The Devil Rides Out

The Devil Rides Out is a Hammer film production released on 20th June 1968, this was a time when society started challenging the stereotypical ways and begin rebelling and experimented with new things. The film features many special effects which we see form quite early on the film. Surprisingly the film is very well lit for most of the beginning, it's not until the middle of the film that we see low key lighting used often.

 The opening credits are a clear indicator of what the film is going to be like. There are images of satanic symbols and bright technicolour with the dramatic music in the background. The music is very high pitched violin type music, it makes you feel tense. Although the film was made in 1968, it is set in the past around the 1930's and is directed by Terence Fisher. This film stars Christopher Lee, a big star at this time and a well known horror actor.

 The first scene features an airplane which indicates a fairly big budget and also the characters wealth. It then cuts to a scene of the two men in the car, it uses green screen for the back window. Whilst they are in the car they discuss not seeing someone for 3 months, they go to find the man. They turn up at his house and he is shocked to see them, they are all old friends, this man is having what looks like a party, but as they walk around and over hear conversations they realize it's not a normal party. It seems to be some sort of cult, they become worried, the host of the party becomes aware and asks them to leave. Just before the two men leave one of them, Nicholas, asks to see the hosts observatory. Simon, the host looks worried and chases them up the stairs, the music becomes more tense and he opens the door the room seems normal, apart from the strange satanic symbol on the floor, Simon brushes it off as just decretive but Nicholas knows something is going on, they hear a noise coming from the cupboard and Nicholas opens it to find two chickens in a basket. Rex, their friend, is very confused at this point, but they knock Simon unconscious and take him back to Nicholas's house. Their nicholas explains that Simon is messing with black magic and that he is in huge danger. Nicholas hypnotizes Simon and sends him to bed wearing a silver cross on a chain around his neck for protection.



It then cuts to Simon asleep in bed, then suddenly his eyes open, music accompanies the mood, his hand reaches up to the necklace and starts to tighten it around his neck. We can see that Simon is possessed by someone or something as his other hand tries to reach out for the bell and call for help, the butler comes into his room and is shocked at what he sees. Nicholas and Rex, unaware of what is happening are in the other room chatting when the butler bursts in and tells them what's happened. They run to Simon's room but he is gone.

They go to Simon's house and go up to the observatory. While they walk up the stairs the tension music kicks in again, they open the doors expecting to find something there but it empty. They look around the room, they find the chickens still their and are relieved, then as they continue to look around, the room becomes colder, the the lights dim out, this is the first real low key lighting that is used in the film. Then smoke rises from the satanic symbol on the floor and a man appears. Nicholas tells Rex not to look into his eyes, the mans eyes glow red, he stares at them, music becomes more and more intense until Nicholas does a chant and throws the silver cross onto the man, he disappears in a puff of smoke and the room goes back to normal. Rex is stunned at what he has just seen as he was skeptical at first.

Rex is sent to collect Tannith, a girl who is in the cult, this is when the multi strand narrative becomes apparent, with Tannith and Rex having chemistry between them. Rex drives her to his sisters house in the country, as the are driving along Tannith looks into the mirror, Rex's voice fades out and music fades in, a mans voice comes into her head, hypnotizing her, his eyes appear in the mirror, then it goes but we can tell she is no longer herself. Rex is unaware that this has happened and so carries on to his sisters house. When he arrives at his sisters and gets out of the car, Tannith immediately drives off, Rex gets into a car and chases her, stunt drivers would have been used for this car chase as they go at high speeds around windy roads. High tension background music plays as the chase continues, eventually Rex crashes and Tannith gets away, soon after this, as Rex is waling down the road a lady from the party at the beginning drives past. He follows her, here he finds the whole group of them, including Simon. They manage to get Simon and Tannith back to the house and have them rest there.

Nicholas then has to go away for the day and tells Rex's sister to not leave Tannith or Simon for a minute alone. Whilst Nicholas is gone the leader of the cult arrives at the door, Rex's sister is weary but agrees to talk to him, he tries to persuade her that he isn't a bad person but she asks him to leave. He then stares her in the eye and hypnotizes her, he tells her she will obey him and asks her where Tannith and Simon are. As this happens, the same music that came on when Tannith was being hypnotized came on and his bright beady blue eyes stared into the camera, making the audience feel like he is looking right at you. Her daughter bursts in and the man leaves, simon and Tannith are unaware that they had both tried to murder the people watching them as they were all under the leaders command. In panic and fear Tannith asks Rex to leave with her as she is afraid of hurting someone, so they leave and stay in a barn.Nicholas gets informed when he gets back and he knows bad things are going to happen so he draws up and protection circle on the floor, they all stand inside the circle back to back, holding hands.

The lighting dims out and the room becomes cold, meanwhile Tannith becomes hypnotized and is being used as a medium. The angel of death comes for someone and wont leave with out anyone, Nicholas makes it leave by using a chant and then Rex's sisters daughter walks in, a giant tarantula scuttles around them and they scream in fear, it crawls towards the little girl, Nicholas manages to kill it, but the little girl is gone. Rex then appears holding Tannith in his arms, she was taken by the angel of death. Nicholas uses Rex's sister to talk to Tannith and find out where her daughter is. They find out that she has been taken as a sacrifice for the devil. They rush over to where the ceremony is taking place and first get Simon to go in and tell them he is back so they can give the child back now, the refuse so Nicholas and the rest go in. They bring the daughter out and lye her on the table, they are about to cut her throat, the tension builds, the music becomes more intense then suddenly, Tannith's voice comes through Rex's sister. She walks across the room to the child and releases her from the curse she was under, she then banishes everyone from the room, special effects are used here, smoke and lighting fill the room, and then everything is gone. The next scene is just the same as it was before, they are back in the room where Nicholas was talking to Tannith through Rex's sister, Tannith and Rex aren't their, then they appear from the same place they did before, this time Tannith is walking next to Rex and not dead in his arms. It is a happy ending as they have saved the child and Tannith and the leader of the cult was taken by the angel of death.