Product: The Devil's Bride [VHS] (1968)
Rating: 4.0
Great supernatural thriller from Matheson & Fisher
One of Terry Fisher's finest films as director, The Devil Rides Out also features one of Richard Matheson's best screenplays. Matheson has great material to work with from author Dennis Wheatly. The writing is, like most of Matheson's work, crisp and powerful.Casting Christopher Lee against type (for a change)was a bright move. Lee makes the most out of his character and it's nice to see him be the good guy for once (although he does play bad sooo well). Charles Gray also gives a tremendous performance as the head of the Devil worshipping cult.Terry Fisher directed a lot of fine films during his career at Hammer but none equalled Devil. Although this wasn't his swan song, it could have been since everything is just about perfect. The production values are terrific. A pity that the special effects weren't as sophisticated then as they are now. Then again they would probably sacrifice everything else just for the effects (a problem with so many current supernatural films).The audio commentary is very informative and Lee is a delight throughout. He's full of interesting information about everything from the title sequence to the production design. A pity that Warner Brothers chose not to hire him for the audio commentary for The Mummy. Maybe they'll realize their mistake and hire him for Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula when they make them available (better get cracking guys Chris is getting up there a bit in age).The extras are up to the usual standard we've come to expect from Anchor and Bay--great! I've always loved their reproduction of the lobby cards that they've included in the packaging. It makes each DVD a unique collectible. A pity Warner won't license Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula (they really should--they have so many titles to reissue that I'm afraid these two will get lost in the shuffle). Anchor and Bay could do a terrific job with these two titles as they have with all the Hammer titles they've licensed.