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A Passion For Horror
DVDs
Trailer available at the bottom of this page
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Twins of Evil (1971)(a.ka.
The
Evil Twins, The Gemini Twins, The Virgin Vampires, Twins of Dracula)
Directed by John Hough
CAST
Peter Cushing
...
Gustav Weil
DVD Information:
Run Time 87 mins Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Language English Watch The Trailer
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Cushing plays
Gustav Weil, who is not, I suppose, knowingly a bad man, but whether or
not he sees himself as a bad man, he can hardly be called one of he
good guys when he persists in burning innocent young maidens at the
stake. Gustav leads a band of religious nuts called The Brotherhood who
busy themselves with riding around and looking for wenches to accuse of
witchcraft and various other unsavoury deeds. One such maiden lives
alone in a cottage in the woods and the only thing that saves her from
getting all hot and sticky amongst the flames is the fact that, when
Gustav and his band of not so merry men arrive, she is has already been
getting hot and sticky with Count Karnstein. Gustav is a powerful man,
but he does not have the same connections as the Count and, fearing
Karnstein's friends in high places, he is forced to take his men and
leave.
It is not long
after this incident that Gustav's two nieces arrive to stay with him
and his wife. The girls are twins and have come to Gustav because their
parents are dead. The title of this film, by the way, is misleading,
because they are not twins of evil. Only one of the girls, Frieda, is
evil the other one, Maria, is not and she often finds herself taking
the blame for her sister's misdeeds. The poor girl probably has little
choice in the matter either because her sister bullies her terribly.
At the
beginning of the film the count is human, but he lives for evil and in
a fit of boredom and desperation he scarifies a young girl to Satan and
although the Dark Lord himself does not put in an appearance,
he does send someone else instead. Yes, you've guessed it, Mircalla.
Mircalla is played by yet another actress this time (Katya
Wyeth) and she is only in the film for a couple of scenes as
she first enjoys a bit of vampire loving with the Count and then gives
him the mother of all hiccies ensuring that he gets exactly what he
wants from the union: the gift of eternal damnation and some nice
pointy teeth.
With dark
woods, drifting fog and lightning ripping open the sky above Karnetein
Castle, Twins of Evil
does have a spooky feel to it, but apart from that the film cannot
boast anything special to set it apart from other vampire films. If you
have seem the first two instalments of the Karnstein Trilogy though,
you may find it interesting to watch Twins
just so that you can witness what happens when a good idea is stretched
too far and milked to death. Fortunately Hammer did not try and
resurrect the idea for further films and Twins
lays the Karnsteins to
rest for good.