| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Dana Andrews | ... | John Holden | |
| Peggy Cummins | ... | Joanna Harrington | |
| Niall MacGinnis | ... | Doctor Julian Karswell | |
| Maurice Denham | ... | Professor Henry Harrington | |
| Athene Seyler | ... | Mrs. Karswell | |
| Liam Redmond | ... | Mark O'Brien | |
| Reginald Beckwith | ... | Mr. Meek | |
| Ewan Roberts | ... | Lloyd Williamson | |
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Peter Elliott | ... | Kumar |
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Rosamund Greenwood | ... | Mrs. Meek |
| Brian Wilde | ... | Rand Hobart | |
| Richard Leech | ... | Inspector Mottram | |
| Lloyd Lamble | ... | Detective Simmons | |
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Peter Hobbes | ... | Superintendent |
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Charles Lloyd Pack | ... | Chemist (as Charles Lloyd-Pack) |
Dr. John Holden ventures to London to attend a paranormal psychology symposium with the intention to expose devil cult leader Julian Karswell. Holden is a skeptic and does not believe in Karswell's power. Nonetheless, he accepts an invitation to stay at Karswell's estate, along with Joanna Harrington, niece of Holden's confidant who was electrocuted in a bizarre automobile accident. Karswell secretly slips a parchment into Holden's papers that might possibly be a death curse. Recurring strange events finally strike fear into Holden, who believes that his only hope is to pass the parchment back to Karswell to break the demonic curse. Written by Rick Gregory <rag.apa@email.apa.org>
"Curse of the Demon" might just be the best horror film I've ever seen. When I saw it for the first time as a teenager in the mid-sixties on television one night, it really frightened me. And even now, at my age, it still gives me goosebumps.
Dana Andrews plays the skeptical American psychologist investigating a devil worship cult in England led by Dr. Karswell, played by Niall MacGinnis. The acting is pretty weak once you get past the two main characters, but it's the craftsmanship of the director that really matters.
Jacques Tourneur manipulates light and shadow to create fear of the unknown in this tale of modern science colliding with ancient sorcery. The monster is pretty tame as far as it goes, but that's not the point. It's not what you see, it's what you imagine that gets to you.
Long, dark corridors ..... dancing shadows ..... strange sounds contrasted with eerie silences ..... the impending sense of doom and apprehension. This film touches our primal fears, like a child waking up during a thunder storm. Is nature an ordered world or can it be manipulated by evil forces?