''The Devil Rides Out'', known as ''The Devil's Bride'' in the United States, is a 1968

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

horror film, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by

Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yeats Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a British writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s. His Gregory Sallust series w ...

. It was written by

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science fictio ...

and directed by

Terence Fisher Terence Fisher (23 February 1904 – 18 June 1980) was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films. He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, ...

. The film stars

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultim ...

, Charles Gray, Niké Arrighi and Leon Greene. It is considered one of Terence Fisher's best films. It is the final film to be produced by Seven Arts Productions after the company was merged with Warner Bros. to become Warner Bros.-Seven Arts on July 15, 1967.

Plot

Set in London and the south of England in 1929, the story finds erudite Nicholas, Duc de Richleau (Christopher Lee), investigating the strange actions of his protegé, the son of a late friend, Simon Aron (Patrick Mower), who has a house replete with strange markings and a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...

. He quickly deduces that Simon is involved with the

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

. De Richleau and his friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene) manage to rescue Simon and another young initiate, Tanith (Niké Arrighi), from a devil-worshipping cult. During the rescue, they disrupt a

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...

ceremony on

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wit ...

, in which the Devil appears under the guise of the "Goat of Mendes". They escape to the country home of de Richleau's niece Marie (Sarah Lawson) and her husband Richard Eaton (Paul Eddington). They are followed by the group's leader, Mocata (Charles Gray), who has a psychic connection to the two initiates. After visiting the house while de Richleau is absent to discuss the matter and an unsuccessful attempt to influence the initiates to return, Mocata forces de Richleau and the other occupants to defend themselves through a night of

black magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...

attacks, ending with the conjuring of the Angel of Death. De Richleau repels the angel, but it kills Tanith instead (as, once summoned, it must take a life). His attacks defeated, Mocata kidnaps the Eatons' young daughter Peggy (Rosalyn Landor). The Duc has Tanith's spirit possess Marie in order to find Mocata, but they only are able to get a single clue, and Rex realizes that the cultists are at a house he visited earlier. Simon tries to rescue Peggy on his own, but he is recaptured by the cult. De Richleau, Richard, and Rex also try to rescue her, but they are defeated by Mocata. Suddenly, a powerful force (or Tanith herself) controls Marie and ends Peggy's trance. She then leads Peggy in the recitation of a spell which visits

divine retribution Divine retribution is supernatural punishment of a person, a group of people, or everyone by a deity in response to some action. Many cultures have a story about how a deity exacted punishment upon previous inhabitants of their land, causing t ...

upon the cultists and transforms their coven room into a church. When the Duc and his companions awaken, they discover that the spell has reversed time and changed the future in their favour. Simon and Tanith have survived, and Mocata's spell to conjure the Angel of Death has been reflected back on him.

Divine judgement Divine judgment means the judgment of God or other supreme beings within a religion. Ancient beliefs In ancient Sumerian religion, the sun-god Utu and his twin sister Inanna were believed to be the enforcers of divine justice. Utu, as th ...

ends his life, and he is subject to eternal damnation for his unholy summoning of the Angel of Death. De Richleau comments that it is God to whom they must be thankful.

Cast

– Nicholas, Duc de Richleau * Charles Gray – Mocata * Niké Arrighi – Tanith Carlisle * Leon Greene – Rex Van Ryn (dubbed by

Patrick Allen John Keith Patrick Allen (17 March 1927 – 28 July 2006) was a British actor. Life and career Allen was born in Nyasaland (now Malawi), where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada ...

) * Patrick Mower – Simon Aron * Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies – Countess d'Urfe * Sarah Lawson – Marie Eaton *

Paul Eddington Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom '' Yes Minister'' (1980–84) ...

– Richard Eaton * Rosalyn Landor – Peggy Eaton * Russell Waters – Malin *

Eddie Powell Eddie Powell (9 March 1927 - 11 August 2000) was a British stuntman and actor. Powell performed stuntwork in several films for Hammer Studios, serving as a regular stunt double for Christopher Lee. His credits during this time included portray ...

– The Goat of Mendes (uncredited) * Yemi Ajibade - The African (uncredited)

Production

First proposed in 1963, the film eventually went ahead four years later once censorship worries over

Satanism Satanism is a group of Ideology, ideological and Philosophy, philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 19 ...

had eased. Production began on 7 August 1967, and the film starred Christopher Lee (in a rare heroic role), Charles Gray, Niké Arrighi and Leon Greene. The screenplay was adapted by

from Wheatley's novel. Christopher Lee had often stated that of all his vast back catalogue of films, this was his favourite and the one he would have liked to have seen remade with modern special effects and with his playing a mature

Duke de Richleau The Duke De Richleau is a fictional character created by Dennis Wheatley who appeared in 11 novels published between 1933 and 1970. Dennis Wheatley originally created the character for a murder mystery ''Three Inquisitive People'', written and s ...

. In a later interview, Lee also stated that Wheatley was so pleased with the adaptation of his book that he gave the actor a first edition of the novel. The

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

of British rock band Icarus's debut single "The Devil Rides Out" was inspired by the advance publicity for the film of the same name. Though the song does not appear in the film, the single's release was timed to coincide with the film's premiere and the band was invited to the premiere.

Themes

Unlike other Hammer films, ''The Devil Rides Out'' has little sexual or violent content. The film's tone is more serious than many other Hammer titles. Paul Leggett, in his study of Terence Fisher's films, describes ''The Devil Rides Out'', despite its occult themes, as a "total conquest of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

over the forces of evil". Leggett sees the film's script drawing inspiration from the works of Charles Williams and C.S. Lewis in addition to Wheatley's novel. The film portrays in a serious manner a spiritual reality underlying the physical universe, and the sceptics of the supernatural becoming unwitting allies of evil. Professor Peter Hutchings stated that the film has noticeable

paternalistic Paternalism is action that limits a person's or group's liberty or autonomy and is intended to promote their own good. Paternalism can also imply that the behavior is against or regardless of the will of a person, or also that the behavior expres ...

themes: the struggle between good and evil is set up with the older male "savant" authority figures (Duke de Richleau and Mocata), while the younger characters are incapable of defending themselves without subjecting to their authorities.

Reception

Reviews of the film have been widely favourable. It currently has a 93% "Fresh" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

Box office

According to Fox records the film required $1,150,000 in rentals to break even, but by 11 December 1970 it had only made $575,000, making it a loss to the studio.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devil Rides Out, The 1968 films 1968 horror films 1960s fantasy films Films shot at Associated British Studios Hammer Film Productions horror films Films based on horror novels Films based on works by Dennis Wheatley Films directed by Terence Fisher Films scored by James Bernard Films set in 1929 Films about Satanism Dark fantasy films Folk horror films Films with screenplays by Richard Matheson British supernatural horror films Films based on British novels The Devil in film Gothic horror films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films