Eye of the Devil (1966)
Directed by J. Lee Thompson

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...

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...