The Devil Rides Out (1968)
The best Occult film bar none. Based on Dennis Wheatley's best selling novel, The Devil Rides Out is one of the best British horror films of all time.
On inspection The Devil Rides Out is possibly more akin to a period James Bond film than it is to a typical Hammer Gothic horror melodrama. Terence Fisher directs with consummate ease as the story positively zips along under the spell of James Bernard's terrific looming score with various action sequences along the way. Christopher Lee makes Wheatley's Duc de Richleau character his own with a performance of power and heroism. In fact the whole cast, from Charles Gray's devilish Mocata to Sarah Lawson's seemingly put upon wife who wins through in the end, are uniformly excellent.
The film sports set pieces to kill for and images that have gone down through the generations as classics of horror, from the magnificent Angel of Death to the pièce de résistance, which comes half way through the film as we witness at a terrifying Occult ceremony the Goat of Mendes, (Baphomet), the Devil himself, take form and watch over proceedings. It's a stunning piece of film making and the best version of the Devil put on film to date.
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