The Price of Double Trouble
Following the death of their parents, identical twins Frieda and Maria (Madeleine Collinson, Mary Collinson) leave Vienna and movie to the village of Karsteing in Austria to live with their Aunt Katy (Kathleen Byron) and Uncle Gustav (Peter Cushing). A Puritan and a leader of the Brotherhood, Gustav is well known for being the leader of the witch hunts and burning of women which he says are guilty of witchcraft. Frieda not wanting to live with her disciplinarian Uncle leaves and ends up in the clutches of Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas) who having reincarnated an ancient vampire relative turns into a vampire himself, sinking his fangs into Frieda and turning her in the process. But when the Brotherhood capture Frieda Count Karnstein cleverly switches her with Maria.
Just before I became a teenager back in the 80s me and my mates would pick up holiday catalogues from the local travel agents because back then they use to feature pictures of topless women sunbathing. We were young and stupid and keen on simple titillation and alongside what ever picture we could find of naked women we would also tell each other of films to watch. One of those was "Twins of Evil" as one of my friends had watched his father's copy and told us that it was a must watch as not only it did feature some vampire horror but also busty young women. I didn't see it back then and only have just watched it for the first time but think that maybe as a 12 year old back in the 80s I would have enjoyed it more than I did now.
You see "Twins of Evil" is anything but classic Hammer as whilst we have vampires, witches and Peter Cushing doing a better job than anyone of being scary this movie came when the studio had in my opinion become influenced by "Carry On" and starting to rely on erotica. That means when ever a young woman is in a scene the first thing you see is her ample cleavage with lo cut dresses. We also have sexual suggestion including the handling of a candle in one scene. But none of it is great and the horror side of "Twins of Evil" is all rather old and not very entertaining. Basically this movie is unlikely to either scare or make you horny.
What this all boils down to is that "Twins of Evil" might entertain those who watched it at a young age but for those looking to discover Hammer movies will find this a poor example and more an illustration of what they became with a focus on erotica as much as horror when the studio was in decline.
Tags: Vampire Movies
