Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Prichards12345 Only kidding. The Devil Rides Out is a great barnstorming horror-melodrama, which takes a fairly boring book (still Dennis Wheatley's best though - you should read his other ones) and turns it into an exciting and deftly acted near classic. Only the special effects - as usual with Hammer - disappoint.Christopher Lee gets a chance to play the hero for a change, and is a superbly convincing Duc De Richleiu, off-handedly telling his mate Rex to take any of his cars. Lee is up against Charles Gray's splendidly affable Mocata, the head of a Satanist Cult who's about to induce two young things to sell their souls to the Devil. Gray is fantastic in the part.Patrick Mower, a familiar face on British t.v. in the 70s, is one of 'em, and Lee, having been friendly with his Dad, determines to rescue him from a fate worse than death...The story begins at a rapid pace and doesn't let up, and is full of memorable moments - Lee chins someone in the first 10 minutes for a start! The Satanic Ceremony, with The Goat of Mendes in attendance, is splendid stuff - a truly startling moment occurs when his face is caught in the headlights of a car. Had this film been made three years later the celebrants would probably all have been starkers...The central sequence, with Lee and his cohorts trying to project Mower inside a magic circle from the forces of hell is utterly brilliant. Director Terence Fisher gives it real menace. It's a shame about the silly horse ridden by the Angel Of Death, though. Reversing the film makes him look extremely comical.Great movie from Hammer. And do you recall Dennis Wheatley's warnings with his book collection adverts about not dabbling with Satanism? I still giggle over the Not The Nine O'Clock News spoof of this..."Besides, there isn't room for two of us on this patch!"

dougdoepke For fans of old roadsters, circa 1925, and one lane English country roads, the movie's a gold mine. I love the driving here and there in those stylish old flivvers. I guess drivers didn't have to worry about oncoming traffic or they'd just pull off into a field if they met any. It's an okay horror flick, heavier on the mumbo-jumbo than blood and guts. The Duc (Lee) has to protect his circle of family and friends from an assault by the satanic Mocata (Gray) and his coven of devil worshipers. Good thing the Duc knows the right moves, whether invocations, symbols, or where to look.What atmosphere the horror flick has comes mainly from staging rather than lighting, which is mostly high-key Technicolor. I can't help thinking b&w with proper shading would have lent more menace. Then too, the commanding Lee would definitely have projected more menace as Satan's henchman than the rather dull Charles Gray. But maybe Lee was tired playing evil types, besides the good guy here has to have Lee- type gravitas to go one-on-one with the forces of darkness.I guess the movie's high-point (outside of the sudden slam-bang climax) would be when the coven goes party crazy. Too bad they don't doff their robes and go for an orgy, which I suspect is what the movie-makers would have preferred. Oh well, we get the idea, anyway. At times the various black magic-white magic maneuverings are hard to follow, the script not being heavy on exposition. Still, the production's slickly done and doesn't drag, with a wrap-up that should please church-goers.

GL84 Gathering together in a large mansion, a group of Satanists use the friend of a Duke to finish their ritual, unaware that the Duke has powers of the occult as well and uses them in a war with the Satanists to save his friend and stop their plan to bring Hell on Earth.This was quite enjoyable and offered some enjoyable scenes throughout here. What really gives this one a lot of good points is how much fun this one has with its demonstration of the occult throughout here, from the initial opening party where their rude treatment spurs the discovery of the symbols that dictate the discovery of the group and their return visit where the demonic figure appears to them and nearly corrupts them before some last-minute rescues and the influence asserted over the follower during a hugely enjoyable car chase where he uses his powers to first break free and then escape his clutches following the high-speed pursuit through the woods which is a fantastic highlight. These displays here are given a really impressive amount of time here through these scenes that there's a really fine amount of action in here, not only the fine car-chase but also a rather fun black mass ceremony where the rituals and decorations are performed for the raucous crowd, the invocation of the goat-headed man appearing and leading into the frantic rescue attempt that makes for quite a fun time here. The attempts to break their circular protection field are quite fun as well with the howling, freezing cold winds and frightening apparitions that continuously approach them which is quite the enjoyable effort here as they all continuously battle them in an extended, one-on-one sequence. As well, the finale back in the cult's den is quite impressive with the powers again on display and really giving a fun overall sense of action with the fire crawling up along the walls which lets this one come along at a fine scene to close this out nicely as these positives all make up for the few flaws. The main issue here is a serious continuity error over the weakness of the coven area, as despite the conjurations and spells he produced it seemed that all he could do was hypnotically control people as long as they were looking in his eyes, so if you look away, he really has no power over you which is quite a silly change that drops this somewhat. The other flaw here is that it has a tendency to employ one of the most hated traits in a film where the one character who knows what's going on never explaining anything to the outsiders when performing rituals or actions of great importance that are going to save someone, so when they do something logical in a situation, you get a feeling he'll kill them right then and there for messing up the situation when it all could've been done away with had he simply shared his knowledge so they know what's going on and what's happening as they have no experience in the subject matter. Still, it wasn't a bad film at all.Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence and intense satanic themes and rituals.

poe426 THE DEVIL RIDES OUT caught me by surprise the first time I saw it, for a number of reasons: First, the screenplay by Richard Matheson, which is tighter and more logical than the scripts in all too many Hammer films. (It's interesting to note that Hammer Studios rejected Matheson's own script for a theatrical version of I AM LEGEND before it devolved into THE LAST MAN ON EARTH with Vincent Price...) (That original script is available from GAUNTLET PRESS.) Second, the effects, which are surprisingly well done for the period and include a man with a goat's head (Satan); with the possible exceptions of HAXAN and THE DEVIL'S RAIN, I don't recall very many "satanic" films that ever bothered to actually SHOW this particular image of Old Scratch. Third, the direction, which is as tight as the script- and the performances, as well. One of the better early Hammer films.