The Hammer horror cycle was starting to wind down in the early 70's. A string of classics produced during the late 50's and much of the 60's had revived gothic horror, but by the 70's it was getting old hat. Hammer tried to spice things up by infusing even more blood and sex into the proceedings. This culminated in the (far better than it has any right to be) lesbian vampire (you'd think drinking the blood of the living to be evil enough without adding on yet more depravity...) movie THE VAMPIRE LOVERS. Based on a literary vampire, the film was surprisingly good and Hammer followed up with LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, which was reportedly even more flesh-happy than the previous film. This phase was soon to pass, and by the time we reach the third film of the "series" in this very loose prequel to THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, the trend was scaled back a bit. Gone were any hints of lesbianism (the closest thing to it we find here is a vampire woman biting a female victim on her breast). Rather than outright nudity, TWINS OF EVIL largely shows it's titular twins in sheer nightgowns which reveal the contours of the body without thrusting it's most sensitive bits directly in our faces. The twins themselves make the film of note beyond it's fairly lackluster release, since they are played by Playboy's first twin centerfolds, Mary and Madeline Collinson. The film finds the two girls, after having been raised in a Parisian environment, relocated to a harsh mountain village to live with their puritan uncle, priest Peter Cushing. Cushing and a band of holy men have been riding at night for the purpose of ridding the territory of witches and devil-worshipers. We see a couple of girls burned at the stake, though we never really learn if they are in fact guilty or innocent. One of the twins is sweet, but the other is rebellious and wants to meet the local devil-worshiper who stands as the last of the royal family that once ruled this land. The nasty twin is turned into a vampire, and Cushing nearly kills the innocent one before the brotherhood learns the truth and raids the castle. At first playing off of conventions created by the then-popular witch-hunter genre, TWINS OF EVIL then plays against those conventions and presents us with the screen's only heroic portrayal of witch-hunters! Ultimately, the brotherhood may have been misguided in their methods, but are vindicated as being fully committed to their convictions. Cushing gives what may be his finest performance in the first film he made following the passing of his beloved wife. Looking particularly pale and gaunt, he gives an emotionally-charged performance which covers more ground than you usually see even in his work. Initially, we're presented the brotherhood as self-righteous, but as the film unfolds (with largely Peter as our focus) we see that the concerns are in fact for the good of the community. So complex and well-considered a screenplay really shines, and demonstrates how far too many 70's genre films lacked this sort of intelligence. The sisters Collinson come off really well, too, despite this being their first major production (they'd earlier been seen in some saucy 8mm shorts). Sadly, the twins wouldn't go on to do a whole lot more. Their fame today still rests on their Playboy appearance. All in all, their vampire movie was one of the better outings of Hammer's final years.
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