viewing in glorious black and white will make all the difference. The story is pretty straight forward as far as vampire/devil worship/witch hunt movies go, but the execution of this simple tale is outstanding on every other level..the acting, the wardrobe, cinema photography were all top notch. Warning! This film has sinful devil worshiping, bloodletting, human sacrifices, young nubile witch burnings, head decapitation, and plenty of heaving bosoms.

I saw this movie in the mid 80s on a VHS. Then again ten years back. My dad used to watch a lot of hammer films especially of Christopher Lee's. Sometimes he used to allow me to watch these hammer films when i was very young. The funny part was during explicit portions of the films, he used to forward scenes n used to giv the explanation that the VHS needed to b forwarded coz the print was bad during that portion. Sometimes v laugh till date when v ponder over hammer films. Well, coming back to this movie, it is a prequel to The Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire n the three makes up the Karnstein trilogy. Many horror films from this period, especially by Hammer, often had erotic overtones. Twins of Evil is perhaps the mildest in eroticism compared to the two predecessors. This movie has the real-life twins and former Playboy Playmates Mary and Madeleine Collinson. Most of the women are young and beautiful, especially the two twins, with big breasts and with the lowest-cut dresses n awesome cleavages. Surprisingly there's no real nudity till the end n nothing happens. I felt really annoyed. There's little actual Vampirism to talk about. It has some decent cinematography n like always Hammer captures the period strongly, from the set details of Karnstein's castle to the clothing and props. It's directed by verstaile John Hough, the guy who directed sexy Hammer horror films to Disney family films (Legend of hell house, Escape to witch mountain). The only saving grace other than the eye candy was Peter Cushing. He was a talented actor, but he allowed himself to be typecast in the horror genre. Well from the Hammer repertory company i was a fan of Cushing n Christopher Lee.

This is a really weird mix of story elements, even for a Hammer film, and the odd mix and directorial style make "Twins Of Evil" a lot less enjoyable (and a lot less fun) than the "classic" Christopher Lee Dracula films. For one thing, the whole thing feels ugly and mean spirited. The only likable character in the whole first half of the film is "Cathy" (Peter Cushing's "wife"). Everyone else is a rigid, unreasoning fanatic (Cushing and the townsmen), a decadent murderer (the "Count"), or a helpless victim. (I don't count the "Twins" of the title, since they're pure ciphers for the first 30 minutes).And the film takes a little too much pleasure in watching innocent girls burn at the stake.And once things get rolling, there are still these weird "found" plot elements that seem to be there because the story told us that's how things had to be. Vampires are "undead" and can't be seen in the mirror, just...because. They can't fly or transform or command animals or the elements, but they CAN hypnotize people just...because. It turns out that Vampires can't be permanently destroyed by fire - their bodies melt, but their spirits are free to take over other bodies, but this is never demonstrated. So they must be impaled or decapitated, just...because. Nothing about running water, or silver, or garlic, but they hate crucifixes just...because. (And does anyone else find it odd that a choirmaster would know more about vampire lore than the witch hunter?) And once things get rolling...it's just a mess. One twin is bland and "good", one is evil, they have that whole "twin empathy thing" that is just there without being at all convincing. People are killed by vampires. The choirmaster's sister is killed off camera. The count kills people seemingly at random. The count tries to kidnap the good sister, is foiled by the crucifix, but only for a moment. The villagers fight the manservant (so the count sold his soul to the devil but only has one guy to defend his castle??). Peter Cushing's character dies uselessly, but the choirmaster manages to heave a javelin through the count's chest. The end.I don't know...maybe the version I saw was heavily edited to cut down on the running time and some scenes that would have made things hold together were taken out? There's still some good "Hammer" stuff in here, and I'm not sorry I took the time to track it down and see it. (For instance, the evil twin's decapitation is staged very nicely...but without showing us HOW the witch hunter knew to be there at the supposedly secret back exit she was taking. Like I said, the plot's a mess). The acting is...well, the acting is actually the best part of the movie, because although the characters are completely cardboard, the actors manage to invest them with presence and make you absolutely believe that those are real people under going real events. Peter Cushing is pretty good, as he always is, even if his role makes you want to set HIM on fire. So even if the screenplay itself is really sketchy and irritating, the director at least got one part of his job right. Verdict: worth seeing if you REALLY LIKE Hammer and want to see every film the studio ever put out. Worth seeing if you value atmosphere and dread over forward momentum and, for lack of a better term, "heart".

Playboy 'playmates' Mary and Madeleine Collinson play Maria and Frieda, two recently orphaned twins from Venice, who have the additional misfortune to be coming to live with their Uncle Veil, the constantly furious leader of 'The Brotherhood', a group who bastardise their interpretation of religion by sacrificing young girls whom they believe are 'servants of the devil'. One of the best lines in the film is Veil's response to his nieces not wearing black after two months of mourning. On seeing their smart clothes, he intones, finger raised to the Heavens, "WHAT kind of PLUMAGE is this??"Peter Cushing gives one of his best performances ever as Gustav Veil, a fairly complex character as written. With seldom few genuine 'good guys' on display (hero Anton (David Warbeck) is a teacher with less than professional designs on Frieda, who is, after all, one of his students) , Veil is typically written as a hypocritical, tyrannical yet ultimately fragile and humane authority figure. Cushing plays every contrast to the hilt, so that rather than hating him, the viewer is drawn into the moral dilemma of how to deal with the demonic forces he has given his life (and the life of those around him) to destroying, when such forces infest his own family. In his perverted translation of religion, he and his followers, all aroused by each other's vehement hatred of impurities, are responsible for the deaths of more innocents than the corrupt Count Karnstein – and yet when Gustav falls, as he inevitably must, he dies a (kind of) hero. Real life tragedies etched ten years of age onto Cushing's countenance (compare his appearance here to his last Hammer outing 'The Vampire Lovers') and leant him a forlorn countenance that adds to Veil's vulnerability.Damien Thomas was rumoured to be in line to play Dracula for Hammer once Christopher Lee had finally hung up his fangs – and from his performance here, it is easy to see why. The twins are also very good here, despite having little formal acting experience – subtle differences in responses separate the mischievous Frieda from the wholesome Maria very well; no mean feat considering they are dubbed throughout. Dennis Price is exceptional as the weaselly Dietrich. Often wasted at this stage of his career on cheap sex-comedies and low-budget horrors, he is exemplary here, especially when ineffectually attempting to excite Karnstein with some inept devil-worshipping entertainment.Harvey Hall, the only actor to have appeared in all of this trilogy (alongside Kirstin Lindholm who is briskly burnt at the stake), is his usual dependable self as Franz, one of The Brotherhood. Finally, Katya Wyeth plays the third incarnation of Carmilla/Mircalla, (who speaks in crisp, clipped RC English, without the European intonations of her predecessors) who – in her one scene – incestuously seduces The Count and turns him into a vampire (which begs the question, who was responsible for the vampire attacks on villagers before Karnstein's turning?). Apparently, Ingrid Pitt was offered the part, but possibly due to its brevity, turned it down.Director Tim Burton often cites Hammer films as an inspiration for the visuals of his films, especially 'Sleepy Hollow (1999)'. It is easy to imagine he refers specifically to 'Twins of Evil' as virtually every scene is reminiscent of the darkest Gothic fairy-tale, with great use of rich colours against the shadows. Apparently the budget for this wasn't much higher than the previous 'Lust' film, which is astounding, as this looks magnificent and a true credit to Director John Hough. The music also separates this from others in the trilogy. The bombastic score is exciting and plays against some of the more gruesome scenes (the elongated burnings, for example), and yet makes them more tragic and frightening than if more traditional incidentals were used. 'Twins' is as good as anything Hammer has ever produced.