The Devil Rides Out
Following a read of 'devil worship in great britain', i got hold of this to see what causal links i could find in the early sixties satanism panic. Basically, Dennis Wheatley, the hackmeister general, has a great deal to answer for.
Richard Matheson's script is a lark- and through the lips of chris lee, patrick mower, charles gray and paul eddington (yes, basically played jerry) every alarmist and portentous utterance becomes swathed in serious meaning. Matheson must've had a laugh when he saw the cast, knowing how they'd play it.
It's hamstrung by what they couldnt show; the ritual orgy scenes look like a disco, and there's no nudity at all. Not even a solitary tit. The only bloodletting happens offscreen, and the scenes of demonic attack in the early part of the film are melodramatic and uneffective.
However, following an exciting car chase, from the moment 'the goat of mendez' appears on the rock, it steps up a gear. Even now there's a frisson at the realisation of satan, as if it's somehow transgressive even to show him, despite looking as if he's just stepped out of the bbc's narnia adaptations. I remember as a small boy finding the idea that a film 'showed the devil' very frightening indeed.
The final battle is nicely done, but better in concept than in execution; though the giant spider is very well done. The angel of death is pathetic however- did they run out of cash, or was Matheson having an offday?
The resolution's at least ten times dumber and more mawkish than it first appears to be, and actually elicited a groan chez-sbt.
Wheatley, and Hammer, were largely resposible for the moral outrage surrounding 'satanism'. He responded to the permissive society by placing it in a mystical, satanic context, literally putting the goat of mendez at the heart as a threat to english values. Hammer rightly made it ludicrous, but the public ignored that and used it to fuel their own fears. Hammer had a hit, and fifty years later i had an entertaining night in front of the telly.
SBT
