TWINS OF EVIL was one of the few early 1970s Hammer Films that I got to see in a theater (or in this case a drive-in). As was often the case, a Hammer title was doubled up with some film of lesser quality which I had already forgotten by the time I got home. This one I remember well for the notoriety surrounding its use of Madeline & Mary Collinson, Playboy magazine’s first twin centerfolds, but that wasn’t why I went to see it. Like any true Hammer fan, I wanted to see Peter Cushing in his latest outing.
I remember not liking it as much as THE VAMPIRE LOVERS because there was no Ingrid Pitt and the movie started off like a ripoff of Vincent Price’s WITCHFINDER GENERAL. Old pro Dennis Price (KIND HEARTS & CORONETS) is completely wasted. Shakespearean actor Damien Thomas (Count Karnstein) is a decent vampire although he is no Christopher Lee and Mircalla (Carmilla) Karnstein is only in the movie briefly as a plot device although her resurrection is one of the film’s highlights. Still there are other moments of high atmosphere and genuine eroticism while Peter Cushing gives the most intense performance of his career.
A few years ago I watched TWINS on a restored Region 2 copy which looked absolutely stunning. It looks as if this Synapse Blu-Ray/DVD uses the same material. I see where some reviewers complain about its visual quality but it looks fine to me. Since several other reviews go into the plot in great detail, I will summarize it briefly. Twin girls, one good the other bad go to live with their puritanical uncle (Cushing) who leads a religious brotherhood that scours the countryside looking for young women to burn as witches (sound familiar?). Decadent aristocrat Count Karnstein turns into a vampire halfway through, corrupts the bad twin and then must face the wrath of Cushing and the zealots.
Director John Hough (LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS) and ace cameraman Dick Bush have crafted a film that moves along nicely and is consistently interesting to look at although it can’t gloss over such plot inconsistensies as Count Karnstein walking about in broad daylight and why, since he only recently became a vampire, does he decompose in the end. Although uneven in execution, when TWINS works it works well and the film’s twin assets will remain undiminished by time.
The Capsule Critic 