The lead actor of the film in question, horror legend Christopher Lee, spoke very flatteringly about him, calling him the best creation of Hammer. Of course, it is difficult to single out a single peak of works from a considerable number of successful works produced by the British studio, but the words of the actor are quite reasonable. After all, the picture, being a film adaptation of Dennis Wheatley (Dennis Wheatley), concentrates a deft imposition of inexplicable mysticism on the frequent physical opposition to the evil of the adherents of good.
There is a lot of action with a constant quick rhythm of fights with sectarians, car chases, hunting down enemies, along the way decorated with the introduction of obstacles of a different kind that do not lend themselves to rational explanation. The cyclicity of this symbiosis gives a spectacular (certainly oriented only for its era, now seems somewhat naive) action-packed canvas with devilish obsessions, especially memorable in the final tense scene-confrontation. But even without bright screen creations, the director is able to whip up a tangible atmosphere of full-fledged horror, when something sinister, unkind and dangerous is in the air, when a guest in an instant hypnotizes his victims, and in the midst of a noisy satanic orgy, their dark leader is declared in all the grotesque-classical “beauty” with hooves, horns and a goat’s head!
The story tells the story of two old friends who have had many experiences behind them, including a war in which they lost a third comrade, promising to take care of his son. He's just not all right. He belongs to a society of Satanists, soon obliged to undergo an initiation ritual. It is very difficult to rescue from such an environment, when not only people interfere, but also the outright forces of Evil, capable of the most tricky and unpredictable things, supported by Black Magic!
With such a plot of collision (including mental) of a group of characters with metaphysical manifestations, a suspense and an ominous plume penetrating frame are important, the presence of which has already been mentioned above. However, in addition to the significant themselves written characters who need to sincerely empathize. Now there are such, especially stands out ahead of other Dukes de Richlot attractively played Lee. He is the wisest and most resourceful, possessing a whole set of all kinds of knowledge about Black magic, occultism, spiritualism and other rules of encounters with unknown science, because the enemy must be known by face, understanding the dangers in wait. His comrade Rex will be, in contrast, more pragmatic and spontaneous, demanding immediate action than unfathomable powers. Their tandem, defending the position of good, came out interesting in an equally different way in methods, but also uniform in motives. It is impossible to keep silent about the main villain of the sorcerer Mokata - arrogant, domineering, mentally strong, whose repulsive image was perfectly conveyed by the artist Charles Gray with his expressive gaze of a hypnotist and a proper voice.
Screen production abounds in "dark" paraphernalia, including bloody secret rites next to the pentagrams drawn and other symbols of the Lord of Hell in the light of black candles, sacrifices, rituals with the call of the souls of the dead, spells and much more up to small strokes, which creates a suitable aura of a mystical picture.
In fact, in the end, all this adds up to a fascinating horror film of the late 60s, shot to please the faithful fantasists loving the brainchild of the studio "Hammer" from the famous director Terence Fisher, who has repeatedly worked to create horror classics of his years.
8 out of 10