The Devil Rides Out, also known as The Devil's Bride (although there isn't much riding, and the bride's a minor character at best) is an above-average devil-worshipper movie, with the twist of the eminent Christopher Lee playing the good guy. It's appropriately menacing and worthwhile.
Lee plays the Duc de Richleau (good name), who, along with Rex van Ryn (played by Leon Greene) is the ward of a certain Simon Aron (Patrick Mower). Rex and the Duc drop by Simon's pad (it's 1968, after all), only to discover that Simon's throwing a party with 12 of his friends, all of whom seem a bit shady. One of the friends is Tanith Carlisle (Nike Arrighi), who catches ol' Rex's eye.
The Duc suspects that Simon has been recruited to join a Satan-worshipping cult (hence 13 at the party), and luckily for all of us, he knows a little of the black magic himself. So it's a race to save the soul of Simon and of, naturally, Tanith from the evil clutches of the high priest, Mocata. Mocata is played by Charles Gray, who later would appear as Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever and as The Criminologist in the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show, and he has a truly nefarious glare that he makes frequent use of. Lee, of course, also played a Bond villain - in The Man with the Golden Gun. Nice coincidence.
There's sacrifices, mutilation, possession, kidnapping, mind control, astral projection. Hey, for a lesser-known Hammer film, it's a pretty impressive production. For the first half of the movie, at least one person steadfastly doesn't believe in devil worshippers, but in the second half everyone's cool with the idea. They'd even buy into time travel or midget giraffes dealing Ecstasy. Wacky and weird, just not zany.
Lee plays the Duc de Richleau (good name), who, along with Rex van Ryn (played by Leon Greene) is the ward of a certain Simon Aron (Patrick Mower). Rex and the Duc drop by Simon's pad (it's 1968, after all), only to discover that Simon's throwing a party with 12 of his friends, all of whom seem a bit shady. One of the friends is Tanith Carlisle (Nike Arrighi), who catches ol' Rex's eye.
The Duc suspects that Simon has been recruited to join a Satan-worshipping cult (hence 13 at the party), and luckily for all of us, he knows a little of the black magic himself. So it's a race to save the soul of Simon and of, naturally, Tanith from the evil clutches of the high priest, Mocata. Mocata is played by Charles Gray, who later would appear as Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever and as The Criminologist in the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show, and he has a truly nefarious glare that he makes frequent use of. Lee, of course, also played a Bond villain - in The Man with the Golden Gun. Nice coincidence.
There's sacrifices, mutilation, possession, kidnapping, mind control, astral projection. Hey, for a lesser-known Hammer film, it's a pretty impressive production. For the first half of the movie, at least one person steadfastly doesn't believe in devil worshippers, but in the second half everyone's cool with the idea. They'd even buy into time travel or midget giraffes dealing Ecstasy. Wacky and weird, just not zany.