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#370 The Devil Rides Out

Watched: October 22 2025

Director: Terence Fisher

Starring: Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Nike Arrighi, Leon Greene, Patrick Mower, Sarah Lawson, Paul Eddington, Rosalyn Landor, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies

Year: 1968

Runtime: 1h 36min

We’ll just come right out and say it: The Devil Rides Out is the perfect double feature companion piece with Rosemary’s Baby. While wildly different in execution, they are two sides of the same coin thematically, with ethnically diverse devil worshippers happily sacrificing others for their own benefit.

Sure, still predominately white, but still more diverse than your average high society gathering in 1968. We swear some of these people wore clothing from other countries in a previous scene!

Nicholas, Duc de Richleau (Lee) and his old friend Rex van Ryn (Greene) are worried about their departed friend’s son Simon (Mower), who they have promised to look after. They take a ride (in a very cool car) to Simon’s place, only to find him in the company of twelve strange guest. De Richleau immediately recognizes them as devil worshippers (after using British politeness to finangle his way to the observatory), and the two friends embark on a mission to save Simon’s soul. And also the soul of Tanith (Arrighi), because Rex thinks she’s hot.

There’s a bit of a consensus on that. She has that certain je ne sais quoi that appeals to both satanists and useless sidekicks.

Satanic cults were apparently all the rage in 1968, but while Rosemary’s Baby is subtle in its execution, leaving most of the devil-related stuff to the imagination, The Devil Rides Out goes completely in the opposite direction. There are actual goat-faced devils, huge ass spiders, orgies, and at one point the Angel of Death himself (herself..? We’re not sure if it’s Death or Susan) rides into the living (ironically) room. We loved that Fisher went very visual and literal about it – both approaches work really well for their respective films.

He looked at subtlety and laughed right in its face

Christopher Lee is simultaneously giving Vincent Price and Rupert Giles as the no-nonsense expert on the occult, and he is such a magnetic presence on screen that it’s hard to focus on anyone else whenever he is on. Rex is however fucking useless… They both make some questionable choices though – who thought it was a good idea to bring your Satanic “date” to a house with a young child? And then perform a ritual in the same house, with all the adults safe and sound in the protective circle, but just leave said child asleep in her room? With no protection save the butler??? It’s almost as though they wanted to get rid of Peggy (Landor). Even after she saved them all by breaking the spell/hypnosis placed on her mother by the big bad himself, Mocata (Gray). Still, the two men are extremely good and loyal friends to go through all of this to save the son of their departed homie.

“What was that? You think we should put Peggy in the protective circle with us? Oh, I’m sure she’ll be perfectly fine in her bedroom. Whoever heard of devils and fiends going up the stairs?”

This movie is a tense, fun and scary ride. We loved the sets and the vibe, the performances and the special effects – sometimes it’s nice to see such a classic depiction of the devil himself. We’re also intrigued by the upper classes’ obsession with the occult in the ’60s, particularly the destructive occult, that both this and its sister movie (RB) portray. Are these people rich because they worship? Or do they worship because they are rich..? Perhaps you can only be in a Satanic cult if you have the budget to get a custom made mosaic seal built into your floor? These are the questions that beg answering.

Can we DIY it? How accurate must it be? If we end up summoning a heckhound from one of the minor circles, we honestly wouldn’t mind to be completely honest with you…

We love the British politeness in this as well – the whole “she woke up and tried to strangle me” reminded us a bit of In the Earth (2021), when the main character is trying to persuade the maniac in the woods not to cut off his foot. IYKYK. And we always, always love a good ritual. Love, love, love this!

We’d pay good money to attend this slumberparty

Quote of the day: “I think we’re behaving like a pack of idiots!”

What we learned: Every friend group needs the Nurturer, the Entertainer, the Advocate and the One Who Knows About Devil Worship and Rituals For When a Satanic Cult Inevitably Comes After Someone You Love (the OWKADWRFWSCICASYL).

MVP: Nicholas, Duc de Richleau. And Peggy.

Next time: The Great Silence (1968)

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#243 The Masque of the Red Death

Watched: October 19 2019

Director: Roger Corman

Starring: Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher, David Weston, Patrick Magee (double feature night with Seance – we had a Magevening!), Nigel Green, Skip Martin

Year: 1964

Runtime: 1h 29min

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An old woman is given a rose by a red-cloaked figure and all hell breaks loose.

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“She loves me, she loves me not…”

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Prince Prospero (Price) is a villain and a tyrant. And a satanist. After the Red Death appears in the village providing for his castle, he burns it to the ground with the exception of three villagers. Francesca (Asher), her father Ludovico (Green) and her betrothed Gino (Weston) are taken to the castle to provide entertainment.

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“No, what I’m saying is I’ll never win an axe throwing competition in this corset!”

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Prospero throws decadent parties for his rich friends to distract from the plague ravaging the outside world. He enjoys humiliating and mocking his guests, but as they seem to have little in the way of dignity, they tend not to mind.

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“See? I knew that corset wouldn’t hold her back!” “I’d still prefer if she took it off…”

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The prince is into some dark shit though, and his new goal quickly becomes to turn the Christian Francesca to his own faith. His wife (?) Juliana (Court) senses competition and decides to go all in with the whole Satan-thing to please her man. But will their close, personal relationship with the Devil save them from the looming threat outside?

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“Oh ordlay, ivethgay usway ouryay essingsblay. Amen-ay!”

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Another Poe, Price and Corman collaboration, and we’re living for it. Vincent Price is his usual fabulous self, and we loved the colours, the clothes, the sets and the story.

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“My interior decorator was going through a symbolic phase.”

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The start was almost Bergmany with Death hanging around playing cards, and in the end it comes full circle with a bunch of colour-coded Deaths (Illnesses? Plagues?) marching away in a conga line of doom.

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“Day-o! Daylight come and me wan’ go home!”

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An excellent Halloween movie and wonderful entertainment all around, The Masque of the Red Death is everything you would expect and more. Love, love, love this.

What we learned: Don’t sell your soul to Satan over a guy. Do it for yourself!

Next time: The Naked Kiss (1964)

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#147 Curse/Night of the Demon

Watched: November 29 2017

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis

Year: 1957

Runtime: 1h 35min

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After Professor Harrington dies under mysterious circumstances, his niece Joanna Harrington (Cummins) teams up with the late professor’s colleague John Holden (Andrews) to find the truth. Joanna thinks her uncle’s death is related to a “satanic cult” he was investigating, and specifically the leader Dr Karswell (MacGinnis).

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“He’s not a satanic cult leader! He’s just a happy-go-lucky clown!”

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While Holden has made it his life’s mission to discredit occultism, Ms Harrington is a bit more open to the concept of her uncle’s death being supernatural in origin. But when Holden finds a mysterious paper in his belongings (after a chance encounter with Karswell in the British Library – the no. 1 hang-out place for academics and satanists) and his symptoms start resembling those of the dead man, he gradually starts to come around to Joanna’s way of thinking.

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If you’re chased through the woods by a strange smoke cloud, satanic forces is usually the first and only theory.

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Night of the Demon (or Curse, if you’re American) is less subtle than Tourneur’s earlier work (Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie), where you’re never sure if something supernatural is happening or not. In this, the demon is shown on screen several times, although arguments could be made that they are only seen by the doomed men who believe a demon is out to get them.

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They both see the same, slightly cross-eyed demon though…

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Apparently, this was at the insistence of the producer rather than the vision of Tourneur, and it might have been a better movie without it. Despite the somewhat outdated special effects though, this is still a very enjoyable movie.

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Karswell is nice and sinister throughout, when he’s not in clown make-up that is

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We loved Karswell acting all serious in full-on clown mode; the seance with the singing; the scene on the train; and the general plot. It’s a fun, slightly camp, horror film which is slightly dated but still a good watch – especially if you’re a horror fanatic.

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Or if you’re really into huge, cross-eyed demons floating through dark woods. It’s a fetish, we’re sure.

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What we learned: Don’t mess with the occult. Or with dudes who like to dress up as clowns and live with their mothers.

Next time: Funny Face (1957)