Demons of the Mind (1972)

A physician discovers that two children are being kept virtually imprisoned in their house by their father. He investigates, and discovers a web of sex, incest and satanic possession.

Director:

Peter Sykes

Writers:

Christopher Wicking (screenplay), Christopher Wicking (from an original story by)

Stars:

Robert Hardy, Shane Briant, Gillian Hills

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Hardy	...	Zorn
Shane Briant	...	Emil
Gillian Hills	...	Elizabeth
Yvonne Mitchell	...	Hilda
Paul Jones	...	Carl Richter
Patrick Magee	...	Falkenberg
Kenneth J. Warren	...	Klaus
Michael Hordern	...	Priest
Robert Brown	...	Fischinger
Virginia Wetherell	...	Inge
Deirdre Costello	...	Magda
Barry Stanton	...	Ernst
Sidonie Bond	...	Zorn's Wife
Thomas Heathcote	...	Coachman
John Atkinson	...	1st Villager

Storyline

Baron Zorn keeps his teenaged children locked up and drugged, fearing that his insane wife passed along a congenital curse to them before her own suicidal death. Elizabeth escapes for a brief tryst with a local before being recaptured and subjected to a bleeding process to 'draw out the bad blood.' Emil keeps trying to escape, but is thwarted time and again by his aunt Hilda who runs the house like a prison. One reason the siblings have to be kept apart, is their incestuous attraction to each other. Local wenches are being murdered in the woods, and the superstitious peasants think demons are responsible. A wandering Priest dedicates himself to root out the evil, but isn't taken seriously. Arriving at the castle are two more interested parties: Mountebank scientist-huckster Falkenberg stands to make a small fortune if his strange apparatus can cure the children of their inherited evil. Young Carl simply wants to rescue Elizabeth. As more murders mount, Falkenberg enlists village lass ...

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Plot Keywords:

religious fanatic | secret | psychotronic film | blood | insanity | 

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Taglines:

They came to torture an agonised mind

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blood Evil

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anglo-EMI, Hammer Films, Frank Godwin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gillian Hills was a last-minute replacement for Marianne Faithfull who was recast due to insurance reasons.

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Quotes

[to his daughter, Elizabeth]
Zorn: This is where you should be. Here... with us.

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Alternate Versions

Although the UK Optimum DVD release restores the 18s of cuts made for the earlier VHS release it is still the cut theatrical version. Missing are the shots of earth being stuffed into Virginia Wetherall's mouth plus other trims to this murder. The murder of Yvonne Mitchell was also shortened by the reduction/removal of a few shots. This cut version is also the one released on the R1 Anchor Bay USA DVD.

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Connections

Referenced in Inside the Tower (2015)

User Reviews

Intelligent and entertaining Gothic thriller.

A mad baron (Robert Hardy), haunted by memories of driving his wife insane, is obsessed with the "heritage of disorder" that he thinks might afflict his two grown children (Gillian Hills and Shane Briant), whom he keeps locked up in his beautiful castle home, searching for a "cure." With the help of bald manservant Klaas (Kenneth J. Warren) and stern aunt Hilda (Yvonne Mitchell), he drains their blood to keep them weak, forbids them to see each other (there's incest involved) and ignores the expert opinions of a doctor (Patrick Magee). Meanwhile, there's a rapist/murderer on the loose terrorizing a quaint neighboring village.

This psychological horror story is a fine deviation from Hammer's cycle of monster movies, highlighted by excellent period costumes and sets (especially the castle) and Christopher Wicking's provocative, complex screenplay (which resembles V.C. Andrews' FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, written later). Only the finale, with a mob of torch-carrying villagers hunting Hardy down a la FRANKENSTEIN, really detracts from this well above par Hammer production.