Terence Fisher – 1000 Films Blog

Posted on November 7, 2025 by 1000filmsblog

#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)

Posted on December 31, 2018October 21, 2019 by 1000filmsblog

Bonus: The Curse of the Werewolf

Watched: November 9 2018

Director: Terence Fisher

Starring: Oliver Reed, Clifford Evans, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller, Anthony Dawson, Richard Wordsworth, Hira Talfrey

Year: 1961

Runtime: 1h 33min

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Somewhere in 18th century Spain, a beggar (Wordsworth) goes to a castle to ask for some food and/or money. But the marquis (Dawson) is a cruel man and a bully, and he imprisons the beggar and promptly forgets about him. Left in the dungeon for fifteen years, the poor man is forgotten about by all but the jailer and his mute daughter.

Curse2 — One look at this man and we would have run for our lives. Unfortunately the beggar didn’t share our instincts for people.

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After those fifteen years, the daughter (Romain) refuses to be raped by the marquis, and he throws her in the dungeon with the beggar. Apparently, he has forgotten all about the girl’s kindness to him and rapes her himself, and then dies (karma’s a bitch!). The girl is sent back to the marquis so that he can have his way with her, but having been raped once already, she’s not about to let the bastard win, so she kills him and flees.

Curse3 — Sometimes it’s a good, and righteous, thing to be a backstabbing bitch

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The runaway girl, now pregnant, is later found in the woods by Don Alfredo Corledo (Evans) and Teresa (Talfrey) who take her in and, when she dies in childbirth on Christmas Day, take on the responsibility of her newborn son.

Curse4 — “Say, Teresa, do we know who the boy’s father is..? I only ask because he seems to be displaying some rather unusual dental development here which has me quite confused”

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Turns out though, unwanted children born on Christmas Day are cursed to be werewolves. Which makes us wonder why lycanthropy isn’t a bigger social problem than it currently seems to be. While young Leon (Reed) at first manages to keep his condition under control, once he grows up and faces adversity as well as love, he loses what little control he has and all hell breaks loose.

Curse5 — Honestly, we were half expecting him to break into song once he had climbed the bell tower. Colour us disappointed.

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The Curse of the Werewolf was removed from the list after we’d already bought it, so as is tradition, we’re doing it anyway, dammit! And we’re glad we did. We loved the opening credits with the sad werewolf, the interesting explanation for the condition, and Leon’s partner in crime (not literally though) José.

Curse6 — Also, even though it preceeds it by almost 5 decades, this is yet another werewolf better than the atrocity in *The Prisoner of Azkaban*. No, we’re still not over it.

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In many ways, it’s more a drama than a horror, except the ending which is very Frankenstein. But we believe it works for fans of both genres. Well worth watching! Even though there are apparently at least 1000 films which are better than this one… Let’s call it number 1001 and recommend it anyway. Happy New Year!

What we learned: Don’t give birth to unwanted children on Christmas day. We know, it’s a bit late for 2018, but keep it in mind for next year.

Next time: Bonus: Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

Posted on January 10, 2018October 21, 2019 by 1000filmsblog · 2 Comments

Bonus: The Curse of Frankenstein

Watched: December 25 2017

Director: Terence Fisher

Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, Valerie Gaunt

Year: 1957

Runtime: 1h 22min

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Victor Frankenstein (Cushing) is smart, ambitious, handsome, charming and rich. He is also an arrogant jerk. And imprisoned. He confesses to a priest and tells his unusual, and somewhat unbelievable, story.

curse7 — “It all started, as these things tend to do, with a dead dog…”

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Orphaned at a fairly young age, Baron Frankenstein hires his own tutor, Paul Krempe (Urquhart), to be his teacher and later partner. Together the two explore the world of science!

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Their greatest achievement, the reanimation of dead tissue, brings about different reactions in the two scientists. While Kempe’s initial reactions is “yay! This’ll make surgery so much easier and safer!”, Frankenstein’s first impulse is to go out and harvest body parts to make himself a new man-puzzle. Kempe finally starts to see the sociopath in his student, and they have a falling out.

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Things escalate when Victor straight up murders another intellectual to use his brain for his creation, and then uses his successfully assembled and animated creature (Lee) to kill his knocked up maid Justine (Gaunt) who threatens to expose his shady dealings if he does not marry her.

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Meanwhile, Victor’s cousin Elizabeth (Court) has arrived to marry him, which adds another complication. With the death toll rising, a creature on the loose, a falling out between the friends, and a Fair Maiden™ innocently roaming the large house at night, how on earth will this end?

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The Curse of Frankenstein is quite different from its early predecessor Frankenstein despite their many similarities. For one, the monster (or, in this case, creature) isn’t really all that important. As creepy and scary as Christopher Lee is in this, the focus is all on the Mad Scientist™ Victor Frankenstein.

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Frankenstein himself is also very different. Personally, we feel that this take on the Baron is closer to the source material than many other incarnations – he really is an arrogant, egotistical, spoiled brat with a God complex in the book, no matter how bad he feels once everything falls apart. Cushing’s Frankenstein is particularly ruthless, and we love him for it. Well, not him as much as this version of events, we suppose. But we definitely love this film!

curse8 — …and this guy! #decompositionchic

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What we learned: If you’re going to stand up to a rich, insane, megalomaniac nobleman who doesn’t like being told what to do, you’d better have a contingency plan…

Next time: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)