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This archive article is now embarrassingly out of date, and inadequate. The archive features drifted off soon after this in 2000. I repost this article simply for archive interest. As with much of the rest of the site I hope to update the article in the near future....

Robert JE Simpson
22 August 2006.

 

The
RANK ORGANISATION
Presents

A HAMMER PRODUCTION

PETER CUSHING
in

TWINS OF EVIL
© Copyright MCMVXXI Hammer Film Productions Limited
All Rights Reserved

 

Co-starring
DENNIS PRICE
MARY COLLINSON ...... MADELAINE COLLINSON

Also starring
ISOBEL BLACK ....... KATHLEEN BYRON
DAMIEN THOMAS .. DAVID WARBECK

 

Director of Photography
DICK BUSH B.S.C.

Colour by Rank Film Processing

Art Director .... ROY STANNARD
Editor ............. SPENCER REEVE

Second Unit and Special Effects Photography
JACK MILLS B.S.C.

Music Composed by
HARRY ROBINSON

Musical Supervisor
PHILLIP MARTELL

Production Manager ..... Tom Sachs
Assistant Director .......... Patrick Clayton
Camera Operator .......... Dudley Lovell
Sound Recordist ............. Don Barron
Sound Editor .................. Bill Trent
Continuity ..................... Gladys Goldsmith
Make-up ....................... George Blackler
........................................ John Webber
Wardrobe ...................... Rosemary Burron
Hairdressing .................. Pearl Tipaldi
Construction Manager .. Arthur Banks
Dubbing Mixer .............. Ken Barker
Dialogue Coach ............. Ruth Lodge

Screenplay by
TUDOR GATES

Based on characters created by J. Sheridan le Fanu

Produced by
HARRY FINE
and
MICHAEL STYLE

Directed by
JOHN HOUGH

CAST
Woodman INIGO JACKSON
Woodman's Daughter JUDY MATHESON
Gustav Weil PETER CUSHING
Franz HARVEY HALL
Hermann ALEX SCOTT
Lady In Coach SHEELAH WILCOX
Frieda Gellhorn MADELAINE COLLINSON
Maria Gellhorn MARY COLLINSON
Katy Weil KATHLEEN BYRON
Joachim ROY STEWART
Gerta LUAN PETERS
Count Karnstein DAMIEN THOMAS
Dietrich DENNIS PRICE
Alexa MAGGIE WRIGHT
Countess Mircalla KATYA WYETH
Anton Hoffer DAVID WARBECK
Ingrid Hoffer ISOBEL BLACK
Young Girl at Stake KIRSTEN LINDHOLM
Gaoler PETER THOMPSON

uncredited cast
Man in Graveyard ROY BOYD
The Midget GEORGE CLAYDON
2nd Girl On Tomb CATHY HOWARD
Chief Mock Priest GARTH WATKINS

The Puritans
JOHN FAHEY
KENNETH GILBERT
DEREK GLYNNE-PERCY
SEBASTIAN GRAHAM-JONES
JASON JAMES
BILL SAWYER

Schoolgirls
MAXINE CASSON
VIVIENNE CHANDLER
DOREEN CHANTER
IRENE CHANTER
JACKIE LEAPMAN
ANNETTE ROBERTS

Twins of Evil
Original Duration: 87 mins, colour
Original Certificate : X
Today's Certificate : 18
Filmed at Pinewood Studios, London, England

---

THE PLOT: Not that I want to spoil this fabulous Hammer, but basically, two very attractive girls arrive in a village in which Gustav Weil and his Puritan associates battle against immorality, hunting down suspected witches and the devious Count Karnstein. The Count heads a sinister satanic cult, and as he seeks immortality via the vampirical path he tries to take one of the two twins (Weil's neices) with him....

REVIEW: Twins was to be the last in the loosely grouped "Mircalla Trilogy", based initially at least on characters and settings by le Fanu. Mircalla is mostly absent, and instead we concentrate on descendant Count Karnstein, praised as perhaps the most promising successor to Christopher Lee's Dracula since Ralph Bates.
The film makes much of the stubborn attitude of the Puritans, towards sexual deviance, perhaps influenced by the social climate of the early seventies. In flavour it draws much from Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General, although, Twins is more stubborn in its anti-pleasure theme.
John Hough directs with absolute relish, having impressed Hammer with his 1969 tv pilot Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood, which Hammer later bought, hoping to produce a series. (I will review that particular gem elsewhere)
The likes of David Warbeck who plays lovesick Anton, and Sheelah Wilcox were all brought from Wolfshead to work on Twins (watching Wolfshead, I found myself at times confused between the films, with so many appearing in both features).
The sets and style of the whole production are first-class, and Twins remains one of my favourite Hammers, much viewed. The climactic scenes in the forest and castle are the essence of most people's vision of a true Hammer horror.
The twins, were played by Maltese-born Mary and Madelaine Collinson, who had been the first twin centrefolds of Playboy magazine. Their acting ability aside, they are a pleasure to watch, and perhaps surprisingly for the Mircalla series, the nudity is kept right down to only a couple of seemingly misplaced shots. But then, titulation is always so much more erotic than exploitation.

Sex was always going to sell this production, and the rather explicit pre-production artwork (I may include it here at some stage), makes the film look more like an expensive porn movie. As do some of the publicity shots, of the female cast (well the nice ones anyway) clad in very loose nightgowns and less. Erm.....

However, no matter how good the performances were from the rest of the cast (and they are all very good, though Dennis Price is much the same as he was in Horror of Frankenstein), the star of the show is Peter Cushing. Just two months earlier his wife passed away, and yet he continued on, giving possibly his hardest and most gritting performance ever, casting himself fully into the role. He had had to leave Blood From the Mummy's Tomb due to her illness, and such a return makes the film even more important.
Cushing is beginning to look tired and gaunt, forming the look that he retained throughout the seventies. And the film is worth watching for Peter alone.

Twins was shot in Black Park and Pinewood Studios in March and April 1971, and cost the studios £205,067 to make. It opened on 3rd October of that year alongside Hands of the Ripper. After a good opening week, its national release from 17th October saw a drop in takings, however the overseas people were pleased. CIC were responsible for the Twins of Dracula title that the US release was given. A marketing ploy, which seemed to work. The censors cut over five and a half minutes of footage before granting its US certificate.

Twins remains an excellent Hammer shocker. Attractive girls in nightdresses, a stomping musical accompanyment (my personal favourite too actually!), Peter Cushing in a dastardly role (only slightly indicative of how The Vampire Virgins role might have been), top notch cast, dark and moody setting, horrifying special effects, and splendidly camp (Dennis Price, and of course the mute henchman's description of the invading puritans). Its just a shame about the hideous purple credits (which I have tried to represent above :)

The film has been released in the UK by Rank Films, Cinema Club, CC 7236, in 1995. Its rated 18 and 83 minutes long. Occasionally shown in the UK, both my copies last 84 mins, presumably its the same version as the release. The picture is good, though sadly fullscreen. Thouroughly enjoyable, and highly recommended.

 

page posted Thursday 13th January 2000
all original text, and layout of the page © RJE Simpson 2000
mail me with corrections, comments etc to hammer@avalard.com
page reformatted and reposted 23 August 2006

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