Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Leofwine_draca Hammer's psychological horror opus bypasses the usual monster elements and instead gives us a horror film with purely human villains. That's right, there are no rubbery limbs or bats in this film, instead all of the chills and spills are in the mind. The murders that take place aren't even that gruesome, just bloody, which makes them all the more disturbing through the power of suggestion.There are dozens of adjectives I could use to describe this film. Distorting, disturbing, strange, unusual, unnatural, weird. Abnormal fear. The psychology used in the film is strictly Freudian, with a twisted form of the Oedipus complex coming into play. The actors and actresses are exceptional in the film and make it all the more effective, from Robert Hardy as the obsessed father to Shane Briant making his impressive debut as the mentally unstable son.Gillian Hills is also great in another mentally ambiguous role, while Virginia Wetherell is a female victim who screams loudly and is more than willing to strip for her role (indeed, she spends a five minute sequence wandering around completely naked while choosing a dress). Lower down in the cast list are Michael Hordern as a psychotic religious lunatic and the maniac from the same year's monster movie THE CREEPING FLESH as the sinister and bald coachman. Finally, Patrick Magee is on hand as an unlikable but noble doctor, in a role which Peter Cushing usually would play.DEMONS OF THE MIND has a Gothic fairy-tale like ambiance, helped by the use of forest locations to add to the atmosphere, with a spooky music-box like score to add to the feelings of sadness and madness echoing throughout the film. Pretty powerful stuff and an interesting one-off.

Scott LeBrun The folks at Hammer Studios take one of their usual Gothic environments and use it for a more cerebral and subtle film than what their fans are used to. The title really does make it quite clear: the "demons" here are those that dwell in the human mind, affecting mental stability and having a profound effect on the next generation. It does take the time to include some more exploitable elements - namely, gore and nudity - but these moments feel gratuitous given the nature of the balance of the film.It takes place in Bavaria where a Baron named Zorn (Robert Hardy) is afraid of his children, afraid that they have inherited the madness of their predecessors. They do seem to be showing the signs. More than anything, the Baron is convinced that they are possessed. A self styled psychiatrist named Falkenberg (Patrick Magee) and his young associate Carl (Paul Jones, formerly of the band Manfred Mann) arrive on the scene, using radical methods to probe the psyche of father and children (Gillian Hills, Shane Briant). Meanwhile, the local villagers are convinced of the existence of demons, and spurred on by a wandering priest (Michael Hordern), they determine to take care of the problem."Demons of the Mind" does appear to divide the audience, but this viewer would consider himself in the camp that considers this one of the more interesting and hence more effective of the latter day Hammer productions. Australian director Peter Sykes creates a suitably eerie atmosphere, which is enhanced by wonderfully spooky music composed by Harry Robertson. The script by Christopher Wicking is heavy on symbolism, and it offers meaty roles to a sterling bunch of actors, with the under-rated Hardy delivering the goods in a particularly great role. Magee is fun as always as the hard-driving psychiatrist, and good looking pair Hills and Briant are affecting as the troubled kids.The film does end on a very Hammer-esque note with angry torch bearing villagers set for a final confrontation, but getting there is every bit as enjoyable. Those horror fans looking for different offerings from Hammer are advised to give this one a look.Eight out of 10.

Paul Andrews Demons of the Mind is set in Austria where Baron Friedrich Zorn (Robert Hardy) lives in a large estate, in his huge house he keeps his two children Elizabeth (Gillian Hills) & Emil (Shane Briant) permanently locked up fearing that they have genetically inherited the madness that runs through his family & from which he himself suffers from. In desperation the Baron sends for psychologist Dr. Falkenberg (Patrick Magee) who has been excluded from Vienna because of his bizarre theories & practices, once there Dr. Falkenberg gets to work & tries to determine whether the apparent madness & misery that runs through the house is inherited, all in the mind or if darker forces are at work. Meanwhile the local village is in a state of panic as several young girls have gone missing, after the bodies of these girls are found at the bottom of a lake the villagers march to Zorn's estate lead by a crazy Priest (Michael Hordern) with the intention of ridding their community of evil forever...Apparently also known under the titles of Nightmare of Terror & Blood Evil this English production was directed by Peter Sykes & was made by the infamous Hammer studios in 1971 but wasn't released for over a year & even then as the second feature on a double bill with the gloriously great Tower of Evil (1972) which is a personal favourite of mine as it goes but is besides the point. The script here does away with the traditional Hammer horror ingredients like the classic film monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein or the Mummy & concentrates on telling a tale of psychological abuse, developing sciences contrasting against superstition, religion & angry villagers with flaming torches (what hammer film would be complete with angry villagers with flaming torches, eh?). It's a mixture of ideas & themes that don't quite mix although the makers give it a go, add to the underlying themes some killings & some strange medical treatments & theories as well as some hint of incest then it's safe to say there's a fair amount going on in Demons of the Mind & it almost pulls it off, at eighty five minutes long it never outstays it's welcome but is surprisingly slow during the middle third & a lot of the ideas & themes raised don't really go anywhere & aren't particularly explored in any great depth. To try & cure his children all the Baron does is keep them locked up all day, the film never really ties the loose ends together & it remains unclear the cause of the insanity doing the rounds. We never see either Elizabeth or Emil as real people, they are merely what the script needs them to be & as such it's difficult to care about or relate to their plight. Overall I wouldn't say Demons of the Mind is a bad film & I liked the idea to make something a little more psychological set during this period as superstition & misunderstanding was rife & people may be more gullible & willing to believe in madness & demons but it does leave one slightly unsatisfied.The film has a nice period Hammer production feel to it, some nice location work, good costumes & decent special effects help. There's some gore here, a couple of girls are strangled, someones hand is chopped off, someone is impaled & there are a couple of shootings while someone is stabbed in the throat & there's a gory suicide in which someone slits their own wrists & then gorily cuts their own throat just to make sure but unfortunately the censors at the time made Hammer optically obscure these scenes. For those into that sort of thing there's also some unnecessary & gratuitous nudity. Because the film has it's main focus on psychological issues there's not much room for outright horror, in fact there's little horror on show here as Hammer decide to take a more serious approach with the emphasis on try.Amost certainly shot on a tiny budget Demons of the Mind looks nice enough even if it's a little bright & a little bit too cheerful at times for what is meant to be a dark story of psychological terror, incest, murder & angry villagers with flaming torches (yep, them again). The acting is pretty good from a game cast, apparently both Paul Scofield & James Mason turned down the part of Zorn while Dirk Bogarde was considered & Eric Porter pulled out after originally accepting the role to make Hands of the Ripper (1971). Demons of the Mind marked the first of appearance of Shane Briant in a Hammer film.Demons of the Mind is an interesting misfire, there are themes & ideas & individual scenes that I liked along with a nice period setting & good production values but the story is a bit of a mess & never really comes together in a way that I could take anything from. A bit of gore also helps so while by no means a total disaster Demons of the Mind is not a classic either.

fidelio7 I have tried time and again to like 'Demons of the Mind' but to no avail; I just can not get into it. I own a copy as a double feature DVD, partnered with 'Fright' - starring Susan George - which is so much better. 'Demons' is murky and dull, even though there are some great English actors in it, such as Michael Hordern and Patrick Troughton.The themes of the film are incest, madness, and familial curses - the sins of the father being visited upon the son. That sort of thing. These themes are all mixed together and the resulting brew is tedious and unrewarding. For a Hammer film, it is surprisingly violent; there is plenty of the red, red kroovy. My favourite part is probably the bit which sees a coven of young witches chanting 'We came up from the fires of Hell/All is well, all is well'. This is easily the most chilling part of the film; that ungodly refrain really stays with you.Paul Jones, the singer from Manfred Mann, stars as Carl Richter. Also featured in the cast is Patrick Magee as Falkenberg. Hammer films are meant to be cheesy fun - over-the-top and entertaining. But 'Demons of the Mind' just kind of meanders along without really going anywhere. It commits the sin of being boring, and that is a hard sin to forgive. Hammer at its peak is 'Hands of the Ripper' and 'Twins of Evil'. 'Demons of the Mind' is, sadly, Hammer at its nadir.