Film Review
Presaging the swathe of horror films dealing with the occult in the
late 1960s, early 1970s,
Eye of the
Devil is an overlooked gem of British cinema which is
distinguished by its relentlessly spooky atmosphere and nerveracking
suspense, which builds to a truly gruesome climax. The plot is
virtually identical to that of
The Wicker Man (1973) but,
filmed in dreamlike black and white, it feels very different, the
nature of the terror masked by our uncertainty over the reliability of
the main protagonist, Catherine, played by Deborah Kerr. The fact
that Kerr had had a similar role in Jack Clayton's
The Innocents (1961) lends the
film an unsettling ambiguity - how sure are we that the danger she sees
is real, and not just a figment of her over-active imagination?
Kerr's presence in the film was entirely fortuitous. She was handed the role
after Kim Novak, the actress who was originally cast as Catherine,
suffered an injury in a riding accident. Both Kerr and her
co-star David Niven are unlikely casting choices for roles who are
supposed to be members of the French aristocracy - neither so much as
makes an attempt at a French accent. The supporting cast offers
a welter of talent, including such distinguished character actors as
Donald Pleasence, Flora Robson and Emlyn Williams. Sharon Tate
made her screen debut in this film, her coldly inexpressive beauty
matched by that of David Hemmings, both actors bringing a palpable
sense of demonic menace to the film. Viewed in long shot, Tate
and Hemmings have an unnatural physical allure and could so easily be
mistaken for emissaries of the Devil.
Director J. Lee Thompson makes a virtue out of the disjointed, sometimes
muddled narrative by framing this as a predominantly subjective
experience, following its main character on her nightmare journey
towards the truth. The camerawork and editing both have a boldly
expressionistic edge to them, with flurried montages serving to
emphasise the confusion and anxiety in the heroine's mind as she begins
to glimpse the evil destiny into which she has married. At times,
the film is genuinely terrifying, something that is achieved not by
shocking us with images of graphic violence but by suggestion, getting
us to create in our own mind's eye the obscene horrors of a satanic
cult.
Eye of the Devil
may not have quite the impact as
The
Wicker Man but it is nonetheless a chilling excursion into
demonic fantasy - a fantasy that is all the more frightening because it
could so easily be real. Who knows what pagan terrors lurk in the
villages of rural France...
© James Travers 2014
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Film Synopsis
After a third disastrous harvest in a row at his vineyard in France,
the Marquis Phillippe de Montfaucon has no option but to return to his
medieval château, Bellenac. He wants to go alone but his
wife Catherine insists on accompanying him with their two young
children, Jacques and Antoinette. The moment she arrives at the
ancient castle, Catherine has a presentiment that her husband is in
mortal danger. Her worst fears are confirmed when she witnesses a
black mass being performed in one of the towers of the
château. As she explores the history of Philippe's family
she learns that the Montfaucons have been implicated in a pagan ritual
for centuries, a ritual which involves human sacrifice...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.