Unexpectedly Effective

I recently received TWINS OF EVIL as a gift in the form of a DVD not yet available in this country. I must admit that I was not particularly enthusiastic, for I typically find "Hammer Horror" more than a little too obvious in style--but this particular title surprised me with its understated atmosphere, and was all the more effective for it.

Loosely based on characters created by author Sheridan Le Fanu, TWINS OF EVIL concern twin sisters Maria and Freida (Mary and Madeline Collison) who have been recently orphaned and are sent to live with their guardian and uncle Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing.) Gustav is a most unpleasant man, the leader of a religious "brotherhood" whose ideas of salvation and repentance involves routing out every attractive woman in the district and burning them alive at the steak. Ironically, Gustav's hapless victims are innocent, and he finds himself unable to attack the real evil of the locality: the devil-worshiping Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas), who enjoys the protection of the Emperor.

Needless to say, it is not long before the sisters catch the attention of the Count, who has now been transformed by the black arts into a vampire--and one of the sisters soon falls under his sway. But truth be told, Gustav is such a distasteful creature himself that it becomes difficult to know which of the two men is worst.

Like most Hammer Horrors, TWINS abounds with well endowed women in plunging necklines and enough colorful gore to float a small boat. But in this instance, the splashes of blood are all the more effective for the muted background against which they are seen. The usually baroque settings of most Hammer films is not in evidence here, little is romanticized, and the atmosphere is quite tense.

The Collison twins (whose last film this was) give reasonable performances and are so attractive that you do not mind the fact they have very obviously been dubbed by English-speaking actors. Damien Thomas makes for an impressively suave vampire, and David Warbeck is appealing as the hero of the piece. But the real drive of the film comes from Peter Cushing, who gives a surprisingly powerful performance as the maniacal Gustav; if given the choice between facing him or trying to ward off Thomas' vampire, well, most of us would probably feel we had a better chance against Count Karnstein! It is an unexpected effect, and it is quite powerful.

This is not to say that TWINS OF EVIL is without flaws, and now and then some pretty big ones. The script is no winner, and the details of the story are a bit loose, to say the least. The sisters are supposed to be from Vienna, but they somehow wind up in what seems to be a very unappealing area of Germany where the men all dress like American Puritans! There are also one or two scenes that border on the unintentionally comic. But most viewers will be able to suspend disbelief for the film's duration. Recommended for fans of both Hammer and gothic horror.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I liked it.....but it isn't as good as a lot of people say.

'Twins of Evil' is the last film in the 'Karnstein Trilogy'. This film was not meant to be the last in the series, I'll reveal why later.

My review will contain SPOILERs.

The Stars of this film are Peter Cushing (Gustav Weil, Damien Thomas (Count Karnstein), Dennis Price (Dietrich) Mary and Madeleine Collinson (Mary plays Maria and Maddy plays Frieda)and Katya Wyeth (Mircalla).

Two sisters, Maria and Frieda, go to live with their uncle Gustav Weil in Karnstein village, after their parents die. Maria is kind and gently, whereas Frieda is arrogant and disrespectful. Their uncle Gustav Weil is the leader of a puritanical group called 'The Brotherhood'. Frieda hates Gustav and runs away to meet Count Karnstein, who lives in the nearby Castle. Unbeknownst to Frieda, The Count has become a vampire after ressurecting Mircalla Karnstein, a Vampire(an ex-Countess). Frieda causes all sorts of trouble, including Killing her Schoolmistress Ingrid Hoffer, whos brother, Anton (the music Teacher) is in love with Frieda!

In the end the Brotherhood find out about Frieda's saucy escapades. They decide to burn Frieda, but the count switched Maria for Frieda (no one can tell them apart in the movie, though they do look different!). The Brotherhood are going to burn her when Anton arrives to safe her, after Frieda tried to 'seduce' him.

Anton and the Brotherhood march up to Castle karnstein, to stake the Count's evil heart.

Gustav kills Frieda, by decapitation of course. Maria goes looking for Frieda and gets capture by the Count. gustav gets killed trying to save Maria, but Anton saves the day but chucking a spear at the Count's heart. The Count gradually rots away.........

Twins of Evil is often described as 'The Best Film of The Karnstein Trilogy' or 'The Best Hammer Film Ever Made', but I would disagree. This film is well made (properly a lot better made than 'Lust for a Vampire') but it has far to many continuity problems, for example, on one scene The Brotherhood find a man with two teeth marks in his neck, but their is no Vampire at this point in the movie (Mircalla gets ressurected later on).

There is no explanation to why the Count (who isn't the same character as the one in the other two films) is alive, as the Karnsteins were all wiped out.

This film is a brilliant film, but my least favourite of the trilogy, mainly because Mircalla isn't in the film a lot, and she doesn't even get killed in this film.

As stated before, this film wasn't meant to be the last of the trilogy.

'The Vampire Vigins' is an unproduced end to the series. It's plot is very good, though Mircalla gets killed off early. The Count was meant to be played by Peter Cushing (oddly enough) as appear to be the Count from the other two films.

Anyway. 'Twins of Evil' is one of the best examples of a Vampire film but it isn't the best Karnstein film, 'The Vampire Lovers', the first film in the Hammer Karnstein series,and 'Blood and Roses',an Italian film, which contrary to popular belief, is not the closest adaptation of Le Fanu's novel but is still very good, are the best films based on Le Fanu's novel.

Thank you for reading.

Hammer's Twins Of Evil

Director John Hough steers this Hammer Films Classic with absolute relish ~ The film stars Hammer Master 'Peter Cushing' as Gustav Weil, leader of the 'Brotherhood', a Puritan Witch-hunting vigilante group determined to stamp out vampirism ~ the 'Twins' are played by identical twins Mary & Madeleine Collinson, born in Malta in July 1952 ~ they were the first twins to appear in Playboy ~ like many Hammer films, sex was always an underlying theme used to sell the production, & explicit pre-production artwork made the film more like an expensive X-movie ~ much of which showed up in the films publicity shots, depicting the female cast clad in very loose nightgowns & less ~ even so, the film is stubborn in its anti-pleasure theme ~ ...'Twins' was to be the last round in the "Mircalla Trilogy", based on characters & settings by le Fanu ~ Mircalla is mostly absent, as Hammer concentrates on decedent Count Karnstein, praised as perhaps the most promising successor to Christopher Lee's Dracula ~ of great worthy note is the fact that just two months earlier Cushings wife had passed away, & yet he continued on, giving possibly his hardest & most gritting performance ever, casting himself fully into the role ~ he left production of Blood From the Mummy's Tomb due to her illness, & such a return makes the film even more important ~ though looking taunt & tired his performance alone makes the film worth watching ~ dark moody & atmospheric settings, horrifying special effects, & great acting by all involved make it a winner ~ Fun Stuff!