1968 while looking at the cheap tarantula effect - was it growing or not, the perspective changed constantly.

Some of the effects are of the "stop the camera" variety, no more convincing here than on "Lost In Space." But still, it is the performances, situations and the dialog that engage us. Christopher Lee, who brought the project to Hammer, seems to be enjoying himself as the Duc de Richleau, finally getting to play a hero. His longtime friend Rex, played by Leon Greene (but voiced by Patrick Allen) is a real stalwart guy, given to punching out windshields when necessary, climbing into car trunks, and throwing a crucifix from a running board to eliminate the specter of the devil himself.

The best scene has Lee and company in a circle in which to protect themselves from the evils sent by Mocata, played by Charles Gray with a suaveness that matches the twinkle of his blue eyes. Mocata tries every trick in the book, including trying to make it appear that the daughter of the household is being threatened by the tarantula, as well as an Angel of Death on horseback (it is a large room). Meanwhile, outside, Rex has a potential female victim tied up for her own good, she later becomes a medium when the previously "threatened" little girl is kidnapped - to take the place of the medium on the sacrificial altar!

Nike Arrighi plays the "medium" - a young woman who was to have been re-baptized as a servant of the devil, but whose life now hangs in the balance between the black magic of Mocata, or the efforts of the Duc de Richleau, and she has more talent than most of the Hammer actresses of the period. The Duc's friend Rex falls for her, but is hard pressed to keep up with the spells of Mocata, who will stop at nothing to reclaim his servant.

What really helps the film is a great sense of period - somewhere midway between the two world wars. The props (especially the vehicles) and costumes are quite right, and the landscapes are far more diverse than the usual Bray Studios trappings. There's no doubt that the team sought to make this one special and shoot on some real locations - and it's perhaps here rather than in the effects that the budget was concentrated. All in all, despite some shortcomings, a very enjoyable Hammer film, a solid Richard Matheson script from a superior Dennis Wheatley novel makes for exciting viewing, far superior to the previous Satanic Hammer film "The Witches" (aka "The Devil's Bride") and equal to the later adaptation of Wheatley's own "To the Devil A Daughter" - the last Hammer film which may have its less than sterling reputation for that measure alone.