Twins of Evil (1971)
Studio: Synapse
Theatrical Release: October 3rd, 1971
Blu-Ray Release: July 10, 2012
Rating: R
Directed by John Hough
Review by Craig Sorensen
Twins of evil (aka: Cleavage the motion picture) finally makes it’s digital video debut in a fantastic package from Synapse. The third film in the loose ‘Karnstein Trilogy’(Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire comprising the other two installments), Twins of Evil is a bit of a thematic mess but is nevertheless entertaining throughout. Carmilla/Mircalla only shows up briefly this time so don’t expect lesbians flopping around all over the place.
Marie and Frieda Gellhorn (Mary & Madeleine Collinson of Some Like It Sexy), hot, orphaned twins, are sent to live with their religious fundamentalist uncle Gustav (Peter Cushing of Top Secret!) in the town of Karnstein. Uncle Gustav heads a religious order known as the Brotherhood who happen to enjoy, just a bit too much, hunting down young women they believe to be witches. What do you have to do to be suspected of witchcraft? Live alone? Congratulations, you’re a witch! Also, I guess there are some bodies that are showing up drained of blood (I’ll come back to this later).
Frieda, the more daring of the two twins, is drawn to Castle Karnstein and rich, decadent playboy Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas of Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger). The bored Count, tired of being rich and phony occultism manages to resurect the long dead Mircalla who promptly turns the Count into a vampire. And then he sets his sights on Frieda.
So, Twins of Evil is a bit of a mess. Who is killing villagers before Mircalla/Carmilla is resurrected? What the hell happens to her after she’s brought back? She just kind of takes off and we don’t hear from her again. Why can the vampires walk around in the daylight? Of course, these are little things but they point to a larger problem with the film. It just feels like things weren’t really thought out past the ‘hey, we’ve got some twins that’ll take their shirts off’ point. I mean, that’s an important thing in a film called “Twins of Evil” but beyond that the film just feels like a poorly thought out mish-mash of previous films. You’ve got Cushing playing Witchfinder General (both that film and Mark of the Devil were previous hits that predate Twins)and of course, you’ve got the Collinson twins themselves replicating the sex appeal of Vampire Lovers (a hit when Hammer really needed a hit). Combining the two genres isn’t necessarily a bad idea. It’s almost like pitting two religious extremes against each other. The problem with Twins of Evil is that it doesn’t feel like it really wants to commit to portraying the Brotherhood (Christianity) in a bad light. When we are first introduced to Count Karnstein, he is spending the night with a woman that the Brotherhood was planning on killing. Up until this point we’ve seen that the town lives in fear of the Brotherhood and no one seems to have the guts to stand up to Gustav (if you do then you’re a witch obviously). Karnstein has some kind of nebulous protection from the aristocracy so he seems immune to the Brotherhood’s bullying. He’s the only character that’s able to not only stand up to them but to rightfully point out the hypocrisy in their actions. They obviously take pleasure in what they’re doing. Gustav claims that Karnstein is evil and the Brotherhood will kill him eventually and Karnstein laughs at their threats. Of course, the next scene with the Count shows him in the middle of a Satanic ritual so there goes his argument. It’s like the film is saying ‘Yeah, the christians are awful. They hate women and will bully everyone into following their arcane rituals and rules whether they want to or not. But, you know, EVIL obviously exists so we’re stuck with ‘em’. There is one attempt at showing that maybe what they’re doing is not justified but it still seems kind of half assed. Of course, what is there in the scene works because of Peter Cushing. Really, this is Cushing’s film all the way. He’s able to take what could easily become a one note character and instill a great amount of pathos. Of course, this is one of the first films made after the death of his wife so you have to imagine that he’s channelling some of that sorrow into the part. Really, it almost seems like a waste considering what’s going on around him. Still, despite my complaints, Twins of Evil is a hell of a lot of fun. The Collinson twins are hot, Damien Thomas is ridiculous as the Count and there are some surprising bits of gore and nudity. The film is quick moving so there’s little time to dwell on the problems while you’re watching.
Twins of Evil looks fucking gorgeous on Blu-Ray. I always remembered the film (and all this latter period Hammer stuff really) looking very cheap. That’s not the case now. Really it gives me a new appreciation of the studio’s output from the ‘70s. The film is presented in it’s original aspect ratio (1.66:1) and color and detail looks fantastic. There is a little bit of damage at the very beginning but it’s easy to look past as the rest of the film looks so good. Makes me wish there were more Hammer films coming soon to high definition. You get a nice sounding English mono audio track along with an isolated music and effects track. You also get the original theatrical trailer and a double feature trailer pairing the film with Hands of the Ripper and a thankfully deleted scene and the requisite still gallery. The best special feature here though is the 84 minute doc “The Flesh and the Fury: X-posing Twins of Evil”. This thing covers everything from the origins of the Carmilla, Hammer studios in the ‘70s and the ‘Karnstein Trilogy’. It’s a great watch peppered with lots of interviewees including director John Hough and actor Damien Thomas, Joe Dante, Tim Lucas and David J. Skal. And last but not least is the 23 minute “The Props that Hammer Built” a tour of Wayne Kinsey’s original prop collection.
[rating:3.5]
Theatrical Release: October 3rd, 1971
Blu-Ray Release: July 10, 2012
Rating: R
Directed by John Hough
Review by Craig Sorensen
Twins of evil (aka: Cleavage the motion picture) finally makes it’s digital video debut in a fantastic package from Synapse. The third film in the loose ‘Karnstein Trilogy’(Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire comprising the other two installments), Twins of Evil is a bit of a thematic mess but is nevertheless entertaining throughout. Carmilla/Mircalla only shows up briefly this time so don’t expect lesbians flopping around all over the place.
Marie and Frieda Gellhorn (Mary & Madeleine Collinson of Some Like It Sexy), hot, orphaned twins, are sent to live with their religious fundamentalist uncle Gustav (Peter Cushing of Top Secret!) in the town of Karnstein. Uncle Gustav heads a religious order known as the Brotherhood who happen to enjoy, just a bit too much, hunting down young women they believe to be witches. What do you have to do to be suspected of witchcraft? Live alone? Congratulations, you’re a witch! Also, I guess there are some bodies that are showing up drained of blood (I’ll come back to this later).
Frieda, the more daring of the two twins, is drawn to Castle Karnstein and rich, decadent playboy Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas of Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger). The bored Count, tired of being rich and phony occultism manages to resurect the long dead Mircalla who promptly turns the Count into a vampire. And then he sets his sights on Frieda.
So, Twins of Evil is a bit of a mess. Who is killing villagers before Mircalla/Carmilla is resurrected? What the hell happens to her after she’s brought back? She just kind of takes off and we don’t hear from her again. Why can the vampires walk around in the daylight? Of course, these are little things but they point to a larger problem with the film. It just feels like things weren’t really thought out past the ‘hey, we’ve got some twins that’ll take their shirts off’ point. I mean, that’s an important thing in a film called “Twins of Evil” but beyond that the film just feels like a poorly thought out mish-mash of previous films. You’ve got Cushing playing Witchfinder General (both that film and Mark of the Devil were previous hits that predate Twins)and of course, you’ve got the Collinson twins themselves replicating the sex appeal of Vampire Lovers (a hit when Hammer really needed a hit). Combining the two genres isn’t necessarily a bad idea. It’s almost like pitting two religious extremes against each other. The problem with Twins of Evil is that it doesn’t feel like it really wants to commit to portraying the Brotherhood (Christianity) in a bad light. When we are first introduced to Count Karnstein, he is spending the night with a woman that the Brotherhood was planning on killing. Up until this point we’ve seen that the town lives in fear of the Brotherhood and no one seems to have the guts to stand up to Gustav (if you do then you’re a witch obviously). Karnstein has some kind of nebulous protection from the aristocracy so he seems immune to the Brotherhood’s bullying. He’s the only character that’s able to not only stand up to them but to rightfully point out the hypocrisy in their actions. They obviously take pleasure in what they’re doing. Gustav claims that Karnstein is evil and the Brotherhood will kill him eventually and Karnstein laughs at their threats. Of course, the next scene with the Count shows him in the middle of a Satanic ritual so there goes his argument. It’s like the film is saying ‘Yeah, the christians are awful. They hate women and will bully everyone into following their arcane rituals and rules whether they want to or not. But, you know, EVIL obviously exists so we’re stuck with ‘em’. There is one attempt at showing that maybe what they’re doing is not justified but it still seems kind of half assed. Of course, what is there in the scene works because of Peter Cushing. Really, this is Cushing’s film all the way. He’s able to take what could easily become a one note character and instill a great amount of pathos. Of course, this is one of the first films made after the death of his wife so you have to imagine that he’s channelling some of that sorrow into the part. Really, it almost seems like a waste considering what’s going on around him. Still, despite my complaints, Twins of Evil is a hell of a lot of fun. The Collinson twins are hot, Damien Thomas is ridiculous as the Count and there are some surprising bits of gore and nudity. The film is quick moving so there’s little time to dwell on the problems while you’re watching.
Twins of Evil looks fucking gorgeous on Blu-Ray. I always remembered the film (and all this latter period Hammer stuff really) looking very cheap. That’s not the case now. Really it gives me a new appreciation of the studio’s output from the ‘70s. The film is presented in it’s original aspect ratio (1.66:1) and color and detail looks fantastic. There is a little bit of damage at the very beginning but it’s easy to look past as the rest of the film looks so good. Makes me wish there were more Hammer films coming soon to high definition. You get a nice sounding English mono audio track along with an isolated music and effects track. You also get the original theatrical trailer and a double feature trailer pairing the film with Hands of the Ripper and a thankfully deleted scene and the requisite still gallery. The best special feature here though is the 84 minute doc “The Flesh and the Fury: X-posing Twins of Evil”. This thing covers everything from the origins of the Carmilla, Hammer studios in the ‘70s and the ‘Karnstein Trilogy’. It’s a great watch peppered with lots of interviewees including director John Hough and actor Damien Thomas, Joe Dante, Tim Lucas and David J. Skal. And last but not least is the 23 minute “The Props that Hammer Built” a tour of Wayne Kinsey’s original prop collection.
[rating:3.5]
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