At the same time, is very different to anything in the back-catalogue, even when viewed alongside The Devil Rides Out (1968), which was also inspired by a Dennis Wheatley novel, starred Christopher Lee, and shares a Satanic theme. There are moments of titillation thrown in to appease the male gaze, and it has a supernatural narrative. After the opening scenes in Bavaria, the main action is set against a distinctively British backdrop. For one thing, it stars Christopher Lee, a stalwart of the studio’s ensemble. In many ways, To the Devil a Daughter is typical Hammer. His quietly powerful presence, punctuated with incongruous displays of restrained emotion, really gives the entire film its form. His performance of this Satanic antagonist is engrossing and perhaps one of his best for the studio. In To the Devil a Daughter, Lee got the chance to play an equally terrifying, yet complex personification of evil in Father Michael Rayner, excommunicato. It’s no secret that Lee was becoming disillusioned with continually reprising Dracula for Hammer, as he’d skilfully introduced nuances to the character, which he felt had been lost in favour of simple sadistic cruelty. After this, Christopher Lee’s defiant voice proclaims “it is not heresy, and I will not recant!” It’s the excommunication sentence sampled from the opening scenes of To the Devil a Daughter. On White Zombie’s groundbreaking 1995 album Astro-Creep: 2000, we hear a passage of dialogue in Latin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |