The Devil Rides Out
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- Release Date: May 19, 1968
- Directed by: Terence Fisher
- Written by: Richard Matheson
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
I wasn't sure what I wanted to write as an introduction for this one, so I figured I would just add a little trivia note on how I first found out about it. My first exposure to The Devil Rides Out was when I listened to Electric Wizard's Witchcult Today when I was a sophomore in high school. The album uses its poster art for the album cover, and I thought it was a pretty cool-looking image. Along with their song "The Satanic Rites of Drugula" off of the same album, these were some of my first exposures to Hammer horror films. That doesn't really have anything to do with my thoughts on the movie itself; I just find it fun that one of my favorite Hammer films happens to be connected to one of my favorite bands. Enough beating around the bush, though! I'll keep it simple: this movie is a total gem, and in my opinion, one of the best horror films that Hammer ever made.
This movie stands out in the pantheon of Hammer horror films for one big reason: Christopher Lee plays the hero! After playing all of the classic monsters and numerous other villains in so many of the company's films, he finally got a chance to flex his acting muscles and show that he had what it took to play a protagonist. If you know the level of gravity and importance that he always brought to his villainous roles, he does the exact same thing here, just from a hero's perspective. His character is the Duc de Richleau, an educated man of faith who has to use his knowledge of the occult to save a friend from falling into the clutches of a group of Satanists. The way he delivers his lines makes you feel just how urgent of a scenario this is, and you get the feeling that he would put his very life on the line to prevent anyone around him from succumbing to the darkness. When he looks at another character with his piercing eyes and asks them "Do you believe in evil?" or recites an incantation in Latin with his booming voice, you can tell that he was loving the opportunity to play a character like this. In his autobiography, Lee wrote that he learned some actual spells to recite at the climax of the film when he casts a protective circle around his friends. Because of details like that, I like to place the Duc alongside classic fighters of evil like Abraham Van Helsing, especially when he literally throws crosses at demons to drive them away. In fact, his performance here makes me wish that he had gotten the chance to play Van Helsing in a movie, even though he was always cast in the role of Dracula. If that had happened, I'm not sure who they could have gotten to be more threatening than Lee as the Count. Still, it's something fun to think about!
The villain of this movie is evil itself, and when it comes to movie monsters, you can't get much more threatening than that. Being a non-physical entity, it takes several different forms throughout the movie. Its first form is just a smiling man, which is a little bit goofy. But once the Devil himself is summoned, all bets are off when it comes to how it appears going forward. One of my favorite forms is a giant spider, where its effects were pulled off with a combination of overlaying shots and miniature sets with a real spider crawling around. Another highlight is the Angel of Death, portrayed by a rider on a horse that's all decked out in black and other garments. There's so much creativity that went into the special effects, even though they were obviously limited by their budget and the constraints of the technology of the time. With a trinity of villains that includes Satan, the Angel of Death and evil itself, this is about as good vs. evil as a movie can get. It may sound cheesy on the surface, it it's made with such sincerity that you can't help but feel satisfied when the Duc outright says that God should be thanked for vanquishing evil. Regardless of people's differences in spiritual views, I think we can all agree that seeing Christopher Lee save the day through the power of God is a pretty satisfying experience.
The Devil Rides Out is such a blast to watch, and I hold it as a high point in several regards. Not only is it one of my favorite films in Hammer's 1960s output, but it's also one of Terence Fisher's best horror films outside of his takes on the classic monsters. And if it wasn't obvious already, I consider this one of the best movies in Christopher Lee's filmography. Even if you're not a horror fan, this is a must-see if you want to see a legendary actor get to demonstrate what he did best in the heyday of his career.