The Devil Rides Out (1968)

Set in the south of England in the 1930s, "The Devil Rides Out" follows the story of Duc de Richleau, played by Christopher Lee, investigating the strange behaviour of a friend's son, Simon, who he believes is in the Occult. Richleau and a friend, Rex van Ryn, played by Leone Greene, hold up a devil worship ceremony and rescue their friend, Simon Aron, played by Patrick Mower, and his associate, Tanith Carlisle, played by Nike Arrighi. In the rescue attempt, Satan appears. They manage to escape to the Eatons' house, who are friends of Duc de Richleau and Rex van Ryn, and are then followed by the Occult's leader, Mocata who has a phsycic connection to Rex and Tanith. Throughout the night at the Eatons' house, Mocata attacks the group with black magic attacks, forcing the group to defend themselves. The group at the Eatons' house successfully defeat Mocata, which results in Mocata loosing his life and being sent to eternal damnation. The movie was released in 1968 by Hammer Film Productions and was directed by Terrence Fisher and written by Richard Matheson. The film follows a typically linear narrative with no anaphoric references, unlike Frankenstein, with a narrative that stars a lot of time prior to the start of the film.

There is a clear meaning of religion and Satinism throughout the movie, and the producers have used a number of different techniques to create that meaning. First of all, would be the use of the cleverly designed Mise-en-Scene, although not spectacular, there is a use of certain religious props and prints that create the sense of religion. For example, in the house the Occult are worshipping in, there are a number of strange markings and the sign of the Pentagram with a Ram in the centre marked on the floor. As part of props, dead chickens were found in a cupboard as sacrifices, which adds to the whole meaning of religion and Satanism. To enhance the sinister motives within the film, for example, the sacrificing of a child, dramatic, orchestral music is used to build tension and to heighten the intensity of the dramatic shots, for example, when Satan appears in the room Duc de Richleau and his associates are defending themselves against black magic attacks at night. At this point also, there are a lot of fast cuts and close ups to get the reaction of the characters, and to show the 'anger' of the horse jumping up and down. In some of the fast cutting shots, slow motion is used to create some sort of 'over powering' from the 'Angel of Death'.

Christopher Lee became renowned for his characterisation of Dracula in the Hammer Horror franchise, and it seems that Horror and Thriller is a genre he hasn't left, therefore, as he was iconic, he was used in this Hammer Horror. It helped the show to enhance it's sinister meaning by contracting someone who's normally associated with the style of film.

A number of special effects were used in the film, for example when the 'Angel of Death' appears, it's possible that green screen effects were used as the angel appears to 'fade in' from 100% opacity. Another example of special effects is the 'ceremony scene', when a religious cross is thrown at the "Goat of Mendes"and the satanic figure bursts into a flame and implodes. It could be considered that this special effect is advanced for the time.

The connotation that 'evil is just a round the corner' is evident in this film through the use of special FX, dark lighting, reflected in the mise-en-scene (settings), and especially the costume. Dark, rich robes create the feel of belonging to some kind of elite group, which helps to make the satanic cult seem more evil. The quick cutting helps to emphasise the evil point, by things occurring so quickly in the film - for example in the ceremony scene and the scene in which Richleau and his associates are fighting against black magic. Also in these scenes, objects fade in and out, which resembles 'evil' in reality. Being ever present, and can creep up at any time.

At the time of production, the supremacy of religion was beginning to fall, and this was reflected in the media, and especially film as a means of 'venting' what was occurring in the swinging sixties. These issues in the film were reflected by having a group of Satan worshippers going against God. The film puts forward the idea that people who don't believe in God, believe and worship Satan - as there are no skeptic characters in the film. This also represents how widespread religion was at the time of production and publish, and that minority groups who worshipped otherwise were 'outsiders'.

There is still a strong sense that women are represented as being the inferior gender, as the lead protagonist is male and the lead antagonist is also male. The female is still portrayed as the classic 'damsel in distress'. This is shown, for example, when Marie Eaton is taken over by a spirit in the defence against black magic scene, it is a female who is corrupted. Again, when Mocata corrupts and hypnotises another character to an evil deed, it is Tanith Carlisle, another female.

The majority of characters in the film are upper-middle class, set in rural areas in large houses and settings. In the film, we don't know the background of other characters, but by them socialising in such a high class setting, we can assume through their portrayal in the film that they too are upper-middle or high class. Class is also reflected upon through the idea of religion and 'belonging', as it's also the higher class characters that are a part of the Satanic cult. There is only one black person in the film, which resembles the ground-breaking movement throughout the late 50s and 60s where minority group characters and actors were 'allowed' to become involved in the production. The fact that there are so few black characters in cinema in general at the time of production reflects that the bending of rules is only at the beginning (collapse of studio system, actors becoming independent, cinema beginning to collapse). The character in question in the film is on the side of the antagonist, so it's still fair to say, at the time of production, black people were portrayed in a negative light, for example, associating with the devil. It's very much like the white people are portrayed as the positive and good role models, whereas anyone who isn't considered a social 'norm', is portrayed as a negative role model, who people shouldn't aspire to. The film was released at the height of the 'swinging sixties', so rules and regulations regarding film and stereotypes were much more relaxed.

Hammer Films were an independent company, and they took care of the production, distribution and promotion of the films that they created, and "The Devil Rides Out" was no exception. Today, Hammer Films is owned by, and referred to as a subsidiary of "Exclusive Media Group". Hammer stopped producing films, and was considered in 'hibernation' since the 1980s, until funding in the late 2000s allowed them to begin producing films again. Hammer is known for it's horror production, therefore, it's a film that would be expected for the production company, and this resembles the 'ownership' that Hammer had over it's films. The newest release for Hammer Films is "The Woman in Black" (2012), which is also a horror film, continuing the company's legacy. Whilst Hammer is primarily a UK company, it's films have done considerably well in the hardest film market, America, with sequels to the franchises such as "Frankenstein" and "Dracula'. In recent times, Hammer relies on cross media to promote it's media for example, the recent Facebook competition for "The Woman in Black". Relying on social media and the internet allows the company to reach a younger audience, something that was reflected in the marketing campaign for "The Devil Rides Out". Whilst technology wasn't as advanced, it did use different mediums to advertise the film - the trailer can be seen below and the promotional poster at the top of this entry. Whilst the film was a Hammer Production, in the USA it was distributed by 20th Century Fox.